King’s Birthday Honours 2026: Scottish country dance teacher Debbie Roxburgh made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Whanganui's Debbie Roxburgh has been made an MNZM for her more than 50 years of involvement with Scottish country dancing at a national and international level.
Whanganui’s Debbie Roxburgh has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours for her more than 50 years of active involvement in Scottish country dancing.
Roxburgh is a life member and president of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS) New Zealand branch and has spent her career sharing dance with people of all ages at a national and international level.
She said hearing she had been honoured was “hugely exciting” and an “enormous surprise”.
“When I first opened the email, I actually thought it was spam,” she said.
“It’s a huge honour, and I’m really grateful for the recognition.”
Scottish country dancing is a style of group dance where participants trace set patterns with choreographed footwork to upbeat traditional fiddle music originating in Scotland.
It’s considered a modern version of ballroom dancing which was popular in Scotland during the 18th century.
Roxburgh first took up Scottish country dancing in the 1970s in Christchurch while searching for a new hobby.
“From day one I absolutely loved it. I would be out dancing three, or four, or more times a week in those early years, and I just honestly haven’t stopped dancing or teaching since.”
She met her husband at a dance in Timaru, and many of her family now dance too.
“It’s a bit of a family pastime.”
Roxburgh moved to Whanganui in 1984 for her job at the National Library.
In 1987, she took up teaching at the city’s Glendarroch Scottish Country Dance Club, where she still teaches weekly and is a life member.
In the 1990s, she helped establish a syllabus for medal test examinations for junior dancers and created the Junior Associate Membership.
“[It gave] our younger dancers something of a target, something to aspire to in terms of improving their dancing.”
Roxburgh has served as youth co-ordinator, rules committee convener, member of the New Zealand branch management committee, and an appointed RSCDS examiner, regularly conducting examinations for new teachers in New Zealand and Australia.
She has also served on organising committees for several annual week-long residential schools for New Zealand and international dancers, including at St Andrews in Scotland.
She was the first New Zealand teacher to be invited to St Andrews, she said.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, she taught online classes from her living room. Her first class had more than 1000 people in the online audience, she said.
“Real highlights for me are actually just seeing people who are learning to dance getting real pleasure from growing confidence and capability around their own dancing.”
She teaches an adult class and a children’s class each week at Glendarroch club for RSCDS, and a monthly advanced class.
“It’s a real thrill to see people who I’ve taught to dance as children returning to dancing as adults and then bringing their own children along.”
Scottish country dancing gave her friends from all over the world, and the social side to it was what made it special for her, Roxburgh said.
“[It’s] a wonderful combination of fun, fitness, and friendship.
“I really want dancing to be accessible to as many people as possible ... If I can achieve that, I’m a very happy person.”
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.