CityView Magazine

68 | March/April 2015 Photography by Matthew Wonderly The Spirit of the Highlands E ven some lifetime residents of the Cumberland County area aren't aware of the intrinsic connection between Fayette- ville's history and the Scottish people. Maddison Stewart, a 17-year-old stu- dent at Roland's Dance Studio and an instructor in her own right, can't quite say the same, as she has spent much of her youth becoming an expert on Scot- tish culture, most notably, their proud tradition of dance, as part of her work with instructor Amy Mooney, teaching residents the centuries old art of Scot- tish highland dancing. Aer attending the Flora MacDon- ald dance competition six years ago with her family as a way of learning more about her culture, Stewart fell in love with highland dancing and sought to learn everything she could about it. As there wasn't a highland dance instructor in Fayetteville at the time, Stewart committed herself to traveling back and forth to Mooney's home in Fuquay-Varina to receive private les- sons for several years. It wasn't until last year, when Mooney attended Stewart's church to offer a lesson in highland dancing, that she was approached by Cathy Bersch of Roland's Dance Stu- dio, about offering classes at her school. "Cathy was a competitive highland dancer in her youth," Mooney said. "And she wanted her children involved at the studio, so she reconnected with her highland roots. It worked out great." Mooney hired her longtime apprentice, Stewart, on as her assistant and for the past year she has made the trek from her own home in Fuquay-Varina back to Fayetteville to offer weekly classes. Mooney is uniquely qualified, having taught highland dance, creative move- ment and modern dance for nearly 30 years. Mooney is a Fellow with the Brit- ish Association of Teachers of Dance and has a bachelor's degree in dance from e University of North Carolina at Greens- boro. Like Stewart, Mooney's interest in highland dance was spurred by a fas- cination with her own family heritage. "ese dances were originally done by warriors, as calisthenics, to prepare for battle. ey give you quick speed and keep you in good shape for explosive Dancers Revisit Fayetteville's Scottish Roots feature BY JAMES JOHNSON Madison Stewart

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