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Get In the Flow: Mairi Campbell kicks off cross arts explorations

Get in the Flow with traditional arts and culture

When did you stop singing, dancing and being enchanted by stories?
Rediscover imagination’s power to enliven and transform.

Develop your skills in storytelling, music and dance and enjoy exploring how these traditional artforms, when combined, create an even richer cultural experience for both the performers and audiences.

A strong brood of traditional artists are constantly inspired by customs from the past and are intuitively utilising these with modern approaches to create a wealth of resource and participation from local communities up.

Discover how to tap into your own creative energy and those you work with by coming along to one of TRACS bespoke workshops that hones in on cross-art skills, with the best educators in their fields of discipline, as well as the opportunity to travel from Edinburgh to Skye with storytelling, music and discovery at every step of the journey.  

Mairi CampbellWe kick off with Mairi Campbell’s In the Flow, which is being offered in two standalone sessions on Saturday 7 and Saturday 21 June. Mairi is an award-winning educator who provides a supportive, friendly and enthusiastic approach to enable participants to find their own way to approach free flow exploration and expression, no matter if you are newly exploring such ventures or developed in your skill set.

Music, movement and song interweave with Mairi’s devised approach using improvisation, where participants can decide what is most important for them to explore, equipping you with the skills to ensure weaving the disciplines together is achieved with confidence and authority.

Songs and stories feed off each other, and our Between the World’s workshop on Saturday 14 June explores this fascinating bridge, with expert input from leading folk musician Rachel Newton (The Shee) and pioneering storyteller Grace Banks.  

Rachel Newton has recently delved into exploring stories of the fairy folk and their relationship with song, highlighted in her beautifully received production Changeling.

Over the years that I’ve spent singing folk songs, working in theatre and collaborating with wonderful songwriters, I have become more and more interested in the relationship between music and story. I’m looking forward to exploring this further in the workshop day with Grace Banks. Come and join the discussion and explore with us!” – Rachel Newton

Rachel Newton

Grace Banks is a pioneering storyteller who bases her work with children, young people and those with additional support needs on the traditional practice of using song and story together.

This Song and Story workshop will allow you to learn from Rachel and Grace’s approaches, and to explore possibilities in our your own settings to combine song and story, allowing you to uncover the mutual influences between story and song, as well as equipping you with the skill to move between the two in creation and performance.

One of my main goals is to support young and old to discover their own potential while gaining a sense of self-worth and place within their community.” – Grace Banks

Finally, the on Midsummer weekend (departs Fri 20 and returns Sun 22 June) is a unique opportunity to experience how Scottish culture combines poetry, story, song, music and dance in Highland and Island tradition.

Accompanied by Seanachaidh Seoras Macpherson, harpist Heather Yule and storyteller Donald Smith, your journey into the heart of Scotland is guaranteed to be “in the creative flow”.Patrick Geddes Monument

The creative flow continues with a special Celtic Summer School, 1-8 August, inspired by the open learning spirit of Patrick Geddes’ pioneering summer meetings.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre will host sixteen sessions of Overviews and Explorations, presented by ten expert guides within their fields of storytelling, poetry, music, ethnology, heritage, culture, Gaelic, history, art and politics. 

 
See all upcoming workshops.