Did you know that Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland supports the homegrown and international trad dance talent that helps make Edinburgh a sprightly cultural city for 12 months of the year, not just for August. It was in August 2022 when we launched our #traddance campaign highlighting the contribution of trad dance artists in the programmes of the Edinburgh’s summer festivals. We hand-picked just over 10 shows with trad dance roots. We also published our first Fringe review following the premiere of the dance theatre 40/40. In 2023 we curated a selection of over 20 shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe alone, including our own four-star production Thistles and Sunflowers.
In 2024 we continue with our #traddance campaign on a whole new level with our first-of-its-kind Traditional Dance Criticism Course, led by dance writer and editor Róisín O’Brien and supported by dance scholar and editor Dr Wendy Timmons. Six applicants, including Catherine Coutts, Yuxi Jiang, Inesa Vėlavičiūtė, Alena Shmakova, Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker and Yanmei Bowie were selected to participate in this pilot edition of the course and together we settled on 10 shows with trad dance roots across Edinburgh’s summer festivals to be reviewed. Enjoy all the reviews so far and check in for more!
Review by Alena Shmakova
After the double bill of The Flock and Moving Cloud by Scottish Dance Theatre concluded, my neighbour exhaled, “Well, that was strange!” Cramped seats in the newly opened Fringe venue, Zoo Southside, made it easy to overhear conversations…
COMING SOON
Review by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė
COMING SOON
JOIN US FOR MORE IN SUMMER 2025
Reflection by Alena Shmakova
As part of this year’s Edinburgh summer festivals, on the 3rd and 4th of August, Inch House Community Centre hosted a weekend of historical dancing from the Victorian period (1838-1901), led by USA-based expert Susan de Guardiola...
COMING SOON
Review by Yuxi Jiang
Watching Grupo Corpo was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my experience at the Edinburgh Festivals this summer. The contemporary Brazilian dance company, founded by Paulo Pederneiras in 1975, continues to…
COMING SOON
Review by Yuxi Jiang
Futuristic Folktales is an experimental dance theatre piece that explores bold ideas around the body, sound and traditional culture, as well as themes of reproduction, identity and the cycles of life. Created by Charlotte Mclean…
COMING SOON
Review by Yanmei Bowie
One trained at the Beijing Dance Academy, the other – at Falmouth University. Setting off to explore the perpetual cycles that bind our existence, Yuxi Jiang and Lucca Vaccari – together Yucca Dance – created his dance theatre piece as...
COMING SOON
Review by Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker
Everyone loves a show that leaves you exhilarated and on a high. Roser López Espinosa, The Flock, and Sofia Nappi, Moving Cloud, are two choreographers with very different and unique movement styles which….
COMING SOON
Interview by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė
New to the International Festival Fringe’s scene, Yucca Dance presents In the Round. […] I talk with collaborators Yuxi Jiang and Luca Vaccari about the inspirations, challenges, and unique artistic elements that bring it to life…
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…
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….
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…
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…
Review by INESA VĖLAVIČIŪTĖ
Returning to the Edinburgh International Festival after the mesmerising 2022 performance of Samsara, acclaimed artist Aakash Odedra presents another spiritual dance piece, this time delving into an ancient Sufi myth about a captured songbird bulbul…
Review by CATH COUTTS
Grupo Corpo is a family affair. Artistic Director Paulo Pederneiras founded the company – which includes five of his siblings – in 1975, and it is brother Rodrigo who has choreographed the two pieces in this programme: Gil Refazendo and Gira, both grounded in…
Review by Catherine Coutts
As Greek dancer Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker moves lithely onto the floor, her task is not an easy one. The audience – largely Scottish traditional music afficionados – are there for the preview of Mairi Campbell’s Living Stone exhibition. They have already been sitting for forty minutes on a hot summer’s day listening to Campbell’s album…
Videography by Barrie Barretto
A stellar troupe of 17 performers from the lands of thistles and sunflowers come together to mark the first appearance as a vocalist on an Edinburgh stage of Bulgarian folk singer-songwriter Angela Rodel, also the winner of the International Booker Prize 2023 for translation. Unravel ‘Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares’ through this unique ‘sonic translation’ of trad dance and music…
Review by Iliyana Nedkova
A vibrantly defiant show by Katherina Radeva and Two Destination Language. Entitled 40/40, it encapsulates 40 years into 40 minutes. 40 years full of joy and hardship, laughs and tears. 40 minutes charged with energetic moves, including a Balkan folk dance routine complete with a dazzling traditional headdress and an embroidered white dress…
The pilot edition of the Traditional Dance Criticism Course is funded by Creative Scotland through TASGADH – a small traditional arts grant awarded to Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland.
We believe that any art form, including any form of Scottish and world traditional dance, grows and broadens its own creative possibilities when in conversation with a knowledgeable and critical surrounding discourse. Increased discussion of an art form not only enriches its artists, it also brings the art form into greater visibility in the wider public imagination, which can ultimately bring in new communities and audiences together and help secure the art form’s standing in a cultural ecosystem.
Through the Traditional Dance Criticism Course we hope to:
Nurture a new community of trad dance critics in Scotland who could continue to apply their new skills thereafter.
Convert dance practitioners whose interests extend beyond the physical act of dancing to the critical analysis of dance performances.
Develop a strong foundation in diverse traditional dance criticism across Scotland.
Contribute to the celebration and appreciation of the diverse trad dance forms we feel so passionate about and the intangible cultural heritage they embody.
Form a group of knowledgeable traditional dance specialists who can engage with the discipline in an insightful and curious manner, and promote Scottish and world trad dance to the wider public.
Launch a new traditional dance criticism platform to merge our love for trad dance and the written word.
Work towards an independently-certified Continuing Professional Development opportunity with guidance, mentorship and resources to excel in the field of Scottish and world traditional dance criticism.
TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland SC043009) brings together the Traditional Music Forum (SC042867), the Scottish Storytelling Forum (SC020891) and the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland (SC045085), all of which are Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations with their office at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR. The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a partnership project between the Storytelling Forum and The Church of Scotland (SC011353).
