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 innovate over time, establishing its own unique theatrical language and choreography. Through a double bill featuring Gil Refazendo and Gira, … Continued

Review by Catherine 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 classical ballet and Brazilian folk dance.  The … Continued

Reflection by Alena Shmakova 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. Historical or early dance is a dance style based on written descriptions from earlier periods, as opposed to reconstructing dances from the … Continued

Review by Catherine Coutts As Greek dancer Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker moves lithely onto the floor at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 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 … 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

We are delighted to unveil the Traditional Dance Criticism Course – our new curatorial initiative designed to help dance practitioners advance their professional development and engage with the world of dance journalism. The course will provide an insight into what working in the journalism industry involves, with a focus on traditional dance writing and publishing, … Continued

2024 was another successful year for our Pomegranates Festival which ended on 30 April. The packed five-day programme of traditional dance, poetry, art and fashion, saw ticket sales up by 50% on 2023, fully-booked free family events and a packed house for fashion designer Alison Harm’s show featuring her latest collection made from sustainable tartan … Continued

We are delighted to announce a new chapter in our ongoing partnership with Dance Base, Scotland’s national centre for dance. For the first time this year, our joint Trad Dance Residency is part of Pomegranates Festival – Scotland’s festival of international traditional dance. This professional development opportunity for dance artists based in Scotland reflects our … 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

We are delighted to announce not one but two trad dance exhibitions curated by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland as part of Pomegranates 2024 festival of international traditional dance – Dance Around the World 3–30 April 2024 at Edinburgh Central Library and Vengefully Changed Allegiance 23–30 April 2024 at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, both … Continued