When 10-year-old Gracie Christensen first heard Scottish music, she couldn’t help but dance to it. Now she is sitting in a top ranked spot after having earned 10th place at the ScotDance National Championships.

ScottDance is a competition that promotes Scottish Highland dancing and culture in the United States. The annual event was held in Boston, Massachusetts from July 17-21, and Gracie said that the experience was “like being in the Olympics.”

“It kinda felt like I was going to the Olympics,” Gracie said. “It just felt so special to be able to have that experience and to be able to do fun activities and make new friends. And there were people from different countries that we got to meet. It was really fun.”

Gracie’s mom, Alyssa Christensen said that it has been a joy to watch her daughter do what she loves.

“When she was younger, we used to go to the Payson Scottish Festival because I grew up going there. Gracie just loved the bagpipe music and would dance around to it. I was talking with some people a few months later at the rec center, and learned that there is a Scottish dance teacher here in Springville. When Gracie was about 5 years old, she decided to try it out, and we didn’t know it was competitive or anything like that. Gracie just felt joy moving to the bagpipes.”

Gracie agreed that there is just something about Scottish music that makes her want to move her feet.

“It’s really lively music and it has this thing that just makes it a really nice type of music to dance to and have fun with,” Gracie said.

The dance studio that Gracie has been training at is Archibald Academy of Dance under her teacher Liz Archibald. Gracie said she practices several times a week, and that it was really fun to see all the hard work pay off. 

“It was really cool because I got 10th place out of all the other dancers in the country. So it was pretty cool to hear that I got 10th place,” she said. It was really fun to compete against all the people and make new friends and do all the fun activities. It was also fun to watch some of the best dancers compete and to watch what the older people do, so I can know how to do my dancing better. It was very fun to compete. I tried my best and I had a lot of fun.”

Alyssa Christensen, who is from Boston, said that it was a good experience for their whole family to go back where their ancestors are from, and to have the experience of making new memories with their daughter. 

“It’s her first time going to nationals – and at age 10! A lot of people never end up getting there,” she said. “We were just really excited to even experience it. Nationals this year was in Boston and that just so happens to be where I’m from. It was a little bit serendipitous that we were able to go back to where I’m from and where our ancestors are from, and Gracie did an awesome job. She placed 10th in the nation for the 10 and under age group her first time. That’s a pretty big deal when there are thousands of Highland dancers in the country. It was really neat.”

Gracie expressed how excited she was for the experience and how she performed. She said that nationals set the stage for some pretty big goals ahead, including making it to nationals next year and improving upon her placing. She’d also like to qualify for the World Championships in Scotland.