A solo Scottish National dance carried in four grades of the Highland dancing championship template, marked on timing, technique and deportment like every other dance on the programme.
Earl of Errol is a solo dance in the Highland dancing championship template, listed with the National dances rather than the four formal Highland dances. The rule book behind the template gives Irish Jig, Scottish Lilt and Village Maid as examples of National dances and says there are others; Earl of Errol is another dance the template carries on the same footing. For an organiser it is one more timed solo with its own draw, its own placings and its own column on the score sheet.
On the day it works like any solo in the championship. The announcer calls the dancer, the dancer walks to the floor and takes the starting position, the music begins and the dancer performs the dance to its final bar before leaving. The template does not describe the steps, the tune, the tempo or the dress for this dance, so neither does this page; those are matters for the dancer’s teacher and the governing rules. The organiser’s job is the draw, the panel and the marks.
Marking is the rule book’s single scheme for every dance: a maximum of 100 marks, divided into Timing 10, Technique 80 and General Deportment 10. In Championships and Scottish National Dance Premierships the judges give six clear placings. In the grade competitions, a first, second or third place counts towards moving up, so a dancer will meet the same dance repeatedly through a season.
The template places Earl of Errol in Beginners, Novice, Intermediate and Premier. It is not in Primary, the grade for dancers under seven, which is restricted to Pas de Basque, Pas de Basque and High Cuts, the Highland Fling and the Sword Dance. Because the progression runs by grade and not by age, the programme can pair a young Beginner and an experienced adult Premier dancer in the same session, each judged in their own grade on the same 100-mark sheet.
Where Earl of Errol is run
On eTalenter this dance appears in one template only, the Highland dancing championship template, where it runs in Beginners, Novice, Intermediate and Premier. National dances are danced at Highland games, festivals and championships in Scotland and in Scottish dance communities overseas, including Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. This page covers only the item as the template carries it: a graded solo progression with no age bands.
- Scotland, United Kingdom
Key facts
- A solo dance, recorded as Individual and open to both genders
- Carried among the National dances, which the template keeps apart from the four Highland dances
- Entered in Beginners, Novice, Intermediate and Premier; not available in Primary
- Marked out of 100: Timing 10, Technique 80 and General Deportment 10
- Championships and Scottish National Dance Premierships give six clear placings
- The ten-minute ceiling in the template is an app default, since the rules print no time limit for this dance
On eTalenter, Earl of Errol is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Earl of Errol is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Earl of Errol
What a Earl of Errol panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Technique, 80 of the 100 marks: correctly placed feet and legs, clean finishes to each movement and tidy changes between steps instead of a dance that blurs together
- Timing, 10 marks: moving with the music from the first bar, keeping the beat steady and finishing on the closing note and not a fraction after it
- Consistency from start to end: panels notice when the closing repeat is weaker than the opening, so a dancer who holds shape and height to the last bar gains on those who fade
- Use of the floor: a controlled, compact track that returns to where the dance started, with no wandering toward the judges or the edge of the platform
- General deportment, 10 marks: upright carriage, a composed walk on and off, neat grade-appropriate dress and a settled, pleasant expression
- Tie-breaking within a grade: when two dancers are level on technique, small things such as sharper finishes or steadier posture decide who is placed, and in the lower grades a placing counts towards promotion
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Earl of Errol under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Earl of Errol
How entrants and their teachers usually get Earl of Errol right on the day:
- Learn the count first: have the dancer say the bar numbers aloud against the music until they know without thinking how much of the dance is left
- Split the dance into short sections, drill each until it is dependable, then join them, because most mistakes appear at the seams between sections
- Record a run-through every week and watch it twice with the teacher: once for feet and legs alone, once for posture, expression and timing
- Rehearse the walk on, the starting position and the final pose in every run, since deportment marks are cheap to earn and the easiest to forget
- Practise in the shoes and outfit planned for the day and, where possible, on a surface close to the competition platform
- Train endurance by dancing the full dance twice in a row, so the second half of the competition run is as crisp as the first
- Keep a single written correction from each adjudicator’s comment sheet and make it the only focus of the next fortnight
Ready-made event templates that include Earl of Errol
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Dancing Championship (RSOBHD) | On Stage | Marks | 4 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Earl of Errol judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Earl of Errol one of the Highland dances?
No. The rule book behind the template names four Highland dances: the Highland Fling, the Sword Dance (Ghille Callum), Seann Triubhas and the Strathspey and Reel of Tulloch. Earl of Errol is carried with the National dances, which the rule book introduces through Irish Jig, Scottish Lilt and Village Maid and then says there are others.
Can a Primary dancer enter Earl of Errol?
Not in this template. Primary, for dancers under seven, is limited to Pas de Basque, Pas de Basque and High Cuts, the Highland Fling and the Sword Dance. Earl of Errol is carried in Beginners, Novice, Intermediate and Premier.
What are the marks for this dance?
A maximum of 100: Timing 10, Technique 80 and General Deportment 10. The template records the same 100-mark maximum in every grade that dances it, and Championships and Premierships use six clear placings.
Does a placing here count towards moving up a grade?
The rule book moves dancers up through top-three finishes in grade competitions, and each dance is its own competition, so a first, second or third place counts as one of those results. How many are needed is set by the governing rules, not by this page.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full folk dance judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Earl of Errol in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Earl of Errol, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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