Dances HighlandScottish step | Name Gareth Mitchelson | |
Website toeandheel.comtoeandheelgold.comcelticspiritdance.comadvancedhighlandtechnique.com Current group CelticSpirit Dance Company Former groups Funky FaeriesGenerating Heat | ||
Gareth Mitchelson (born 7 April 1967 in Dundee) is a Scottish dancer. He won the World Highland dancer Championship four times and is now a qualified teacher, adjudicator and examiner in Highland and Scottish step. He is a delegate to the SOBHD and a director of Scottish Dance Traditions.
Contents
- Highland dance
- Highland dancing world titles
- Performances
- Scottish Dance Traditions
- Memberships
- Commercial developments
- Charity
- References
Mitchelson is involved with his brother Deryck in several projects aimed at improving the world of dance through the use of technology, including DVDs, the internet and portable technology.
Highland dance
Mitchelson started dancing at the age of 6, learning from his mother Wilma Tolmie (herself a world champion) and very quickly started to compete at the competition and highland games. He won his first championship at age 9.
He is also a qualified teacher, adjudicator examiner and delegate to the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (SOBHD) Technical Committee for the United Kingdom Alliance (UKA).
Mitchelson's involvement in Highland dance has extended beyond the competition boards and, together with his brother Deryck, includes:
Highland dancing world titles
Mitchelson won the senior World Highland Dancing title at his first attempt and then, after coming overall second in 1986, went on to win the title in each of the next three years.
The Highland Dancing World Championships are held at the Cowal Gathering in Dunoon on the last Saturday in August each year.
Performances
Whilst still at school Mitchelson was a member of the world-renowned British Caledonian Airways pipes and dance corps, performing at Scottish events all over the world.
In 1985 Gareth and Deryck Mitchelson commissioned new work and music for inclusion in Glasgow's Mayfest dance festival and formalised this with the formation of the CelticSpirit Dance Company as a limited liability company.
Other notable performances have included participation in many folk festivals and fiddlers' rallys, in the Capitol Theatre and His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen, several royal performances, commission pieces for Scottish Dance Traditions (Generating Heat and Funky Faeries), twice appearing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and several TV Hogmanay shows.
Scottish Dance Traditions
Preservation of Scottish dance traditions is very important to Gareth. His dance company, CelticSpirit, works towards this by making Scottish dance move accessible to the public - mixing traditional and contemporary dance forms and rhythms and presenting them in a modern and at times risque way.
Mitchelson is also pushing to have some of the many no longer danced steps re-introduced into competition via the SOBHD. He also spends a considerable effort working with Scotland's only national organisation which exists to promote and encourage participation and enjoyment in all forms of Scottish traditional dance - Scottish Dance Traditions.
Memberships
Commercial developments
Gareth and Deryck Mitchelson are now involved with a number of free and commercial dance-related projects:
Charity
In 2008 Mitchelson's and his wife Donna's son was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and he since has campaigned to raise public awareness of the condition and funds for the charities Action Duchenne and the Eileen McCallum Trust. His best known efforts here so far have been his 40 step Fling for Logan and his 50 step Cowal Fling Challenge.