Royal Scottish Country Dance Society

From ArticleWorld

The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, also referred to as RSCDS, was founded in 1923. Scottish Country Dance Society was founded by Jean Milligan and Ysobel Stewart of Fasnacloich, who sought out the need to preserve country dancing as performed in Scotland.

Preservation

Scottish country dancing had fallen into much disuse after the invention and popularity of continental ballroom dances such as the waltz or quadrilles. Later, the introduction of much of the American-style dances like the One-step, foxtrot, and jitter bug were also factors in the alienation of this style of dancing.

Remembering the roots

The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society collected dances from living memory as well as from old manuscripts. These were republished in a series of books. Most of these dances needed some manner of interpretation, and the dance style itself underwent serious updates for standardization.

They became much more ballet in grace and manner instead of the easy-going style that was the norm in other dancing styles of the early 20th century. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 's founders considered these easy going styles as sloppy and untraditional. After some argument, in the late 1940s the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society also started publishing newly-devised dances.

Today

Today the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society numbers some 20,000 members all over the world. Their headquarters are located in Edinburgh, and the continuous well-being of the Scottish country dance scene is largely due to the efforts of the Society itself.

The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society offers teacher’s training and holds an annual summer school in St Andrews, Fife. The Society will schedule the training for teachers at these times and can be reserved for the training any time during the year.