____________________________________________________________ The Scottish Associations of South Australia Inc.

Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society

Today, the term ‘Scottish Country Dance’ embraces the social dances of Scotland that have evolved from many traditions and are danced throughout the world by Scots and non-Scots alike.

Scotland, of course, had other traditions of dance and here the country dances incorporated features from older strathspeys, reels, rants and jigs. The result was a style of dance with which the whole of Scottish society could feel comfortable; the elegance and courtesy of the ‘country dance’ and the energy and step precision of the old ‘reels’.

Scottish Country dancing is today enjoyed by people from 8 years to 80 years in many countries. There are many dancing classes in each Australian state.

Scottish country dancing (a social form of dance with three or more couples of dancers) should not be confused with Scottish highland dance (a solo form of dance). There is a certain amount of cross-over, in that there are Scottish country dances that include highland elements as well as highland-style performance dances which use formations otherwise seen in country dances, but these are relatively few when the two dance forms are considered each as a whole.