Tag: international traditional dance

Feet Together, and Take a Bow…

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/

Pomegranates Festival kicks off this Friday

There’s less than one week to go before the 4th Pomegranates Festival of International Traditional Dance (25-30 April) kicks off at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and various venues across Edinburgh. 

The Festival celebrates Scottish traditional dance alongside traditional dance practised by cultural migrant communities across Scotland. The festival includes exhibitions, films, workshops, masterclasses, talks, shows, walking tours and ceilidh dancing. 

Pomegranates is produced by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and this year’s themes that run through the programme are Masks – the mystery and power they present when used in different dance traditions, and Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

Programme highlights include:

●      A discussion about safeguarding our Intangible Cultural Heritage and the opportunities for Scottish traditional dance with Steve Byrne Director of TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland), Rachel Hosker of the Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh and Árpád Vörös, recipient of the knighthood award for lifetime contribution towards Hungarian folk dance. 
The discussion will be combined with demonstrations of traditional dance accompanied by live music including Scottish Country Dance, Step and Highland, with a Flowers of Edinburgh set by Scottish Step Dance artist Sophie Stephenson. There will also be a short display of two examples of traditional dances from Hungary and Poland that were recently inscribed in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list: Csardas (performed by Hungarian folk dancer Árpád Vörös) and Polonaise (performed by Anthony Carter, Fiona Lynch, Natalia Nowak and Renata Grillanda of Parzenica, Scotland’s  Polish Folk Dance Group).

●      A packed programme of ten short films celebrating Scottish Step, Highland, Indian Classical, East African, Chinese, and more. Including two short films directed by award-winning Canadian filmmaker Marlene Millar: To Begin the Dance Once More and Bhairava; Home directed by Kes Tagney and featuring Scottish stepdancer Sophie Stephenson; new work Second Guessing by Bgirl Emma Ready; and The Bright Fabric of Life commissioned by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in 2024 and created by Estonian filmmaker Mare Tralla.

●      New dance theatre piece not for glory devised and performed by award-winning dance artists Jack Anderson, Charlotte Mclean, and in collaboration with composer, and musician Malin Lewis. This contemporary and radical performance piece combines mesmerising and unique sounds from bagpipe, fiddle and loop pedal with energetic and raw dance and movement. Claiming to dissect heritage and resuscitate tradition whilst exploring kilts, queerness and ceremonial violence. 

●      For International Dance Day (29 April) audiences will be treated to a new dance piece Hidden Faces created by festival choreographer Jonzi D with support from B-girl Emma Ready and B-boy Sean Edwards. This new piecewill be performed by more than 15 Scotland-based dancers. Jonzi D is a MC, dancer, spoken word artist and widely recognised for his influence on the development of the UK British hip hop dance and theatre scene. Emma Ready is a breakdancer, choreographer and creative educator based in Glasgow. Sean Edwards is a multi-disciplined award-winning artist with roots in community theatre, B-boying, street jazz, clowning and mime. 

Plus, there are tours of Edinburgh’s Old and New Town’s dance history, with dance historian Alena Shmakova; a special festival edition of the Traditional Dance Forum’s Ceilidh Plus which includes three hours of Scottish, Polish and Hungarian trad dances, all called on the night, with live music; and this year’s festival exhibitions by Lorraine Pritchard: Masks at the Scottish Storytelling Centre until 12 May and Venice Carnival (also inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list) at the Edinburgh City Library celebrates the popularity of mask-wearing traditions and the making processes behind this traditional craft.

Pomegranate Festival co-producers Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova said: “We are delighted that this year’s Pomegranates Festival is reaching new heights. With 15 events serving a ‘fascinating cocktail of movement’ this year’s Pomegranates highlights the intimate links of traditional dance with live music, film, fashion, poetry, art and heritage craft.

“Once again, we celebrate Scottish traditional dance alongside world-traditional dance practised by New Scots and cultural migrant communities across Scotland. However, we have two new festival themes – Masks and Intangible Cultural Heritage which we are delving into with our festival partners and over 100 artists.

“We can’t wait to share our discoveries over the long festival weekend with our new and returning audiences! Heel, toe, we are ready to go!”

The Pomegranates Festivalwill run from Friday 25 April to Tuesday 30 April 2025 and is Scotland’s annual festival of international traditional dance. Initiated and curated by Traditional DanceForum of Scotland it is 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. 

For tickets and more information visit https://www.tdfs.org/pomegranates/