2024 ASF TARTAN WEEK EVENTS
A great way to begin parade day as pipe bands from near and far join us with great music and dance. Once again we will be filling the air with the sound of bagpipes in the run up to the Parade.
Event Information
- DATE: Saturday April, 6th, 2024
- TIME: 10:30 AM - 12.45 PM
- LOCATION: Bryant Park
- TICKETS: No tickets required. The event is for all the community.
Musical program includes:
- Shot of Scotch
- Lindsay School of Dance
- Noisemaker & Ainsley Hamill
- Robert Gordon Pipe Band, Scotland
- NYU Pipe Band
- Noisemaker with guest Ainsley Hamill
- Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps
- Merchiston Castle School Pipe Band
- Shamrock and Thistle
Performers
Shot of Scotch, Highland Dance Troupe
The members of Shot of Scotch all have solid backgrounds in competitive highland dance and many are teachers with a wide range of skills including Scottish country dance, singing, guitar, fiddle, tap dance, acting and more that allows them to explore far beyond the expected bounds of a Scottish highland dance troupe!
Shot of Scotch has been seen performing all across the lower mainland and around the world. A highlight of 2016 was an invitation to Paris France to perform and teach at the 8th Annual International Body Music Festival, a large international gathering of top caliber artists from all across the globe.
The dance company has worked with Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas, the Royal Academy of Bhangra, the Seaforth Highlanders, RCMP Division “E” Pipes and Drums, popular Celtic band Blackthorn, Vancouver Fiddle Orchestra, among may other pipers, fiddlers and renowned musicians. The dance company has also collaborated with other ethnic dance groups including Serbian and South Asian troupes for a unique multi-cultural persenation.
Shot of Scotch brings innovation, showmanship, and passion for highland dancing to every event.
Noisemaker
Noisemaker is the award-winning writing partnership of Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie. Both graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the pair work throughout the UK and internationally to create and develop innovative, original stories that celebrate and challenge the form of musical theatre.
Now ten years later, Noisemaker have worked across the globe: from Glasgow to New York, London to Chicago, we’ve collaborated with a wide variety of companies and artists to find new and compelling ways of storytelling and further explore how music and song may be used to connect with and affect our audiences.
As a Scottish partnership, we began writing and developing our work in Glasgow initially before expanding to theatres and audiences throughout the UK. In 2015, we were chosen by Walt Disney Imagineering and NMI Inc. for their New Voices Award. This scheme recognises the most promising new writing talent in the field of musical theatre and resulted in a concert of our work in Burbank, Hollywood plus expert songwriting mentorship. It also began to share our work on an international scale.
Ainsley Hamill - One of the UK's leading and most diverse singers, Ainsley has a long list of nods including the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Finalist and Gaelic Singer of the Year Finalist at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
She was recently named in The List’s Hot 100 Scottish artists.
Shamrock and Thistle
The Shamrock and Thistle Pipe Band was founded in February 1974 under the direction and tutelage of Pipe Major Dennis Staer and Drum Sergeant, William King, Sr.
The original idea for the band was that of James Curry, Esquire, a Toms River attorney whose love of bagpipe music, although not a player, promoted the initial gathering of prospective students. Through long and tedious lessons, and countless hours of practice, the band began to emerge.
After 49 seasons the Shamrock and Thistle Pipe Band has compiled an admirable record, including numerous appearances at festivals, ethnic affairs, and bicentennial events. The band attended dedications all over New Jersey and New York , including the New Jersey Vietnam Memorial, Gulf War Veterans in Seaside Heights, and the 175th Anniversary in Freehold for the Adelphia Fire Company.
The bright yellow color of the dress MacLeod Tartan, the "skirl" of the pipers and drummers led by Drum Major Thomas J. King, Pipe Major William J. King, Pipe Sergeant Keith A. Tice, and Drum Sergeant John J. King, will surely strike a thrill in your soul. Our instructor for piping is: John Cumming for beginners. Drumming instructors are: Drum Sergeant John J. King for snare drummers, Thomas J. King for bass, and Tim Cook for tenor drummers.