P6 pupils from the Royal Mile and Abbeyhill Primary Schools and student dancers from Moray House School of Education and Sport came together yesterday to perform Junk Food, written and created for this year’s Pomegranates Festival.
Over the course of the spring term, pupils at both schools took part in several workshops to discuss themes such as why people dance, what dance looks like, and chose a topic of their choice to create a dance piece that was relevant to them.
The pupils chose to discuss ‘Junk Food’ and used this theme to create a short dance piece accompanied by new electronic music by Gourab Dey, with the help of students at the University. The pupils worked on themes like ‘hangry’ and what this looked like as a dance movement, and after several rehearsals they created today’s final dance piece.
Wendy Timmons, Co-Producer of Pomegranates Festival and Senior Lecturer in Dance at Moray House School of Education and Sport said:“Many children that we work with in schools experience dance as part of physical education, and therefore the aesthetic experience of being in a theatre and being on stage is completely new.
“What this project aimed to do was to create a dance piece using their ideas so they would feel more connected with the process. Today’s performance illustrates the quality of work that this process can create, and this came across in the piece.”
The Pomegranates Festival runs until tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April) and is Scotland’s annual festival of international traditional dance.
Initiated and curated by Traditional Dance Forum 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.
The Festival finishes with a finale performance on International Dance Day 29 April which includes a new piece of dance created by MC, hip-hop dancer and choreographer-in-residence Jonzi D and performed by 20 Edinburgh-based traditional dancers.
The piece will be accompanied by newly-commissioned poetry by Perth-based poet Jim Mackintosh who will also be launching his new book of poetry We are Migrant at the event, and poems by BBC broadcaster Ian McMillan.
Plus, there will be a screening of a new film by contemporary visual artist and human rights activist Mare Tralla who has been artist-in-residence at this year’s festival.
There will also be a live streamed keynote lecture by Jonzi D on ‘Decolonising the Expressive Arts Curriculum’ tomorrow – Tuesday 30 April at 10am at Paterson’s Land, Moray House School of Education and Sport, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ.
SOWING THE SEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADITIONAL DANCE
There’s just one week to go before the Pomegranates Festival of International Traditional Dance (25-30 April) kicks off at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and various venues across Edinburgh.
Tickets for all events are going fast and are available on a Pay What You Can basis.
The Pomegranates Festival, supported by Creative Scotland’s Traditional Dance Target Fund, celebrates Scottish traditional dance and diverse traditional dance practised by cultural migrant communities across Scotland.
The idea for the name of the festival comes from the second line of the Beatles song ‘Something’ (1969) written by George Harrison. The word pomegranate was only used as a temporary filler by Harrison before he settled on the final lyrics.
For the festival this idea of pomegranates being a filler before settling on the final creation, came to stand for their process of workshopping, trying and teaching – all elements that remain hidden from the public eye, but culminate in unmissable creations.
This year, these unmissable creations include:
A newly-devised showing ofElegies, (27 Apr, 7pm) which premiered during the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2023.
This performance, which weaves together dance theatre, spoken word and live music, is a dance adaptation of the poetry book Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (1948) by Hamish Henderson(1919-2002), a soldier-poet, singer-songwriter and scholar-folk revivalist of Scotland.
Set in a dancehall and a desert during the Second World War, the new production is centred around new ensemble choreography by George Adams which embodies ceilidh, jive, swing and lindy hop, accompanied by Henderson’s poems read by spoken word artists Morag Anderson and Stephen Watt, and live music and vocals from multi-instrumentalist Cera Impala.
The Festival Finaleon International Dance Day (29 April 7.30pm) which will include a new dance piece created by festival choreographer-in-residence Jonzi D and performed by 20 Edinburgh-based traditional 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.
The piece will be accompanied by newly-commissioned poetry by Perth-based poet Jim Mackintoshwho will also be launching his new book of poetry We are Migrant at the event, and poems by BBC broadcaster Ian McMillan read by Jonzi D. There will also be a screening of a new film by contemporary visual artist and human rights activist Mare Tralla who has been artist-in-residence at this year’s festival.
Plus, there are tours of Edinburgh’s Old and New Town’s dance history (27 April 11am & 2pm), looking at the city’s dance tales and the under-recognised female dance teachers of the past, with writer and storyteller Donald Smith and dance historian Alena Shmakova; a special Lindy Hop ceilidh session led by the festival musicians-in-residence Castle Rock Jazz Band (27 April 8.30pm); a talk by Ruediger Hess, President of Europeade who will give an overview of the history of Europeade (25 April, 11am) which is the largest festival of folk dance and music held in a different European country each year, whilst on an initial visit to Scotland to explore the possibility of various cities hosting the 61st edition in 2026; and a Family Day on Sunday 28 April 10am to 2pm featuring shows for and by wee ones and a family ceilidh called by Caroline Brockbank of CeilidhKids.
Jim Mackintosh, poet-in-residence at this year’s Pomegranates Festival said:
to share the creative space
of the Pomegranate
to be one with such an array of talent,
to learn and empower, to embrace the rhythm
of words and dance woven with laughter
and the energy of youth
to pin my imagination
to the floor which
holds us to the union of our purpose
is a precious gift:
the gift that is the Pomegranate Festival
Pomegranate Festival co-producers Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova said:“We are delighted that this year’s festival is packed with over 25 events representing the diversity and wealth of traditional dance at our shores, as well as the intrinsic connection of Scottish and world trad dance with live music, poetry, film, heritage crafts, fashion and storytelling.
“We are very proud that for the third year now Pomegranates is serving a cocktail of fascinating movement to audiences and participants from Scotland, as well as worldwide via our festival livestreams.
“So looking forward to sharing this long weekend featuring over 100 trad dance artists, musicians and creatives as they take over our stages, screens and spaces.
“Spring has sprung and so have the seedlings of the ruby seeds and sequins of traditional dance from all corners of the world – all practised in Scotland by first and second generation of cultural migrants – from the Scottish Gaelic singing and step dancing to Ukrainian folk dancing, from Lindy Hop to Hip Hop.”
Vanessa Boyd, Interim Head of Dance at Creative Scotlandcommented: “The upcoming Pomegranates Festival in the capital promises a vibrant gathering of artists uniting to celebrate and present a diverse tapestry of Scottish traditional dance alongside traditional dance from migrant communities and various cultures.
“What makes this festival truly exceptional is the breadth of the programming provided by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland which will enable many more people the opportunity to experience and engage with a strong mix of traditional dance from Scotland and around the world.”
The Pomegranates Festival will run from Thursday 25 April to Tuesday 30 April 2024 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.
Vengefully Changed Allegiance is a solo exhibition of work by fashion designer Alison Harm, the founder of Edinburgh’s own Psychomoda clothing brand. Using industry scraps, vintage cloth and broken jewellery, Alison mixes different tartan patterns to create clothing items that challenge our opinions on tradition, and on what we should wear.
Curated specifically for the Pomegranates festival of international traditional dance (25-30 April), this exhibition of sustainable fashion also explores the living heritage of the tartan cloth still used by Highland dancers and for kilts.
By tradition, tartans are chosen according to a person’s clan however, Alison’s garments mix different tartan patterns together to create contemporary designs that question our need to safeguard our intangible cultural heritage, at the expense of innovation and fashion.
Fashion Designer Alison Harmsaid: “Fashion is cyclic, nothing is new. Just as today we might wear clothes of a bygone era to show our allegiance to a culture from the past, the Victorians did the same.
“A political Jacobite revivalist movement swept the UK in 1886, bringing a renewed interest in all things Scottish into the arts and fashion. Tartan cloth became a significant part of that movement.
“Almost a hundred years later, the youth of the UK, against a background of political and cultural dissent, again chose tartan as part of their tribal uniform, with a naive style consisting of a home-made, make-do-and-mend ethos.
“An anti-capitalist statement by the wearer. The wheel has turned again and sustainability is now the focus of the fashion industry. People want to express their dislike of the fast fashion behemoth which is ruining our planet.
“I have returned to tartan cloth to express this symbolism. By using industry scraps and remnants along with found objects, in the punk tradition, and irreverently mixing tartan patterns together to challenge the viewer’s perception of who can wear what, and to where – therefore suggesting they can step outside of societal expectations.”
Vengefully Changed Allegiance is part of Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and TRACS programme of events showcasing Scotland’s traditional arts and cultural heritage. TRACS has been recently appointed as an advisor to UNESCO on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in Scotland and this exhibition showcases ICH in practice through highlighting the sustainability in the fashion industry while exploring the role of tartan in Scottish trad dance.
Admission to the exhibition is free, and includes daily drop-in, on-demand artist and curator-led tours.
Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s springtime festival of Scottish and international traditional dancecurated by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and produced in partnership with TRACS, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
The festival celebrates Scottish traditional dance and traditional dance practised by cultural migrant communities across Scotland.
It provides a platform to showcase new dance commissions, exhibitions and residencies accompanied by live music, poetry, and art; and invites audiences to participate in ceilidhs, workshops (both in person and live streamed), tours, and talks about traditional dance from Scotland and around the world.
Edinburgh Central Library, 7-9 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EG
A new exhibition displaying over 100 items on loan from public and private collections of world traditional dance books and artefacts, opened today as part of this year’s Pomegranates Festival in Edinburgh.
Portrait of dance artist Ella Moore wearing a Ukrainian headdress and scarf featured in the exhibition. Commissioned by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland for the inaugural Pomegranates festival in April 2022 by floral artist Fiona Rose Gregory. Photo by Iliyana Nedkova
Dance Around the World will feature items from over 20 different countries including Scotland, Greece, Estonia, Poland, Bali and Japan. Highlights include a Ukrainian headdress commissioned by the festival in 2022 in tribute to the millions of displaced Ukrainians around the world (pictured above); an original Estonian dance dolly ‘rescued’ from a Finnish flea market and a full outfit worn at Scottish country dances since 1978 by a lifetime member of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
This year’s festival commission is a Barbie doll clad in a tartan frock by festival’s fashion designer-in-residence Alison Harm of Edinburgh’s Psychomoda brand. (Alison Harm’s solo exhibition of sustainable tartan exploring the role of tartan in Scottish trad dance is at the Scottish Storytelling Centre 23-30 April.)
Barbie in Highland Dance Dress – Commissioned by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland for Pomegranates Festival 2024. Outfit by Alison Harm of Psychomoda.
Alongside the numerous books on display selected from five private collections, as well as the catalogue of the Edinburgh City Libraries, visitors will revel in rare artefacts, including a pair of exquisite lacquer Geta shoes and an Obi bow and sash worn as part of the traditional wrap-around costumes for the Bon Odori summer dance festivals in Japan, and at the inaugural Pomegranates festival in Scotland.
Amongst the heirlooms in the exhibition is a silver brooch with a Viking ship motif which used to adorn the trad dance and song costume of the Estonian grandmother of the festival’s artist-in-residence Mare Tralla.
Mare, who co-curated Dance Around the World is a Scottish Estonian artist and activist currently working and living in Edinburgh. Her professional art career started in Tallinn in the early 1990s, where she became one of the leading interdisciplinary artists of the younger generation, conducting a feminist revolution in the field of contemporary art in Estonia.
Mare combines a variety of media in her work, from video, photography and painting to performance and interactivity. She also often utilises traditional crafts like knitting and weaving in her practice, including through her long-term craft projectNatty Peeps.
Artist-in-residence and co-curator Mare Tralla said: “I am so grateful for the opportunity to co-curate the Dance Around the World exhibition in collaboration with this year’s Pomegranates Festival and Edinburgh City Libraries and to offer hands-on craft workshops.
“I hope that any craft enthusiasts will join me to seek inspiration from the new exhibition to make our own costume jewellery and homeware while tracing the importance of tassels and pom-poms across the trad dance costumes from all corners of the world, including the sporran in the show”.
Edinburgh-based dance artist and art historian who is one of the major contributors to the exhibition Agnes Ness said: “I was so excited to go through my own library, photo albums and memorabilia and select a range of books, postcards and medals for the Dance Around the World exhibition.
“A wee testimony of my lifelong passion for art history and dance which dates back to my childhood spent in competitive Highland dance in the 1950s, leading to my current adventures as a teacher in Dance History at Dance Base, Scotland’s National Centre for dance where I am a founding member of the 24 Carat Gold Dance Group for those aged 60 and above.”
Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates Festival Co-curators said: “Our collaboration with Edinburgh Libraries began in June 2023 when we brought live trad dance to the library, possibly for the first time, while celebrating the feisty women-tradition keepers and dance innovators as part of the 10th anniversary of the Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival.
“We even recorded live in the George Washington Browne Room one of our Trad Dance Cast video podcast episodes with the legendary trad dance artist and costume designer Margaret Belford, 85.
“It was then when we pencilled and penned our love letter to the library – this very dance exhibition and all the related festival activities, including the craft workshops and walking tours.”
Dance Around the World
3rd to 30th April 2024, Open Mon-Wed 10am-8pm, Thu-Sat 10am-5pm, Closed Sun Central Library, 7-9 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EG
This exhibition is part of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and TRACS’s programme of events showcasing Scotland’s traditional arts and cultural heritage alongside international collections.On display are over 100 items on loan from public and private collections of world traditional dance books and artefacts.
Co-curator Mare Tralla‘s festival residency follows in the footsteps of the artists-in-residence in the Pomegranates festivals 2022 and 2023: Claudia Nocentini (Italy / Scotland) and Gabriel Schmitz (Germany/Spain). Likewise, Mare will create a new commission in her media of choice in response to the festival activities – a new screen dance that will be premiered at the festival finale.
10th, 17th and 30th April at 6pm Central Library, (George Washington Browne Room) George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EG Led by artist-in-residence Mare Tralla, these hands-on craft workshops, inspired by the new exhibition include crafting your own costume jewellery and homeware while exploring the role of tassels and pom-poms across trad dance costumes. All materials such as natural fibres and up-cycled fabric will be provided. Suitable for anyone aged 18+.
Admission Free
Walking Tour
27th April at 11am Meet at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR Led by storyteller Donald Smith this is a relaxed festival walking tour exploring the dance traditions of Edinburgh’s Old Town, including their locations and social contexts. An opportunity to learn about the local folk traditions, the Scottish Court and ‘polite’ society. The tour will start from the Scottish Storytelling Centre with a preview of the festival exhibition Vengefully Changed Allegiance by Alison Harm of Psychomoda. The tour will end at Edinburgh’s Central Library with a preview of the festival exhibition Dance Around the World featuring trad dance books and artefacts from Edinburgh and beyond.
Admission Pay What You Can
Pomegranates
Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s springtime festival of Scottish and international traditional danceproduced by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and TRACS in partnership with Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. The festival celebrates Scottish traditional dance and traditional dance practised by cultural migrant communities across Scotland. It provides a platform to showcase new dance commissions and residencies accompanied by live music, poetry, and art; and invites audiences to participate in ceilidhs, workshops (both in person and live streamed), tours, and talks about traditional dance from Scotland and around the world.
ELEGIES – Saturday 27 April, 7.30pm Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street
Hamish Henderson (1919-2002), was a soldier-poet and scholar-folk revivalist. Elegies is his first-hand account from the North African desert military campaign for which he won the Somerset Maugham Award.
His dedication of the book: “for our own and the others” sets the story within our own common bonds, fragility and humanity, in the setting of the ‘deadlands’ of Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya). The Elegies also reveal the shared helplessness of those loved ones at home waiting, praying – and dancing.
This production is led by a duo of dancers and choreographers Helen Gould and George Adams who together with dancers Nicola Thomson, Edwin Wen and Aimee Williamson embody and represent the characters from the ten elegies set both in the desert and the dance hall by using ceilidh, jive, swing and lindy hop – the popular social dance culture of the 1940s.
Through their movement directorship Gould and Adams weave into the dance, the reading of the Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica by spoken word artists Morag Anderson and Stephen Watt; and specially composed and newly arranged trad music and song by Cera Impala.
Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova,Elegies co-curators and producers from Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland said: “Elegies is a dance poem of serious reflection – a lament for all lives lost not only in WWII but in our world of conflicts, oppression and inequality.
“We were delighted by the positive reaction we received when it was first performed on Remembrance Day last year, and very proud of everyone who has worked with us on this revised adaptation as part of this year’s Pomegranates Festival.”
Elegies was originally commissioned for the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2023, then extended and revised for Pomegranates Festival 2024.
Trad Dance Session
There will be a post-performance lindy hop social dance session, led and accompanied by Pomegranates 2024 resident musicians from the Castle Rock Jazz Band, in the main atrium at the Scottish Storytellling Centre. All welcome. Tickets are Pay What You Can £5, £10 or £15 and available through the Scottish Storytelling Centre Box Office here
