I wear a non-white tartan, Drummond of Perth, so that would be Stone Mountain, October 18th the last time I was at a comp. My dance classmate wears Dress Turnbull (she regularly competes, latest was this last weekend and got several 1sts/2nds) and several other dancers in the Maritimes wear regular tartans (whom I've seen over the last year).

David, I haven't said that white-based tartans are not currently the norm, we're in total agreement. And, yes, a regular tartan does stand out. What I have disagreed about quite strongly is that people seem to think that a dancer HAS to wear a white-based dress tartan or that if a dancer doesn't then that dancer wouldn't be in the running to win or place at a competition. For instance, there's quite a few dancers wearing loud MacLeod tartans. Are you actually saying that those dancers who wear the MacLeod tartans should be barred from placing or winning? A judge who did so would be up for sanctions by the SOBHD!

Believe me, we have had judges who have posted on the dance group forum who've answered questions about issues like these and have said that they're too busy looking at the FEET to be worried about which tartan the dancer is wearing.