Farmington Woman Heads to Highland Dance Competition

When she was 6, Maria Taylor started taking dance lessons – ballet and tap. Three years later, she went with her family to St. Andrew's Highland Games in Livonia, and as she watched the Highland dancers, everything changed.

Taylor decided she wanted to try lessons, and her mother found a teacher. "I liked it so much, after a few months I quit ballet and tap altogether," the 20-year-old Alma College senior and Farmington resident said.

Over the next four days, she's competing in the U.S. Inter-Regional Highland Dance Championships, held in Seattle, WA. Maria Taylor and her mother, Martha, left Wednesday night for the event, which was held in Traverse City, MI last year. Both of her sisters, Anika, 16, and Jerusha, 11, also dance.

Maria Taylor takes her dancing seriously enough that she continues to study it at Alma, where she performs with the Kiltie Highland Dancers. She said she chose Alma in part because her mother attended the school, but also because of Alma's highland dance program.

"When I got there, I had a built-in set of friends," she said.

Taylor usually does 10 to 12 competitions each year – one year, she was in 14 – and would do more if she could. In addition to dance, the English major plays violin in the college orchestra, and when she's at home, is a volunteer at the Governor Warner Mansion, a member of the Warnerettes parasol drill team and of the Redford Civic Symphony.

But her passion for highland dance stands out; in addition to competing this weekend, she will be taking an exam that allows her to teach when she retires from competition. 

"I like the Scottish heritage behind it," she said. "It's a very strong kind of dancing, very athletic. It has to be strong and graceful, but there's a lot of jumping involved. It's a great work out."

In addition to regular classes, she takes two or three, 90-minute dance classes a week and during the school year, tries to practice on her own as well. In May, Alma's spring term, she did a month-long independent study of the dance form.

Her instructors are current United States Highland Dance Champion Kate DeGood and Christy Freestone, a teacher for more than 40 years, in Alma, and Tracy Walton, who has a Royal Oak studio. Taylor said even with her 11 years of experience, she works on her technique and choreography.

She'll use all of her training and skills in competition this weekend. Taylor said she's particularly excited about a new group for 18- to 21-year-olds. "Usually it's 18 and over, and I'm competing with all of these more experienced people," she said.

Taylor will also be honored tonight at a dinner; she won an essay contest that provides her with a scholarship through the Federation of United States Teachers and Adjudicators. She wrote about how highland dance had helped her in college.