Autumn term 2025

The term will start on 10th September and end on 10th December, party night with music by Ian Slater.

Spring term 2026

The term will start on 7th January and end on 13th May 2026, party night with music by Robert Whitehead.

Live music

Ian Slater will play on two mid-term Wednesdays, 22nd October 2025 and 4th March 2026 as well as for our party night on 10 December. 

Cribs and videos

The cribs and videos of the dances planned for a Wednesday evening at Saltire are now a regular weekly feature on our website under Class Nights. The link will be available each week sometime between the Sunday and Tuesday.

Clicking on the link will bring up a list of the dances on a separate tab. Clicking on a dance will bring up details of the dance, including the crib, the diagram and a selection of videos.

This is the link for the programme on 8th October 2025. Ian Slater will be playing for us on 22nd October.

One of the dances is The Reel of the Royal Scots. A dance commissioned from the Society and devised by Roy Goldring to celebrate the 350th anniversary in 1983 of Scotland’s oldest regiment. Along with all the other Scottish regiments, The Royal Scots have been merged into The Royal Regiment of Scotland with most of its traditions being carried on by the 1st Battalion of that regiment. [Scottish Country Dance Database]

This is one of the most popular Scottish country dances. It has been in the top twenty most frequent dances appearing on dance programmes, for decades.

The Royal Scots (also known as “Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguards”) was formed in 1633 when King Charles I granted a Royal Warrant to Sir John Hepburn to raise a body of men to serve in France (Hepburn’s Regiment). Courtesy of the Scottish Country Dance Dictionary – a valuable resource.

Some dancers prefer not to look at the dances beforehand and, since all dances are walked through on a Wednesday evening, looking at them in advance is entirely optional.