THE NEW YORK SCOTTISH BALL

The New York Scottish Ball is an evening of Scottish country dancing on a Saturday in the middle of November, in aid of the New York Caledonian Club: Highland dress or black tie, a whisky tasting and the signing of dance cards, reels to a live band before and after dinner, a raffle, and Auld Lang Syne at the close. The room changes every year; in 2026 it is the 3 West Club on West 51st Street. It is ticketed, and open to anyone who buys a ticket.

No one comes untaught. Beginners must attend at least two rehearsals before the night, and the last line of the programme reads “Auld Lang Syne and Carriages”.

The Caledonian Club

The New York Caledonian Club is a non-profit body established in 1856. The ball is given for it, and the Club, in the words of the 2026 listing, “creates and facilitates opportunities for friendly social events and educational workshops in order to maintain and strengthen connections with Scotland and Scottish diaspora communities”. In 2025 the auction and the raffle went to the Club.

The ball’s own founding year is not published. In 2024 the Club wrote that its dancers had been reeling together for more than forty years, and in 2025 for more than forty-five.

It is not the ball of the St Andrew’s Society of the State of New York. That society was founded by forty-five men on 19 November 1756 and is described as the oldest charitable institution in the state; its occasions are an annual banquet in November and the Tartan Day parade, and it gives no ball.

The ball has no fixed room. In 2024 it was held at The View at the Battery; in 2025 at the Down Town Association, at 60 Pine Street; in 2026 at the 3 West Club.

The Reels

The evening of 2025 ran as follows: at seven, whisky tasting and the signing of the dance cards; at a quarter to eight, reels to the Iona Dance Band; at nine, dinner and the raffle; at ten, reels again; and at a quarter past eleven, Auld Lang Syne and carriages. The dances that year were the Dashing White Sergeant, the Eightsome Reel, the Duke of Perth, the Gay Gordons, the Reel of the 51st Division, Hamilton House and The Flying Scotsman.

The dances are Scottish country dances, and they are learned beforehand. The Club holds rehearsals, which it calls Reel-Hearsals; at least two are mandatory for beginners, and no partner is needed. In 2025 they were held at Ripley-Grier Studios, 520 Eighth Avenue. Tables are asked to bring equal numbers of leads and follows.

The 2025 ball sold out, with what the Club called “a record turnout”.

In 2026 the ball is held on Saturday 14 November, from seven in the evening, at the 3 West Club, 3 West 51st Street, in Highland dress or black tie.

What to Know

It is held on a Saturday in the middle of November, through the evening: 15 November in 2025, 14 November in 2026. The 2027 date has not been announced.

Tickets are sold by the Club. In 2025 a standard ticket cost $300 early and $350 after, a patron’s $500, a junior’s, for those twenty-nine and under, $200, and a table of ten $2,900; the 2026 prices have not been confirmed. The 2025 ball sold out, and sales closed on 9 November.

Highland dress or black tie, as the Club publishes it; for ladies, long gowns without trains, tartan sashes if wished, and heels discouraged.

The 3 West Club stands steps from Radio City and Rockefeller Center, in a landmarked building with twenty-eight bedrooms of its own.

The mistake is to arrive without having learned the reels. Beginners must come to at least two rehearsals beforehand.

The Court

The New York Scottish Ball is not the Court’s own. Tickets are bought on a member’s behalf as soon as they are sold, with places at the rehearsals, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay in New York for a member coming from out of town, and the table afterward. The Court is at the Mayflower Ball the Saturday before.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.