Successful Year for Pomegranates Festival
2025 was another successful year for the Pomegranates Festival which ran from 25th to 30th April.
The packed five day programme of traditional dance, saw ticket sales up by over 40% on 2024; a sold-out Ceilidh Plus event mixing Scottish, Hungarian and Polish dancing; and a packed house for Charlotte McLean’s new not for glory dance theatre piece, brought to life by the incredible sure footing of Irish traditional dancer Jack Anderson and music from Malin Lewis.
Supported by Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding programme through TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) and Edinburgh Local Community Fund through the University of Edinburgh, the Pomegranates Festival celebrates Scottish and world traditional dance practised by anyone, including cultural migrant communities across Scotland.
Now in its fourth year, the festival has grown from a two-day showcase of work performed by local dancers, into a five day festival of workshops, exhibitions, walking tours, discussions and a showcase for new work.
Marking UNESCO International Dance Day on 29 April, this year’s festival finale Hidden Faces, was a powerful example of the strength of workshopping that the festival has anchored in its programme from the outset.
The piece – a hip hop dance theatre tribute to the masked trad dances from around the world – was created across 2 intensive days, choreographed by 2 guest artists – hip hop dancer and clowning theatre practitioner Sean Edwards, and Scotland’s only professional B-girl Emma Ready; performed by 15 dancers and 3 musicians all based in Scotland; and produced with direction from Jonzi D, founder of Breakin’ Convention, MC, spoken word artist and hip hop dancer.
Other new work that premiered this year was the festival commission Sequins – a hip hop piece fused with Congolese traditional Luba dance by Kalubi Mukengela-Jacoby, aBelgian Scot dance artist with Congolese heritage who choreographed and performed her solo to another festival commission Sequins of Poems to Dance To, a set of 10 poems written and spoken by broadcaster Ian McMillan with a haunting soundscape by Robert Russell.
One of the festival themes this year was masks, and the dancers took inspiration from the exhibition Masks by Lorraine Pritchard which was on display in the Storytelling Centre and the Edinburgh Central Library.
The exhibition included handcrafted Venetian style masks, books on the Venice Carnival and a collection of photos and newly-commissioned documentary film by Franzis Sánchez shot at this year’s Carnival and at various locations across Edinburgh.
Audiences also enjoyed a lively discussion following the screening of ten short films by home-grown and international teams of choreographers and cinematographers with an innovative focus of traditional dance on screen; a fantastic new piece of contemporary dance rooted in traditional dance and music Socratic Circles workshopped with pupils from Royal Mile and Abbeyhill local primary school, and postgraduate dance students from Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh; and a new podcast and a sold-out walking tour of Edinburgh with historian and dancer Alena Schmakova exploring Mary, Queen of Scots’ passion for dance.
Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova, co-curators and producers of the Pomegranates Festival said: “We couldn’t be happier with this new edition of Pomegranates.
“It is really rewarding, also on behalf of the 100s of the dance artists featured and our new and returning audiences, to know that the festival has earned its unique place in Edinburgh’s cultural calendar and is treasured by anyone passionate about trad dance and its links to poetry and art, film and fashion, craft and heritage.
“We are proud that through this year’s 3 festival themes – trad dance, masks and intangible cultural heritage – we were able to focus on the fine examples of already recognised living heritage, such as Hungarian Csardas and Buso, Polish Polonaise, Chinese Yi culture and Venice Carnival.
“We are determined to build on the festival success of convening Scotland’s first-ever gathering about traditional dance and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention.
“Watch this space as we continue to explore the opportunities this UNESCO Convention opens up for Scotland’s traditional dances in an international context.”
The Pomegranates Festival plans to return in spring 2026 with a new five day programme of Scottish and world traditional dance. Dates to be confirmed.
The Festival is initiated and curated by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and presented and produced in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Pomegranates is funded by Creative Scotland Multi-Year Funding through TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland); the City of Edinburgh Council and University of Edinburgh through the Edinburgh Local Community Fund.
More information visit https://www.tdfs.org/pomegranates/
