Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeenshire Highland dancers defy terror threat to attend Paris competition

The performers from the Lindsay School of Dance - which is bases in both Stonehaven and Laurencekirk - flew out to Disneyland Paris just days after the Paris Attacks.
The performers from the Lindsay School of Dance - which is bases in both Stonehaven and Laurencekirk - flew out to Disneyland Paris just days after the Paris Attacks.

A troupe of Highland dancers from Aberdeenshire defied terror threats to put on the performance of their lives in the French capital.

The performers from the Lindsay School of Dance, based in both Stonehaven and Laurencekirk, flew out to Disneyland Paris just days after the horrific Paris attacks unfolded.

The dancers, aged between six and 21, had been planning the trip to participate in one of the biggest Highland dancing competitions in Europe all year.

The performers from the Lindsay School of Dance - which is bases in both Stonehaven and Laurencekirk - flew out to Disneyland Paris just days after the Paris Attacks.
The performers from the Lindsay School of Dance – which is bases in both Stonehaven and Laurencekirk – flew out to Disneyland Paris just days after the Paris Attacks.

But when the terror attack unfolded, they had to carefully consider if going ahead as planned was the safest thing to do.

Dance school founder, Eileen Lindsay, revealed how she sat down with parents following the tragic events of Friday, November 13, when some 130 people were killed in attacks by Islamic extremists.

Following discussions, they bravely agreed to push ahead with the trip to the International Gathering of Scottish Highland Dancers, taking place on November 19.

The group competed against dancers from across the globe and came away with a host of medals for their performances at venues such as Disney’s New York Hotel.

Several dancers came out on top of the ChoreoMagic Challenge event, and the Lindsay School of Dance was picked to lead a Disney parade on the final day of their trip.

Mrs Lindsay said: “It was a great experience for the girls. We just travelled from the airport straight to Disneyland Paris.

“On the Saturday morning (after the attacks) I asked them ‘what do you think about going?’

“But they were all happy enough to still go ahead.

“The girls they danced really, really well. They all came home with medals. I am really proud of them.”

Mrs Lindsay said the entire group felt incredibly safe.

“You wouldn’t have thought anything had happened just a couple of days before,” she said.

“I just felt everything was getting back to normal. I felt really safe. I am just grateful we did go.”

Renee MacGregor, who attended with six-year-old daughter, Isla, said that despite a few blips, the trip was incredible.

“One time we were at the train station in Paris and it got evacuated – we had no idea what happened, the whole station was evacuated,” she said.

“But it was the trip of a lifetime. The girls will never forget it.”