Kirstin Stewart was just six-years-old when she stood at Edinburgh Castle with her arms out-stretched and said: “One day mummy I’ll dance at this esplanade”.
That dream came true for the third generation Highland dancer in 2018 when she performed for the first time at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo as part of the tattoo dance team.
But as the now 26-year-old Fifer brings her fourth Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to a close in 2023, she reveals it’s a feeling that she never tires of.
Tattoo is an emotional experience
“Every year when a new show is created, that feeling of being on the esplanade the first night is unmatched by anything,” said the former pupil of Balcurvie Primary School, Windygates, and Kirkland High School, Methil.
“During the preview night this year when all our parents and friends and family were in, the tears were streaming because I was just so happy to be back on that esplanade.
“I can’t even explain to you how good that feeling is.
“It’s amazing, and it never gets old. Every night you are on there, it’s just as good as the night before”.
How did Kirstin get into Highland dancing?
Born and bred in Leven, Kirstin says it was “pretty much inevitable” she would dance.
Her gran Janet Gardner was a “local legend” Highland dance teacher.
Her mum Fiona has taken over and now runs the Fiona Gallacher School of Dance.
Kirstin is following in their footsteps as a dance teacher and full time choreographer.
She teaches and trains at her mum’s school in Levenmouth and dances with the Bowman School of Highland Dancing in Dundee.
But the Stirling University philosophy graduate, who first went abroad to dance when she was 10, says she was never put under pressure by her family to win.
She was lucky she was “quite good and successful” from a really young age, and, most importantly, she enjoyed it.
“My mum used to teach with me as a little baby in her arms,” she laughed.
“As soon as I was walking I was taking part.
“I think I was about 2.5 or three when I officially started lessons and then I was four when I did my very first competition.”
Enthralled by tattoo from early age
Initially taught by her gran then by her mum until the age of six, Kirstin’s mum had older pupils in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo dance company when Kirstin was growing up.
She’d watch from the stand and always knew it was a spectacle she wanted to be involved in.
Reaching a high standard early on, competitions have taken Kirstin to the USA and Canada “countless times”.
She celebrated her 10th birthday in Saint John, New Brunswick, during her first trip abroad.
It was when she left school after sixth year in 2015 and decided to take a year out before university, however, that she had her first experience of performing in a tattoo – travelling to Melbourne, Australia in 2016.
She performed at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2018 and 2019, then, following the Covid-19 interruption, 2022 and 2023.
This year, she’s one of 27 Scots in the 56-strong Edinburgh tattoo Highland dance team.
The rest are made up of Australians, Canadians and Americans, with one English woman.
How does Edinburgh tattoo compare?
In February, the dancers from Scotland auditioned at the tattoo offices on Edinburgh’s Cockburn Street, while the international applicants submitted entries by video.
Kirstin says the tattoo experience is “right up there with the amount of fitness and stamina you need for championship level”.
But in some ways the tattoo can be more difficult as fitness levels need to be maintained for the duration of the three-week run.
Being part of a team rather than competing individually also brings a different challenging dimension.
This year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has had the theme ‘Stories’.
It builds on ‘Voices’ held in 2022 which included Britain’s Got Talent star and Fife barbershop owner Cameron Barnes, interviewed by The Courier in 2022.
How does Kirstin know Cameron Barnes?
Kirstin, who knows Cameron locally from Levenmouth and was a few years below him at school, said the ‘Stories’ theme has been “amazing”.
“Everybody’s dream is to be on the Edinburgh Castle esplanade,” she said.
“We are up there, from all around the world, telling our stories and experiencing that together.
“I think at the start of the run, emotions are high and everyone is excited.
“Then at the end all the emotion hits you again. You just don’t want it to end!”
Fife piper Daniel Stennett
Another Fifer having the time of his life at this year’s tattoo is 19-year-old piper Daniel Stennett.
Originally from Kelty and now living in Cowdenbeath, the former pupil of St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Kelty and St Columba’s RC High School in Dunfermline, “feel brilliant” when he walks onto the esplanade with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Pipes and Drums.
However, he’ll never forget the old neighbour who got him into piping as a six-year-old.
“My old next door neighbour, Andrew Keatings, was the pipe major at Kelty and Blairadam Pipe Band,” he said.
“When I was wee, I used to go out and listen to him all the time when he was playing in the garden.
“I was interested. He asked me to come along to the band and start learning.
“The more and more I started playing the chanter and started to learn, I started enjoying it even more.”
Daniel made his first appearance in the pipe band as an eight-year-old, playing at a Remembrance Sunday parade in Kelty.
Through his involvement, his older brother Stephen, now 25, was “dragged in” as a bass drummer and his sister Emma, now 23, got involved as a snare drummer.
How did Daniel get into the tattoo?
Competitions have taken Daniel all over Scotland with fine results at the Scottish, European and World Pipe Band championships during his last season.
However, Daniel adds that, unfortunately, the Kelty and Blairadam Pipe Band folded after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since leaving school at the end of fifth year, he has managed to strike out as a self-employed piper doing weddings, funerals, parties and making care home visits.
But he’s also delighted to have become involved with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which he first attended as a 10-year-old spectator in 2014.
He got involved last July after messaging his friend Conner Pratt, pipe major with the Black Watch Battalion Army Cadet Force in Glenrothes, where Daniel helps as an instructor.
He asked if there were any spots in the tattoo band.
“I messaged him in July last year, and from there that’s been it,” he said.
“I’ve been involved in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Pipes and Drums ever since.
“We are part of the Massed Pipes and Drums which is made up of 10 or 11 bands.
“I’d been to watch it right up until Covid.
“But actually being part of it is quite an experience!
“Just coming over that drawbridge and hearing all the crowds screaming – it’s just an unbelievable feeling. It gets better and better every time I come across that drawbridge.
“It’s brilliant putting a smile on peoples’ faces.
“I’ll be sad when it ends, but I’m looking forward to going out to Dusseldorf in September to do a music festival over there.”
King’s Guard Band and Drill Team of Norway
Amongst the most striking international participants this year has been His Majesty the King’s Guard Band and Drill Team of Norway.
Inspired by the historic story of Norway’s King Olav and tales of their long-standing friendship with the tattoo, the King’s Guard have been enchanting the crowds with their precision drill and musical performance.
Edinburgh is the “epitome” of international tattoos for the Norwegians because it’s here that the King’s Guard debuted in 1961 just three years after their formation.
However, the 120-strong infantry battalion unit is extra special in that it’s made up of conscripted soldiers whose 12-month military service will end just 12 days after the last Edinburgh show.
‘Challenges’ facing conscripted soldiers
Staff Sergeant Fredrik Gresseth, 31, from Stavanger reveals that it was his own experience of performing as a conscripted soldier at the Edinburgh tattoo in 2012 that inspired him to pursue a full-time military career.
“It’s very challenging for conscripts,” said Staff Sergeant Gresseth, who returned to the tattoo as an NCO for the drill team in 2016, and is now enjoying his third appearance.
“You start from scratch with no military experience – the musicians are all amateurs and the drill team don’t know anything.
“But being here in 2012 actually made me realise how much impact you could have on people around you by excelling in something that you want to get really good at.
“I remember thinking ‘I heard the greatest show in the world in 2012. The greatest spectacle’.
“And I thought – ‘mmm – last show’ when all the guardsmen and me were crying before we went on, and we don’t often cry that openly.
“That was quite a strong experience.
“Then being alongside other professionals, other military units. Standing side by side.
“It really made me want to continue in the military doing something that is meaningful.
“It doesn’t always have to be tanks or airplanes or frigates.
“But maybe giving the public another sense of the military.
“It can be something as simple as music or being easy on the eyes.
“It helped me decide.”
Celebrating long history – and penguins!
From the Vikings to the Second World War, the connections between Scotland and Norway are long and deep.
From 1942-1945, for example, Catalina seaplanes from 333 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force were stationed at Woodhaven, Wormit, as featured in The Courier.
Today we joined His Majesty the King’s Guard Band and Drill Team of Norway at @EdinburghZoo for the promotion of their official mascot, Emperor Penguin Brigadier Sir Nils Olav III.
Find out more here https://t.co/IcPqfvccCq. #EdinTattoo pic.twitter.com/yY4grOrA7O
— Edinburgh Tattoo (@EdinburghTattoo) August 21, 2023
Members of the King’s Guard even visited Edinburgh Zoo to promote and bestow a unique honour upon the resident king penguin, Sir Nils Olav.
The world-famous King penguin, who was already a brigadier, now has the grand title of Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands and is official mascot of His Majesty the King’s Guard of Norway.
Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra
Another of the most colourful and energetic international performances at this year’s tattoo has been from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra.
Bringing a carnival atmosphere to the tattoo, they’ve brought a burst of cultural vibrance and warmth to the esplanade.
They’ve been telling the story of darkness to light with steel drums, fire limbo and stilt walkers.
Forty-year-old bass drummer Jason Jack, who joined the military aged 21, explains it’s all about “telling our story by showcasing our culture”.
However, on this, his fifth visit to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo since 2007, he says that he’s still trying to get his head around the Scottish weather.
“I’ve experienced it all,” he laughed.
“It fluctuates! Sometime it’s hot. You take off your jacket.
“Then you put on your jacket because it’s cold!”
Jason has “always been into music”.
He watched the drums being played in church and became interested in Trinidad and Tobago folk drumming.
He combined this with being able to play folk drums and drum sets, including bongos and the bass drum.
He now classes himself as a percussionist.
He remembers watching Trinidad and Tobago independence day parades on TV as a child and, inspired by the marching music, said to himself “I want to be part of that band”.
Infantry soldiers first and foremost, his military music career has taken him all over the world including Antigua, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Holland, Luxembourg. Florida and the USA.
He also played in England for the late-Queen.
When it comes to Edinburgh, though, he wishes they could visit every year.
When will the 2024 tattoo be held?
The 2023 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo ends on Saturday August 26.
The next Edinburgh tattoo ‘Journeys’, runs from August 2 to 24, 2024.
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