The Scottish Official Highland Dancing Association (SOHDA) was formed in 1947 by a few well-known teachers and dancers of that decade and has since developed into a strong body of technically-minded Dancers, Teachers, Associate Teachers, Adjudicators, Examiners, Lecturers, etc., embracing a vast amount of branches throughout the Country and many affiliated free-thinking dancing organisations throughout the World.

           
The SOHDA regularly hold dancing examinations throughout its many branches where our younger male and female dancer members can enter the basic Pre-Primary, Primary, Various Grades, Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc., exams (these are usually for dancers up to 12 years of age), through to the Star Award exams (which include more on the theoretical side of Highland Dancing as opposed to actual dancing – for dancers of approximately 13 to 16 years of age), the Associate Teachers exam (for dancers 16 to 20 years of age – which allows successful candidates to initiate a dancing class and, after a few training experiences, can adjudicate at indoor competitions, though not Championships), right through to the Full Teachers exam (which puts the successful candidates name, after a few training experiences, on all of the various adjudicating panels for Competitions, Championships, Highland Games and Examinations). So, if a dancer has sat and passed most of these examinations then he or she can truthfully say they are very experienced in all the practical, technical and theoretical aspects of Highland Dancing.

           
During the 1950s and 60s the dances that were performed in competition were the Highland Fling, Sword Dance, Shean Truibhais, Reel, Sailors’ Hornpipe and Irish Jig. Then, in the early 70s national dances like Flora MacDonald’s Fancy, Scottish Lilt, Highland Laddie and Barracks Johnnie started to appear on the dancing programmes and now all 10 dances are a regular feature on our syllabus. During the past couple of decades our experienced technical committee have delved into the archives of our beloved art and unearthed at least three dozen Hebridean Dances/Lesser Known Dances which our teachers are passing on to their pupils as a pleasant change from the standard dances and they are proving very popular with all. So popular, in fact, that we now hold an Annual National Dance Championship where the programme consists of 10 of these so-called “lesser-known” dances – and we continue to spread the word by holding regular seminars and workshops in all regions of the country where we expand our members’ knowledge of these often long-forgotten dances.

           
The popular monthly indoor competitions are held from September to May in prominent centres throughout Scotland, most of them culminating at the end of each season in the respective championships, for example, the City of Edinburgh Ch/ships, the Scottish Ch/ships, the British Open Professional Ch/ships, the National Ch/ships, etc. During the summer months the SOHDA help organise the dancing events at many of the top Highland Games, where dancers from ALL dancing organisations are more than welcome to come along and compete. This underlines our motto – ALL Dancers Welcome!

           
Over the past few decades the SOHDA has been spreading its wings throughout the globe and has affiliated in friendly harmony with similar free-thinking dancing organisations in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In Australia, the Victorian Scottish Union (VSU) and the Highland and National Dancers of Australia (H&NDA) have linked up with us and we regularly exchange dances, ideas, videos, cassettes, etc., on our mutual hobby, and similarly in Sweden, the Stockholm Caledonian Dance Circle (SCDC) has also affiliated with us, and all concerned are learning more and more about the histories
and dances “frae a’ the airts!”

           
Even as you read this, constant correspondence and negotiations are going on to promote and increase our membership throughout the world.