Review by Catherine Coutts  Many readers will be aware of UNESCO’s involvement in world heritage through the seven sites in Scotland, including St Kilda, the Forth Bridge and the Antonine Wall. But did you know that for many years, UNESCO has promoted intangible cultural heritage such as traditional dancing? Scots will soon be invited to … Continued

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 40% on 2024; a sold-out Ceilidh Plus event mixing Scottish, Hungarian and Polish social dancing; and a packed house for Charlotte McLean’s new not for glory dance … Continued

Exhibition Review by Catherine Coutts     Do I really want to go to see an exhibition about masks? At the start of the decade, masks (the ugly type with elastic bands, which cannot be recycled and were often to be found littering almost everywhere) were a topic of significant discussion. How effective and necessary were … Continued

Initiated and curated by us at the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, the Pomegranates Festival of world trad dance is produced through collaboration. In particular, our major academic partner, Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh. Since its inaugural edition in spring 2022 until its current fourth iteration in 2025, … Continued

We are delighted that this year’s Pomegranates Festival (25-30 April 2025) is themed around traditional dance and intangible cultural heritage, especially at a time when Scots are soon to be invited to nominate their favourite traditions to be included on an official living heritage list. Later this year, submissions for the list will be encouraged from all sectors … Continued

The opening night of this year’s Pomegranates Festival of international traditional dance (25-30 April 2025), kicks off with a packed programme of ten short films celebrating traditional dance on screen. Traditional dance is rarely presented through the genre of screen dance, and this exclusively curated programme aims to fill in this gap. It honours multiple … Continued

We are delighted to announce Masks – this year’s Pomegranates Festival exhibition, which features over 20 hand-crafted Venetian and world dance masks created by Edinburgh-based artist Lorraine Pritchard. The exhibition is complemented by a new documentary film by Franzis Sánchez from this year’s Venice Carnival. The exhibition reflects the dual focus of our Pomegranates Festival … Continued

In the lead-up to this year’s Pomegranates Festival of traditional dance (25-30 April 2025), we, at the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland are celebrating Scottish traditional dance alongside world traditional dance practised by New Scots and cultural migrant communities across Scotland, with two more Ceilidh Plus nights on 21 March and 26 April in Edinburgh. … Continued

  Click here https://www.tdfs.org/trad-dance-cast/ to listen  To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Pomegranates Festival (25-30 April) is launching a new podcast episode highlighting the role of women in traditional dance. Released on 8 March to mark International Women’s Day, the episode features dance researcher and new Scot Alena Shmakova discussing her work on dance history in … Continued

The Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland is delighted to announce full details of our fourth Pomegranates Festival which will run from Friday 25 to Wednesday 30 April 2025 at various venues across Edinburgh. The Pomegranates Festival in partnership with TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) and Moray House School of Education and Sport, at the … Continued