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

Interview by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė   New to the International Festival Fringe’s scene, Yucca Dance presents In the Round – a captivating dance theatre piece that explores the universal symbolism of circles and perpetual cycles. Drawing inspiration from nature, spiritual beliefs, and modern life, the performance weaves together diverse cultural interpretations of these timeless motifs. I … Continued

  Review by Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker Is it possible for humans to break out of the endless repetitive cycles that human nature is comprised of? Or should we? And if yes, which ones do we choose to break out of and how? These are some of the questions two young and talented dancers/choreographers pose to the … 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

Review by Vassia Bouchagiar – Walker There is a sense of intrigued expectation as we wait for the performance of Futuristic Folktales to start. To everyone’s surprise director Charlotte Mclean, along with her two performers Orrow Bell and Seke Chimutengwende, take to the stage in full bright white light in order to introduce themselves and … Continued

How do we encourage collaboration and exchange across all traditional dance forms practised in Scotland? The short answer is that we, at Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, offer support through three major routes – festivals, productions and residencies. Let’s zoom in on the range of residencies as one of these support routes we initiate, champion … 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

* Elegies is the first dance adaptation for the screen and stage of Hamish Henderson’s series of poems Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica, specifically curated to premiere as part of the 34th edition of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival at Edinburgh’s Scottish Storytelling Centre on 11 November 2023 and available to tour thereafter. * … Continued

What does a year in the life of Traditional Dance of Scotland look like? Rewind back to relive our Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland highlights for the year April 2022 – March 2023. Spot some of the dance activities we initiated, produced or supported. Check the facts and figures, including of our reviews, newsletters, socials … Continued