In 1923 Miss Jean Milligan and Mrs Ysobel Stewart did not like what they saw. Scottish country dancing was disappearing. Globalisation is not a new thing, and the waves of people moving through the UK and Europe brought other music, other dances and other forms of entertainment.

Miss Milligan had been active in the Beltane Society, which disintegrated during the Great War, and was a teacher of physical education. Mrs Stewart, saddened by the decline of a dance form she had known for most of her life, began collecting dances with a view to publishing them.

Between them, with the help of Paterson's Publications, they formed the Scottish Country Dance Society. Miss Milligan began to teach the dances collected by Mrs Stewart.

During the course of the next few years the Society, driven by Miss Milligan and Mrs Stewart, brought dancers together, collected more dances and set about training teachers. Details of dances were taken from books, music, old programmes and the memories of anybody who could contribute. By the end of 1930 there were more than a dozen branches in the UK.

The end of World War II heralded the publication of newly devised dances and the spread of the Society to overseas branches. Scottish country dancing is done throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia and, thanks to the work of the RSCDS, we have a common language in our dance.

RSCDS Headquarters: 12 Coates Crescent, Edinburgh, EH3 7AF, Scotland, UK

Tel : +44 131 225-3854
Fax : +44 131 225-7783

e-mail: info@rscds.org

RSCDS web site: http://www.rscds.org/