Review by Iliyana Nedkova Here we go ‘round the young oak tree on a cold and sprightly morning at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. This resilient seven-year-old Portuguese oak, the centrepiece of our al fresco traditional dance, music and art session, is likely to outlive us and the biodiversity crisis, just like the fabled mulberry bush … Continued

Review by Yanmei Bowie I went to see the sensational Legend of the White Snake four times at C ARTS in Edinburgh, performed by Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre from Beijing, China. With a history of over six hundred years, kunqu evolved from a music and vocal style local to Kunshan (near Suzhou and Shanghai in China), … Continued

At the heart of our Pomegranates Festival, once again, is the intensive day of professional development workshops led by Scottish artists and creative migrants based in Scotland. This year the line-up includes 12 trad dance workshops taught by 14 dance artists including Evie Waddell, Nadia Khattab, Niki & Yangyang, Lara Russo & Inesa Vėlavičiūtė, Gica … Continued

The Primary Ingredient of Trad Dance the World Over is the abridged version of an article by Dr Wendy Timmons, Convenor of Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and Senior Lecturer at University of Edinburgh, originally published in Volkstanz Magazine – the major publication of the Folk Dance Society of Germany (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Volkstanz). Collectively, … Continued

Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland supports the homegrown and international trad dance talent that helps make Edinburgh a vibrant cultural city for twelve months of the year, not just for August. Yet we are very proud to be highlighting the contribution of traditional dance artists in the programmes of Edinburgh’s summer festivals for a second … Continued

How could we support communities of New Scots to shape and share their stories? As one of the three founding members of TRACS, Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland initiated To Ukraine with Love – a project aimed at supporting the community of displaced people from Ukraine in Edinburgh to shape and share the story of … Continued

Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland is delighted to shine a spotlight on the achievements of women in traditional dance as part of the 10th anniversary of Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival running 3–9 June 2023 at Edinburgh Central Library. * We curated two unique events as part of the festival programme, entitled Feisty Trad Dance … Continued

What would happen if there was only one leaf left on our planet? What would be the fate of the last remaining leaf? How fragile is our life compared to the power of nature? These are just some of the questions at the heart of Yuxi Jiang’s new choreography entitled The Last Leaf on Earth. … Continued

Review by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė A tribute to UNESCO’s International Dance Day and as part of Edinburgh’s Tradfest, the Pomegranates festival  premiered in 2022, celebrating traditional dances from around the world and explored their connections to contemporary hip-hop. Curated by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, a varied and inspiring programme was put together for the … Continued

It’s #WorldArtsDay 2023! What better day to trace the stories, seeds and sequins of our Pomegranates festival of international traditional dance. What better day to launch into the world the new booklet with the shiny sequins of poems to dance to by our Pomegranates poet-in-residence Ian McMillan! What better day to also travel back to … Continued