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 University of Edinburgh celebrates Scottish traditional dance alongside world traditional dance practised by New Scots and cultural migrant communities across Scotland. It is supported by Creative Scotland and includes exhibitions, ceilidhs, workshops, walking tours, and talks about traditional dance from Scotland and around the world. Every year the Pomegranates Festival explores the intrinsic links of traditional dance with live music, film, fashion, poetry, art and heritage craft.
This year’s festival theme is masks inviting festival-goers to experience the power of masks used in different traditions; and reflect on the significance, beauty and mystery of masks and mask-making in traditional dance from antiquity to modern days.
The festival opens on Friday 25 April with a packed programme of short films of traditional dance followed by a Q&A with featured creatives, including the award-winning filmmakers Marlene Millar and Mare Tralla. Marlene’s films include To Begin the Dance Once More (2023) which tells the story of displacement and water crisis reimagined through the mythological world by three climate refugees from Scotland and Egypt; and Bhairava (2017) filmed on location in India which evokes Shiva, the Lord of Dance as both the destroyer of evil driving out terrible deeds, and the guardian of time.
Production shot from The Bright Fabric of Life (2024 Dir. Mare Tralla). Image courtesy the artist
Also screening is Mare Tralla’s new screen dance The Bright Fabric of Life (2024) which tenderly addresses the life-altering injuries sustained by women in labour, told using traditional African dance and music; Home (2023, Dir. Kes Tagney) which explores the deep connection people have for the place they call home featuring Scottish Step dancer Sophie Stephenson; Crowned by Flame (2024, Dir. Lyuxian Yu) about the Chinese Yi ethnic community’s Cigarette Box dance; Armea (2024. Dir. Letila Mitchell) which chronicles the homecoming of the dancers and musicians of the Pacific island of Rotuma; On Canada Day (2024, Dir. Gurdeep Pandher) reflecting on Canada’s past through a dance fusion of Punjabi and Celtic traditions; and Autocorrect (2022, Dir. Jonzi D) inspired by the COVID-19 face masks, set to the spoken word of Saul Williams and commissioned by Sadler’s Wells.
Hip-hop dance theatre artist, choreographer and dancer Jonzi D returns to the festival as this year’s choreographer-in-residence and will be working with traditional dance artists based in Scotland to create this year’s masked festival finale Hidden Faces which will premiere on the International Day of Dance (29 April 2025).
Production shot from United Nations? (2024) Pomegranates 2024 festival finale choreographed by Jonzi D. Image by Basya Volodarskaya
Other Pomegranates 2025 Festival highlights include:
- The premiere sharing of not for glory – a dance theatre gig of bodies and bagpipes, unravelling the competitive traditions of Scottish Highland dance, Irish dance and bagpipes devised and performed by Jack Anderson and Charlotte Mclean in collaboration with Malin Lewis.
- The premiere sharing of Sequins – a hip hop dance theatre solo show by Kalubi Mukangela-Jacoby set to the Pomegranates Festival spoken word commission of 10 poems Sequins of Poems to Dance To by Ian McMillan.
- An evening of poetry, dance and discussion focusing on Intangible Cultural Heritage and its relationship with Scottish traditional dance.
- A new exhibition of masks (3 Apr-12 May 2025) by Pomegranates Festival artist-in-residence Lorraine Pritchard – an Edinburgh-based mask maker, costume-designer and fashion model, plus the only Scottish artist performing at the Venice Carnival 2025. Her first solo exhibition, especially curated for the festival, zooms on the relationship between the heritage craft of mask-making and traditional dance. This two-venue exhibition will feature masks, photographs, films and books, including Lorraine’s new Venetian Carnival masks which ahead of the exhibition will be premiered and modelled by the artist at this year’s Carnevale in Venice 21 February – 4 March 2025.
- A day of walking tours led by dance historians Alena Shmakova and Agnes Ness about the role of women in traditional dance past and present, with focus on the role of Mary, Queen of Scots.
- A dance theatre matinee which is the culmination of Pomegranates dance artists-in-residence at Edinburgh’s Abbeyhill and Royal Mile Primary Schools. Over 20 resident dancers – all postgraduate students in Dance Science and Education at the University of Edinburgh – will perform alongside the Scot Polish musician-in-residence Aga Idczak. The choreography of the Scot Cypriot artist Sotirios Panagoulias and the costume design by the New York born Scot Polish designer Gerry Gapinski are co-created with over fifty x 10 and 11-year-old pupils. The matinee is the outcome of an unique co-devising method of Socratic Circles, weaving in the children’s ideas, drawings and poems about the wee objects selected by each pupil to represent their diverse heritage.
In the lead up to the start of the festival there will also be a podcast released on 8 March 2025 to celebrate International Women’s Day, previewing the story of Mary, Queen of Scots in Edinburgh and her passion for dance, with New Scot Alena Shmakova. Plus, there will be a Ceilidh Plus mixing Scottish, Bulgarian and Irish traditional dancing on 21 March 2025 to celebrate 10 years of the Bulgarian traditional dance school in Edinburgh and St Patrick’s Day on 17 March. This popular event is part of the festival’s year-round programme of Ceilidh Plus evenings held at the Kings Hall that combine Scottish dancing with traditional dances from the migrant and diaspora communities in Scotland. During the festival the Ceilidh Plus event will showcase a mix of Scottish, Polish and Hungarian dance styles.
Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova, Festival Co-curators said:
“In 2025 when we celebrate Edinburgh’s 900 years journey from the 12th Century City of David to the 21st City of Diversity, we are very proud to present the fourth edition of Pomegranates – Edinburgh’s festival of diversity in traditional dance, the festival that has already made it to the #ListHot100 as one of the 100 most influential cultural events of the year. Expect a flair of mystery as this year our festival artists will don their dance masks and take on whole new personalities honouring their traditions and our global living heritage.”
John Ravenscroft, Head of the Centre for Research in Education, Inclusion and Diversity (CREID) at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh said:
“I am very pleased to continue to forge our strategic academic partnership with the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland which dates back to 2018. Great to see the return of the Pomegranates Festival choreographer-in-residence Jonzi D who delivered the seminal Decolonising the Curriculum keynote lecture at Moray House School of Education and Sport as part of last year’s festival. I am also excited about the opening matinee which is part of the wider campaign advocating for the diverse forms of world traditional dance becoming a primary ingredient of our children’s primary education. This campaign is run by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in conjunction with our Centre and our School while the matinee is funded by the University of Edinburgh through the Edinburgh Local Community Fund.”
Jonzi D, hip hop dance theatre artist and choreographer-in-residence at this year’s Festival, said:
“Following my Pomegranates festival debut last year, I am really honoured to be invited back as this year’s choreographer-in-residence, plus I am particularly partial to the new festival theme of masks. Traditional dance is important, including masked dance, because it represents living heritage while celebrating difference. I think we’ve reached a period in society where our differences are being used against us; our differences are being used to keep us separated; our differences are being used as judgmental tools. Manufactured polarisation. But our infinite differences define our identities, and still we have more in common than we have apart. Pomegranates festival celebrates our differences.”
Vanessa Boyd, Interim Head of Dance at Creative Scotland, said:
“Pomegranates Festival continues to be an important platform celebrating Scotland’s rich traditional dance heritage alongside the diverse influences that shape our communities today. This year’s focus on masks highlights a powerful symbol that has been used in dance for centuries, transforming performers and deepening storytelling across cultures. Audiences can look forward to experiencing new work and exploring the rich and diverse traditional dance forms that the Pomegranates Festival has to offer across a packed programme of live performance, screen, workshops and community gatherings.”
The Pomegranates Festival (25-30 April 2025) is the annual platform for the diverse 250+ individual and organisational members of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland to teach, learn and perform in new dance theatre and screen dance shows, as well as new productions and residencies. This is the fourth edition of Scotland’s annual festival of international traditional dance, initiated, curated and produced by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland. It is presented in partnership with TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland), Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Central Library, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
In 2025 the Pomegranates Festival 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.
All festival events are presented on a free or affordable ‘pay what you can‘ basis. For tickets and more information visit https://www.tdfs.org/pomegranates/
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Featured image: Masked dancers, costume designer Gerry Gapinski and mask designer, maker and artist Lorraine Pritchard gather to launch this year’s Pomegranates Festival programme. Image by Greg Macvean. Left to Right Miya Ma, Gerry Gapinski, Lorraine Pritchard, Lexie Guo, Chloe Zhong and Tony Chen
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Established in 2014, Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland is the only national organisation of its kind dedicated to the advancement of all forms of traditional and social dance. It advocates for and supports the diverse Scottish and world trad dance forms practised in Scotland ranging from Ceilidh to Old Time, Swing to Hip Hop as an integral part of our global intangible cultural heritage. It provides free membership to over 250 traditional dance artists and organisations and supports them through three major routes – productions, residencies and festivals such as Pomegranates. A registered charity (SCIO SC045085) and a founding member of TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland) www.tdfs.org
TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland) (SCIO, SC043009) is a co-operative network which champions our shared traditions of music, song, storytelling, dance, crafts, customs and local languages. TRACS celebrates the local distinctiveness of Scotland’s places: our intangible cultural heritage. TRACS brings together the Traditional Music Forum (SCIO SC042867), the Scottish Storytelling Forum (SCIO SC052330) and the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland (SCIO SC045085). Supported by Creative Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council. www.tracscotland.org
Moray House School of Education and Sport has been making a major contribution to the fields of education and sport for 175 years. Moray House staff, students and alumni have influenced, improved and transformed learning, teaching and policy worldwide. The innovative and unique Master’s in Dance Science and Education gives dancers the scientific theory and specialist skills to push the frontiers of dance and dance education.
Moray House School of Education and Sport
Centre for Research in Education, Inclusion and Diversity (CREID)
MSc Dance Science and Education
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery, which, now in its 30th year, has supported over 14,600 projects with more than £501.9 million in funding through Creative Scotland and its predecessor, the Scottish Arts Council. Further information at creativescotland.com and the social media channels on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. More about the value of art and creativity in Scotland at www.ourcreativevoice.scot
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