Musings on the 2004 Edinburgh Military Tattoo from Alison
Hi Jus,Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2004
A trip of a life time!
My experience.
The year leading up to the Tattoo was one of the longest years I've ever had! It was like a waiting game - I was so excited and just couldn’t wait to get over to Scotland and be a part of the Australian Edinburgh Tattoo Team!
After a day and a half of flying it was such a relief to actually land at Edinburgh Airport, hear the Scottish accent and be driven by coach to Redford barracks!
As soon as we got there we were introduced to our managers and supervisors and then shown to our dorms.
Everyone was so jet lagged but so excited because we knew in 2 hrs time we'd be learning the choreographed dance Billy Foresyth would be teaching us.
That night everyone went to sleep early while listening to the bagpipers practising on their bag pipes out side our windows (something so small that I will never forget).
The next day was the start of a long week of practicing and socialising with our Scottish dancing team who we joined teams with. Our teams combined worked so well! We all got along fantastically which was brilliant and some of us went out together on our time off!
We were also able to socialise with other performers involved in the Tattoo. Being able to meet pipe band members from all over the world, gymnasts girls from Estonia, English men from the RAF etc. was so much fun!
It was interesting staying in the barracks and experiencing a bit of military life. Most of us learnt how to wash our own clothes for the first time in a wash hand basin – what an experience! J We dealt with trickling showers, wasps flying into our dorms (which managed to sting two of our aussies), being fed a main meal every 5 hours when you weren’t hungry, using a noisy metal wardrobe which you had to lock – and yes once I lost my key so I had to break into my wardrobe! J Sleeping in a small bed, respecting other people when they are sleeping and getting used to having no privacy (seeing as though your sharing a room with 19 other girls). Even though this all sounds a bit unpleasant – it actually made the trip what it was and was something to laugh at – it made it fun and more of a new adventure!
Our first rehearsal at the Edinburgh Castle was our first taste of the police escort – it was a strange feeling (having police stopping all traffic just for you) but trust me we all got used to the luxury fairly quickly! It was great to see the Castle finally after all this time and see it with mist steaming around it! Seeing everything come together in the day rehearsal was awesome! Watching all the acts and hearing the mass bands walk up and down the esplanade gave you a lift!
The same night was the dress rehearsal. In the crowd were friends and family of the performers and every seat in the stands was filled so you can imagine how energised the crowd was! Yes it typically started to rain as the Tattoo started but it didn’t change the crowd. This was our first performance in front of a crowd of 9000!
All the girls lined up on the side of the esplanade underneath the stands stretching and warming up, going through the dance in our heads and peeping through the gaps in the gateway to get a glimpse of the crowd and the soaking wet performers. The act before us marched off and then it was our turn. The music came on and nerves were buzzing! As soon as you stepped on to the esplanade the light of the beams blinded you, you look up at the cheering crowd and you just cannot believe your eyes – all the thousands of people and the lit up Edinburgh Castle in all different colours - I just couldn’t believe it was real! The dance came together brilliantly and the rain eventually stopped during our dance. The live band behind us and the crowd yelling and cheering gave us all an even bigger buzz. Every dancer came off still dancing and jumping about and hugging each other, some even crying! It was amazing! You should have heard our dressing room when we'd finished. It was so loud and everyone was still excited about what had just happened. Just to top it off Billy Forsyth came in and told us how proud of us he was, how great we all looked and he wanted the same performance from us for the rest of the shows. We couldn’t believe our ears!
My favourite performance was the one which was in front of my mum and my Scottish cousins, Auntie and uncle. I was so nervous just thinking how they were up there in the crowd and to make things even more nerve wracking for me it was the first day of filming of the show!!
During the nights of performing we also were able to fit in some other events. The Edinburgh parade that went down Princess St was so much fun! It attracted a huge crowd and a hot and steamy 34 degrees day! The Aussie team were lucky enough to make it on the front page of the local news paper - yep, up close and personal!
We travelled to Aberfeldie and did a mini Edinburgh Military Tattoo for all the locals there! The views were beautiful on the way up and back!
I went to Erskine with four other dancing friends and a few members of the First Battalion Scots Guards pipe band. We danced there in front of past war veterans which was a great experience! We also made it into Erskine's local paper too!
While all this fun dancing was going on we also were able to fit in some dancing competitions into our busy schedule. I was able to go with a group of the girls and watch Musselburgh Championships. It was brilliant to hear all the feed back from Musselburgh and Cowal Championships! All the Australian dancers in these competitions did so well and to hear the result from Cowal (Natasha Millwood's win) got the whole aussie tattoo team in such a high!
A few of us fitted in some of our own competitions and managed to get to Crieffe Highland Games which was fun and another great experience for me! Unfortunately some other competitions other girls wanted to do e.g. Perth was cancelled.
Tescos was the local supermarket just around the corner from the barracks. We'd go there on our time off and boy did we spend lots of money there! I loved just being able to walk up to the local Tescos and buy as much Iron Bru, Scottish caramel fudge, sweet tablet and Edinburgh Rock as you want! J
Only one pound would get you a day pass on the bus. We were able to find out that you could get a bus from across the road of the barracks and get dropped off anywhere on Princes St – Perfect! A lot of our spare time was spent shopping till we dropped! Princes St is a shoppers dream with every store you could imagine and my favourites – Debenhams and Accessorise!
One thing I will always cherish is the friendships I made while in the 2004 Tattoo team.
Being a part of the team gave me an opportunity to get to know dancers from all over Australia and Scotland. Dancers and performers I'd never met before are now emailing me and keeping in touch and the friendships I'd shares with friends I'd already had have grown stronger – thanks to this event!
Last but not least I'd like to take this opportunity to say a huge big thank you to Cheryl and Amy Roach for accepting me to be apart of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo team 2004! Without you both this trip would have never happened and turned out as successful as it did. Thank you so much for these valued memories.
I would also like to say thank you to the SDA members that travelled to Scotland to be a support! It was brilliant to have you there in the stands with us!!
Alison Smith
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