The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is the world's leading dance examinations board. Formed in 1904 it is today a registered educational charity and is the only organisation that covers the full spectrum of dance examinations on a truly global scale.

The ISTD's chief objective is "to educate the public in the art of dancing in all its forms". To achieve this, the ISTD works in four main ways:

• to promote knowledge of dance

• to maintain and improve teaching standards

• to qualify, by examination, teachers of dancing in the ISTD's specialist techniques taught by our 10,000 members in schools of dancing throughout the world

• to provide, through its syllabi, techniques upon which to train dancers for the profession.

To this end, the ISTD's syllabi are kept up-to-date and teachers are encouraged to learn the new material. The ISTD provides a wide number of courses, summer schools and congresses to assist them in this. The ISTD publishes numerous books of value to teachers and students in all faculties of the ISTD and co-operates with the general publishers of others. ISTD publications, tapes and videos are available from our shop which you can purchase online. In addition, our magazine is sent to members four times per year to keep them informed of all activities and events. The ISTD website keeps members and non-members alike informed 365 days of the year. The ISTD's Library holds books on all the disciplines as well as some general background information on related subjects and dance magazines.

Each year upwards of 250,000 people are examined, for whom we provide grade examinations and medal tests to assess their proficiency.