Liela Cooper was was recently honoured by ScotDance Canada for her 50 years of teaching highland dance in Cranbrook and Kimberley.
Cooper says no one was teaching highland dance when she moved to the area as a kid.
“We moved from Saskatoon when I was a young teen and there was no one teaching in Cranbrook,” she said.
After high school she went to St. Andrews University in Scotland and became a fully qualified teacher.
Cooper started teaching in Cranbrook and Kimberley and her classes grew quickly.
“By the late 70s I had 125 students, I was teaching five days a week and it was my fulltime job,” she added.
She was nominated by a former student who now teaches dance in Creston.
“The woman who wrote the nomination letter her name is Lori Kepke and she teaches dance in Creston,” she said.
“She was a student of mine who is all grown up now and she was the one who wrote a letter to Scotdance Canada and they awarded it to me.”
She was given an award from ScotDance Canada during the Western Canadian Highland Dance Championships in Kamloops.
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