To be honest, I don't think a military box would be very practical for a dancer's kilt (way too much trouble to press!), and a properly made knife-pleated kilt swings just fine. And, in fact, I suspect (although I haven't actually tried this) that the stiffness of the extra creases in the military box would inhibit the flashy swing that Highland dancers get with their knife-pleated kilts.
No reason at all not to pick whatever tartan you want and to pleat it either to the sett or stripe. Although most Highland dancers have kilts pleated to the sett, there's no rule against pleating to the stripe. Our daughter competed for many years (very successfully) in an Antarctica kilt pleated to the stripe, and her best friend competed in the Arctic tartan, pleated to the stripe:
has great flash
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