Georgina Kee-McCarter with some of the Sollus dancers who will be taking part in the Banks of the Foyle Hallowe’en Carnival.
The award-winning Sollus Highland Dancers will hardly have time for their feet to touch the ground after performing at the Banks of the Foyle Hallowe’en Carnival on Friday week when they head to Disneyland Paris to compete on the international stage.
Sollus, who are currently Ulster and European choreography champions, took part in Derry City Council’s annual Hallowe’en carnival parade for the first time last year and are now gearing up for this year’s family-friendly celebrations.
Choreographer Georgina Kee-McCarter, said the Hallowe’en carnival parade was a relatively new departure for the Sollus School which was established by her parents James and Mandy Kee in 2001.
The Sollus Highland Dancers range in age from tots to twenties and have performed in countries including Scotland, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. They are best known closer to home in the North West for their polished performances at the Walled City Tattoo and Maiden City Festival.
Georgina said: “The Hallowe’en carnival is something different for us. We are always competing at cultural events but we are not always in traditional Highland costume. We do a lot of choreography, themes and stories.
“Last Hallowe’en we wore black and gold costumes, had back-combed frizzy hair and our faces painted pure white like Zombies.”
Around 50 Sollus Highland Dancers will take part in a segment of the carnival parade based on the story of Captain Michael Browning, master of the ship ‘Mountjoy’ which broke the boom on the River Foyle to lift the Siege of Derry in 1689.
Tradition has it that his wife Jane Browning was watching the scene from St Columb’s Cathedral as her husband helped ‘ave the Apprentice Boys, only for him to be shot in the head and killed by enemy fire while out on deck.
The ghost of Captain Browning, the cathedral spire, boat and skeletons will all be featured on the Sollus Highland Dancers’ floats in the parade, overseen by the North West Carnival Initiative and artistic director, Joe Campbell.
Georgina Kee-McCarter teaches Highland Dance full-time at schools and dance centres across the North West in Derry, Omagh, Strabane and Donegal.
Next month, a 100-strong delegation from Sollus including 44 dancers will travel to Disneyland Paris to compete at an international gathering of Highland Dancers.
It will be their first time to compete in the event and as well as solo competitions, two teams will represent Sollus who had to create a Highland Dance for each group based on a Disney theme.
“We have our young under-9 team performing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the older girls are doing The Little Mermaid. It’s a busy and exciting time for us,” said 24-year-old Georgina who teaches an average of 400 dancers per week, many of whom attend the Sollus Ulster-Scots Centre in Bready.
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