As part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland (TDFS) is launching a brand new series of Ceilidh Plus events that will fuse Scottish and world dance traditions.
Curated and hosted by TDFS’s dance musician-in-residence Chris Lyons (multi-instumentalist), Ceilidh Plus will kick off on Saturday 2 November, with dances and tunes from Scotland, China and the USA, led and accompanied by hand-picked Scotland-based dance artists and musicians from diverse backgrounds, including Morag Brown (fiddle), Marina Sharp (Ceilidh dance), Jack Weir (guitar), Angel Godwin (American Country Line dance), Yuxi Jiang (Chinese Square dance), Yanmei Bowie (Chinese Square dance), Eddie McGuire (Chinese bamboo flute), Chenhao Wang (two-stringed Chinese fiddle) and Tai Shing Lin (Chinese dulcimer percussion).
This will be followed by a second night on Saturday 7 December of ceilidh dances and tunes from Scotland, mixed with world trad dance from Greece and Italy. It will be called and accompanied by Rona Wilkie, Marina Sharp, Jack Weir, Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker, Stefanos Tzotzolakis, Lara Russo and band members of the Badwills.
This new Ceilidh Plus seriesis one of the highlights of TDFS’s Ten out of Ten series of events to mark its 10th anniversary and celebrate the diversity and breadth of traditional dance activities by its members.
Dance musician-in-residence Chris Lyons who contributes to TDFS’s work year round, said: “I believe that the tradition bearers of Scottish Ceilidh would be delighted to share the stage and the dance floor with the dance traditions of the other cultures which have become an integral part of contemporary Scotland – from Irish Ceili to Bulgarian Folk, from Italian Pizzicca Pizzicca to Greek Rembetiko, or from American Country Line to Chinese Square Dance as in our first Ceilidh Plus.
“Although there are regular and popular Ceilidh nights across the country’s village halls and cultural centres, there are hardly any events which would provide space for the folk fusion of Scottish Ceilidh with other world trad dances. Ceilidh Plus is about to change this and hopefully establish a new tradition.”
Iliyana Nedkova Creative Producer of TDFS said: ““Ceilidh Plus is a great opportunity for the multi-ethnic communities in and around Edinburgh to come together for a dance and music experience rooted in respect for both Scottish and world traditional cultures.
“We hope both dancers and non-dancers will join us for an evening of great music and entertainment and help us mark our 10th anniversary in style.”
Ceilidh Plus is funded through Creative Scotland’s TASGADH (Traditional Arts Small Grants). All proceeds are reinvested into TDFS’s year-round programme which aims to diversify traditional dance practised across Scotland.
For tickets and more information on Ceilidh Plus and other traditional dance events happening this winter visit https://www.tdfs.org/ten-out-of-ten/