McCorkell Academy of Highland Dance

Elizabeth McCorkell, RSOBHD Judge, SDTA Fellow

Elizabeth is an Adjudicator on the RSOBHD World Wide Panel of Judges and a Fellow of the SDTA. She is currently Secretary of ScotDance Canada and has previously held the position of Treasurer of ScotDance Nova Scotia. Elizabeth has been the Co-Director/Choreographer of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo Highland Dance Team since 2016 after ha

ving spent several years performing in the Tattoo as both a Highland dancer and a member of the Pipes and Drums. Elizabeth was the Artistic Director and Highland Instructor of the Amethyst Scottish Dancers of Nova Scotia, a professional performance troupe founded in 1985, from 2016-2019 and now runs her own dance school, McCorkell Academy of Highland Dance, established in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2015. Elizabeth grew up dancing in Red Deer, Alberta with Arlene Pederson and Wendy Wilson in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, later moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia studying under Jennifer Worthen. She has instructed for dance schools in several provinces across Canada including BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. She has danced competitively across Canada and Scotland, including being a Representative for Saskatchewan in the Canadian Championships at the ScotDance Canada Championship Series. Elizabeth has been a member of several professional performance troupes, and has performed for audiences large and small including Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. She has performed in many international festivals and Tattoos such as the International Gathering of Highland Dance in Disneyland Paris, France; International Taptoe België, Belgium; International Intangible Festival in Chengdu, China; Le Festival International de Musiques Militaires de Québec (FIMMQ); Virginia International Tattoo, USA; Belfast International Tattoo, Ireland; Kremlin Military Tattoo “Spasskaya Tower” Festival in Moscow, Russia; Berlin International Tattoo in Berlin, Germany and the Bremen International Tattoo in Bremen, Germany. Elizabeth resides in Halifax and plays snare drum with 12 Wing Shearwater Pipes and Drums. Outside of the dance studio she is a Visual Artist with a BFA in Studio Art majoring in painting and printmaking from the University of Saskatchewan.