Carleton dancer passes on Scottish legacy

Ass1.Azman.2011

Iman Azman

January 7^th 2011

Dancing the night away was Laurel Walsh’s idea of the perfect summer. That was how she spent the last few months before attending Carleton University.

“It was the best summer of my life, nothing has come close,” said Walsh.

As part of a highland dancing company, Walsh performed nightly shows for crowds of thousands in a castle on the high hills of Scotland.

But her most memorable audience was the Queen of England and her grandsons. Walsh danced for the royal family at a Scottish festival and remembers wanting to be swept away by the princes.

“I expected Prince William to just scoop me up to live with him and that would be the path of my life!” laughed Walsh.

Walsh began dancing in her ghillies, the traditional Scottish footwear, since she was two years old. Inspired by the dancers and music at highland games, Walsh credits her passion to her great grandfather.

“Not a lot of people like bagpipe music, but since I loved my great grandfather so much, and he loved the music, it fell right into place,” she said.

After 16 years of dancing to the music her great grandfather loved, Walsh retired her ghillies after her memorable summer in Scotland. “It was the peak of my dancing, nothing can top it,” she added.

However Walsh continues to help young children master their ghillies to the drone of bagpipes. “It is very rooted in history and tradition. The dances we do are from the 14^th century and I don’t want to see it get lost,” said Walsh.

-30-

Capital Cupcake Camp.

Event3Azman

By Iman Azman

Carleton Journalism Reporter

The Capital Cupcake Camp marched into Ottawa last week where bakers shared their cupcake flavours with over a thousand people.

Ottawa’s second annual cupcake event attracted 100 amateur and professional bakers to display their baked goods in the lobby of Ottawa’s city hall.

“It is all about sharing your love of cupcakes with other bakers,” said event organizer, Ian Capstick.

The bakers who came to the camp were allowed to bring 24 cupcakes to share with the crowds. 

While this was only the second year for the cupcake camp in Ottawa, there have been other camps across North America and the world.  Capstick said the event began in San Francisco two years ago and has spiraled into a global event with more than 80 cupcake camps to date.

Bakers at the competition had the choice to enter their cupcakes into one of nine categories that ranged from “most original” to “best vegan.”  A panel of judges, including CBC hosts Alan Neal and Kady O’Malley, decided which bakers would be awarded the top prize.

Carleton University film student, Tina Hassani entered her vegan and film themed cupcakes in the “best decorated” category.   She said creating the decorations for her entries took two weeks to produce and promised she would “pick an easier theme” for next year.

Although there was some tough competition, not all bakers were there to be judged.  Little Cakes owner, Shakira Whitton said she was mostly there for the experience.  Unlike some of the cupcakes, Whitton said that her understated cupcakes were “delicious but not over the top.”

Whitton said she was impressed with the organization of the event and the quality of the cupcakes. “It is a good way to see some friendly faces and do some charity work,” added the Stittsville-based baker. Proceeds from the event were donated to the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa and Women Alive.

Volunteers Sarah Pike and Sean Bettely discovered the event through the blog site, Apartment613 and said a lot of people came to the camp because it was simply “too sweet to miss.”

30