International Council
Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing
Governs
International Council
Overview
The Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (RSOBHD) is, in its own words, "the worldwide governing body of Highland Dancing", and describes its remit as overseeing "the history, traditions and development of our ancient dance form". It was established in 1950. Its authority over competition is direct: "All competitions are governed by the RSOBHD, ensuring that dancers of a similar standard are grouped together with progression based on experience and result placings." It does not itself teach or examine. Instruction and assessment run through three partner teaching bodies - the SDTA, UKAdance and BATD - which the Board describes as providing "a structured learning curriculum", with dancers given "the opportunity of sitting examinations where their standard will be independently assessed". The dances named on its own site are the traditional Highland dances - the Highland Fling, the Sword Dance (Ghillie Callum), Seann Truibhas, Blue Bonnets, the Lilt, the Hornpipe and the Scottish Jig, with the Pas de Basque named as the first step a dancer learns. The Board describes Highland Dancing as "broken up into three disciplines": the traditional Highland dances, National Dances and Choreography.
Source
This entry records what Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing publishes about itself. We have not written an editorial profile for it yet. Source ↗
Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing, "About Us", highland-dancing.com/about-us-2/, with the dance list at highland-dancing.com/dance-styles/. Both read 2026-09-04; About Us re-read 2026-10-04. The governing role and competition authority quoted in the description are verbatim from that page, as is the founding year: "established in 1950". Name. The Board's own site names it the Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (RSOBHD) throughout. The web address sobhd is kept unchanged because it is a live link rather than a form of the name. The About Us page does not say when the title "Royal" was granted, so this entry does not claim that a body under the present name existed in 1950. Teaching and examining. The Board governs competition but does not itself teach or examine. Instruction and examination run through three partner teaching bodies named on its site: the British Association of Teachers of Dancing (BATD), the Scottish Dance Teachers' Alliance (SDTA) and the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing (UKAdance). This entry therefore does not describe the RSOBHD as an examining body.
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