Basket: £0.00
Basket: £0.00
(Sun 28 Apr: 11am - PRE-SALE SOLD OUT) A big hoolie for all the family called by Caroline Brockbank of CeilidhKids, the trad dance artist-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School and accompanied on the accordion by Bernie Hewitt. ~~~~~ Join us for the first-ever Pomegranates Family Sunday, celebrating world trad dance. The day is packed with a lot of wee trad dance shows by and for the bairns, as well as a ceilidh expertly called for all the family accompanied by live music. "Ever since we launched Pomegranates festival in April 2022 we wanted to sow the pomegranate seeds of Scottish and world traditional dance in the hearts and minds of the new generation of dancers, especially after the pandemic when dance provision was badly affected. This Family Sunday celebrates our efforts to make trad dance one of the primary ingredients of the primary education of our children. We do hope to extend the residency opportunities for Scottish and world trad dance artists beyond the primary schools of Edinburgh and the Lothians and make them an essential part of the curriculum." (Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates co-curators) Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Sun 28 Apr: 2pm-3pm / 3pm-4pm) Enjoy a series of wee dance sharings performed by pupils aged 4 to 12 and led by the Pomegranates dance artists-in-residence at primary schools across Edinburgh, including the Gaelic-medium school, the Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Chinese language schools. A warm welcome for all, with accompanying live music! Dancing Around the World is now split into two sessions. When you are booking tickets, please select only the session you would like to attend. Session 1 (2pm-2:50pm): Gaelic and Ukrainian Schools Session 2 (3pm-4pm): Chinese and Bulgarian Schools ~~~~~ Join us for the first-ever Pomegranates Family Sunday, celebrating world trad dance. The day is packed with a lot of wee trad dance shows by and for the bairns, as well as a ceilidh expertly called for all the family accompanied by live music. "Ever since we launched Pomegranates festival in April 2022 we wanted to sow the pomegranate seeds of Scottish and world traditional dance in the hearts and minds of the new generation of dancers, especially after the pandemic when dance provision was badly affected. This Family Sunday celebrates our efforts to make trad dance one of the primary ingredients of the primary education of our children. We do hope to extend the residency opportunities for Scottish and world trad dance artists beyond the primary schools of Edinburgh and the Lothians and make them an essential part of the curriculum." (Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates co-curators) Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Sat 27 Apr: 7:30pm) Experience a dance poem lamenting the lives lost in our challenging world of wars, ecocide and inequality. Weaving together dance theatre, spoken word and live music, this is the first dance adaptation of the poetry book Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (1948) by Hamish Henderson, Scottish soldier-poet, singer-songwriter and scholar-folk revivalist. Celebrate the 75th anniversary of Henderson winning the Somerset Maugham Award in 1949 for this very book, still considered the finest poetic writing to come out of the Second World War. The fragility of life is depicted in Henderson’s first-hand accounts from the North African desert military campaign and captured in his dedication of the book: ‘for our own and the others'; the story of the common bonds in the ‘deadlands’ of Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya) and shared helplessness of those loved ones at home waiting, praying - and dancing. Set in a dancehall and a desert, this production is led by dancer-choreographer duo Helen Gould and George Adams who together with dancers Nicola Thomson and Edwin Wen embody ceilidh, jive, swing and lindy hop, evoking popular social dance culture of the 1940s and creating a cultural bridge to the present day. Gould and Adams incorporate the reading of Henderson’s poems by poet/spoken word artists Morag Anderson and Stephen Watt, live music from vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Cera Impala and upcycled period costumes and set created by costume and light designers Katie Duxbury and Roddy Simpson. ★★★★ 'Evocative and relevant' (All Edinburgh Theatre)★★★★ 'Respectful and sincere. Sombre and considerate' (Corr Blimey) ~~~~~~~~~~ A new production by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland originally commissioned by the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2023, Elegies is curated and produced by Jim Mackintosh, Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre
(Tue 23-Tue 30 Apr) Vengefully Changed Allegiance is the first solo exhibition in a public institution by fashion designer Alison Harm, the founder of Edinburgh’s own Psychomoda brand, who has been challenging our opinions for the last 30 years on who can wear what and where by mixing different tartan patterns together and upcycling industry scraps, vintage cloth and broken jewellery. Curated specifically for the Pomegranates 2024 festival, this exhibition of sustainable fashion also challenges the living tradition of the tartan cloth still used for the Highland Dress dance costume and the kilt with all its accessories. Featuring a collection of garments displayed on mannequins and on models, as captured in the new photography by Amanda Roberston, the exhibition also poses the question of safeguarding and innovating the intangible cultural heritage of both the Highland Dance and the Scottish tartan. In the artist’s own words: “Fashion is cyclic. Today we might wear clothing and styles from the 1980s to show our allegiance to a musical, political or cultural theme from the past. As a young designer I trained in the Punk Rock environment of the 1980s when the tartan fabric became part of the symbolism of that cultural movement. This collection of garments in the exhibition is also my unique homage to the Jacobite revivalist movement of the 1880s, during the reign of Queen Victoria, which instigated a renewed romanticised interest in the Scottish tartan textiles and fashion styles.” (Alison Harm) The exhibition is accompanied by curatorial and artist’s guided tours on demand, a special fashion catwalk and a dance show. There is also an opportunity to view the exhibition after 6pm on 27 and 28 April 2024 as part of the Pomegranates 2024 festival shows at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. ~~~~~ Vengefully Changed Allegiance is part of Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and TRACS programme of events showcasing Scotland’s traditional arts and cultural heritage. TRACS has been recently appointed as an advisor to UNESCO on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in Scotland and this exhibition showcases ICH in practice through highlighting the sustainability in the fashion industry while exploring the role of tartan in Scottish trad dance. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Sun 28 Apr: 10am) Junk Food is a brand-new dance show asking the question 'Should junk food be allowed at school?' Devised by pupils aged 9 and 10 from the Primary 6 classes of Abbeyhill and Royal Mile Primary Schools who helped 'feed into' the choreography, live music and costumes. Led by the teaching team and performed by the postgraduate dance students from the Dance Science and Education course at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh with contributions by students from Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. ~~~~~ Join us for the first-ever Pomegranates Family Sunday, celebrating world trad dance. The day is packed with a lot of wee trad dance shows by and for the bairns, as well as a ceilidh expertly called for all the family accompanied by live music. "Ever since we launched Pomegranates festival in April 2022 we wanted to sow the pomegranate seeds of Scottish and world traditional dance in the hearts and minds of the new generation of dancers, especially after the pandemic when dance provision was badly affected. This Family Sunday celebrates our efforts to make trad dance one of the primary ingredients of the primary education of our children. We do hope to extend the residency opportunities for Scottish and world trad dance artists beyond the primary schools of Edinburgh and the Lothians and make them an essential part of the curriculum." (Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates co-curators) Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre
(Sat 27 Apr: 2pm) Join dance historian Alena Shmakova for a special festival walk and talk tour. Explore the New Town's rich and important dancing heritage from the late Georgian period and learn about the notable dancing mistresses and patronesses who frequented the city entertainment establishments. Meet Madame Violante, ex-gymnast, troup manager and the first known female dancing mistress in Scotland; Felice Mercucci, prima of the Theatre Royal, first licensed theatre in Edinburgh; Mrs Parker, star of Edinburgh Circus, famous across the kingdom for her Strathspey Minuet. The tour will start from the Scottish Storytelling Centre with a preview of the festival exhibition Vengefully Changed Allegiance by Alison Harm of Psychomoda. The tour ends with a brief visit to the Scottish National Gallery to look at the visual references for some of the dance halls from the Georgian period in Edinburgh. ~~~~~ Alena Shmakova has studied historical dance since 2006. Since 2013, she has actively collaborated with and performed at historical sites including Holyrood Palace, St Cecilia’s Hall and Music Instrument Museum and Stirling Castle. Since 2022 Alena has been offering historical dance courses at the Adult Education Programme of the City of Edinburgh Council. Alena is undertaking her postgraduate studies in History at the University of the Highlands and Islands and often presents her research at international conferences and public talks. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Meet at Scottish Storytelling Centre
(Sat 27 Apr: 11am) Join storyteller extraordinaire Donald Smith for a relaxed festival walking tour exploring the dance traditions of Edinburgh's Old Town, including their locations and social contexts. Learn about the local folk traditions, the Scottish Court and 'polite' society. The tour will start from the Scottish Storytelling Centre with a preview of the festival exhibition Vengefully Changed Allegiance by Alison Harm of Psychomoda. The tour will end at Edinburgh’s Central Library with a preview of the festival exhibition Dance Around the World featuring trad dance books and artifacts from Edinburgh and beyond. ~~~~~ One of the most eloquent advocates for Scottish culture, Donald Smith is the 2023 recipient of the Hamish Henderson Award for Lifetime Service to Traditional Arts. A prolific author, Donald also wrote Pomegranates 2023 screen dance poetry commission Beira and Bride. Until recently the Director of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS), currently Donald is the Director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Meet at Scottish Storytelling Centre
(Sat 27 Apr: 8:30pm) Come and try Lindy Hop with our Pomegranates festival dance musicians-in-residence from Edinburgh’s own Castle Rock Jazz Band. Why Lindy Hop? Alongside Scottish Ceilidh, Jive and Swing, Lindy Hop is one of the social dance forms at the heart of the Pomegranates 2024 festival production Elegies - the first dance theatre adaptation of Hamish Henderson's poetry, his first-hand account from the frontlines of the Second World War. Developed by Black American communities in the 1930s, Lindy Hop soon became one of the popular social dance cultures of 1940s dance halls across the pond, where its frenetic movement, spinning and twirling were in part an attempt to escape and forget the horrors and atrocities of the war. Join us for two joyful sets of Lindy Hop in the welcoming environment of the Storytelling Court, transformed for the night into a 1940s dance hall complete with a festival bar mixing pomegranate cocktails and mocktails. Swing with the rhythms and bring your own personality while sharing a dance with another person. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Mon 29 Apr: 7pm) Join us for the finale of Pomegranates Festival 2024 to celebrate International Dance Day with a triple bill of poetry, film and dance featuring our festival artists-in-residence. Spoken word artist Jim Mackintosh will perform poems from his latest collection We are Migrant (Seahorse Publications, 2024) and some of his brand-new poetic reflections following his Pomegranates residency. Jim's work resonates profoundly with the Pomegranates festival – born in times of uncertainty, displacement and border restrictions as the only festival home for the diverse dance forms of the different migrant communities across Scotland. Performance artist and human rights activist Mare Tralla will premiere her short film commissioned as part of a new series of screen trad dance productions, drawing her inspiration from Pomegranates and the wider world of trad dance. You can also join Mare at one or all three trad craft workshops she leads as part of Dance Around the World – the festival exhibition of trad dance books and artefacts at Edinburgh's Central Library. The evening will culminate with hip-hop theatre show Sequins, a new choreography by MC, dancer, spoken word artist and director Jonzi D, who is widely recognised for his influence on the development of the UK British hip-hop dance and theatre scene. Jonzi will work with twenty Scotland-based traditional dance artists accompanied by live music and a sequence of specially commissioned poems by poet, playwright and BBC broadcaster Ian McMillan. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre
(Sun 28 Apr: 11am - PRE-SALE SOLD OUT) A big hoolie for all the family called by Caroline Brockbank of CeilidhKids, the trad dance artist-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School and accompanied on the accordion by Bernie Hewitt. ~~~~~ Join us for the first-ever Pomegranates Family Sunday, celebrating world trad dance. The day is packed with a lot of wee trad dance shows by and for the bairns, as well as a ceilidh expertly called for all the family accompanied by live music. "Ever since we launched Pomegranates festival in April 2022 we wanted to sow the pomegranate seeds of Scottish and world traditional dance in the hearts and minds of the new generation of dancers, especially after the pandemic when dance provision was badly affected. This Family Sunday celebrates our efforts to make trad dance one of the primary ingredients of the primary education of our children. We do hope to extend the residency opportunities for Scottish and world trad dance artists beyond the primary schools of Edinburgh and the Lothians and make them an essential part of the curriculum." (Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates co-curators) Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Sun 28 Apr: 2pm-3pm / 3pm-4pm) Enjoy a series of wee dance sharings performed by pupils aged 4 to 12 and led by the Pomegranates dance artists-in-residence at primary schools across Edinburgh, including the Gaelic-medium school, the Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Chinese language schools. A warm welcome for all, with accompanying live music! Dancing Around the World is now split into two sessions. When you are booking tickets, please select only the session you would like to attend. Session 1 (2pm-2:50pm): Gaelic and Ukrainian Schools Session 2 (3pm-4pm): Chinese and Bulgarian Schools ~~~~~ Join us for the first-ever Pomegranates Family Sunday, celebrating world trad dance. The day is packed with a lot of wee trad dance shows by and for the bairns, as well as a ceilidh expertly called for all the family accompanied by live music. "Ever since we launched Pomegranates festival in April 2022 we wanted to sow the pomegranate seeds of Scottish and world traditional dance in the hearts and minds of the new generation of dancers, especially after the pandemic when dance provision was badly affected. This Family Sunday celebrates our efforts to make trad dance one of the primary ingredients of the primary education of our children. We do hope to extend the residency opportunities for Scottish and world trad dance artists beyond the primary schools of Edinburgh and the Lothians and make them an essential part of the curriculum." (Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates co-curators) Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Sat 27 Apr: 7:30pm) Experience a dance poem lamenting the lives lost in our challenging world of wars, ecocide and inequality. Weaving together dance theatre, spoken word and live music, this is the first dance adaptation of the poetry book Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (1948) by Hamish Henderson, Scottish soldier-poet, singer-songwriter and scholar-folk revivalist. Celebrate the 75th anniversary of Henderson winning the Somerset Maugham Award in 1949 for this very book, still considered the finest poetic writing to come out of the Second World War. The fragility of life is depicted in Henderson’s first-hand accounts from the North African desert military campaign and captured in his dedication of the book: ‘for our own and the others'; the story of the common bonds in the ‘deadlands’ of Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya) and shared helplessness of those loved ones at home waiting, praying - and dancing. Set in a dancehall and a desert, this production is led by dancer-choreographer duo Helen Gould and George Adams who together with dancers Nicola Thomson and Edwin Wen embody ceilidh, jive, swing and lindy hop, evoking popular social dance culture of the 1940s and creating a cultural bridge to the present day. Gould and Adams incorporate the reading of Henderson’s poems by poet/spoken word artists Morag Anderson and Stephen Watt, live music from vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Cera Impala and upcycled period costumes and set created by costume and light designers Katie Duxbury and Roddy Simpson. ★★★★ 'Evocative and relevant' (All Edinburgh Theatre)★★★★ 'Respectful and sincere. Sombre and considerate' (Corr Blimey) ~~~~~~~~~~ A new production by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland originally commissioned by the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2023, Elegies is curated and produced by Jim Mackintosh, Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre
(Tue 23-Tue 30 Apr) Vengefully Changed Allegiance is the first solo exhibition in a public institution by fashion designer Alison Harm, the founder of Edinburgh’s own Psychomoda brand, who has been challenging our opinions for the last 30 years on who can wear what and where by mixing different tartan patterns together and upcycling industry scraps, vintage cloth and broken jewellery. Curated specifically for the Pomegranates 2024 festival, this exhibition of sustainable fashion also challenges the living tradition of the tartan cloth still used for the Highland Dress dance costume and the kilt with all its accessories. Featuring a collection of garments displayed on mannequins and on models, as captured in the new photography by Amanda Roberston, the exhibition also poses the question of safeguarding and innovating the intangible cultural heritage of both the Highland Dance and the Scottish tartan. In the artist’s own words: “Fashion is cyclic. Today we might wear clothing and styles from the 1980s to show our allegiance to a musical, political or cultural theme from the past. As a young designer I trained in the Punk Rock environment of the 1980s when the tartan fabric became part of the symbolism of that cultural movement. This collection of garments in the exhibition is also my unique homage to the Jacobite revivalist movement of the 1880s, during the reign of Queen Victoria, which instigated a renewed romanticised interest in the Scottish tartan textiles and fashion styles.” (Alison Harm) The exhibition is accompanied by curatorial and artist’s guided tours on demand, a special fashion catwalk and a dance show. There is also an opportunity to view the exhibition after 6pm on 27 and 28 April 2024 as part of the Pomegranates 2024 festival shows at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. ~~~~~ Vengefully Changed Allegiance is part of Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and TRACS programme of events showcasing Scotland’s traditional arts and cultural heritage. TRACS has been recently appointed as an advisor to UNESCO on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in Scotland and this exhibition showcases ICH in practice through highlighting the sustainability in the fashion industry while exploring the role of tartan in Scottish trad dance. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Sun 28 Apr: 10am) Junk Food is a brand-new dance show asking the question 'Should junk food be allowed at school?' Devised by pupils aged 9 and 10 from the Primary 6 classes of Abbeyhill and Royal Mile Primary Schools who helped 'feed into' the choreography, live music and costumes. Led by the teaching team and performed by the postgraduate dance students from the Dance Science and Education course at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh with contributions by students from Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. ~~~~~ Join us for the first-ever Pomegranates Family Sunday, celebrating world trad dance. The day is packed with a lot of wee trad dance shows by and for the bairns, as well as a ceilidh expertly called for all the family accompanied by live music. "Ever since we launched Pomegranates festival in April 2022 we wanted to sow the pomegranate seeds of Scottish and world traditional dance in the hearts and minds of the new generation of dancers, especially after the pandemic when dance provision was badly affected. This Family Sunday celebrates our efforts to make trad dance one of the primary ingredients of the primary education of our children. We do hope to extend the residency opportunities for Scottish and world trad dance artists beyond the primary schools of Edinburgh and the Lothians and make them an essential part of the curriculum." (Iliyana Nedkova and Wendy Timmons, Pomegranates co-curators) Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre
(Sat 27 Apr: 2pm) Join dance historian Alena Shmakova for a special festival walk and talk tour. Explore the New Town's rich and important dancing heritage from the late Georgian period and learn about the notable dancing mistresses and patronesses who frequented the city entertainment establishments. Meet Madame Violante, ex-gymnast, troup manager and the first known female dancing mistress in Scotland; Felice Mercucci, prima of the Theatre Royal, first licensed theatre in Edinburgh; Mrs Parker, star of Edinburgh Circus, famous across the kingdom for her Strathspey Minuet. The tour will start from the Scottish Storytelling Centre with a preview of the festival exhibition Vengefully Changed Allegiance by Alison Harm of Psychomoda. The tour ends with a brief visit to the Scottish National Gallery to look at the visual references for some of the dance halls from the Georgian period in Edinburgh. ~~~~~ Alena Shmakova has studied historical dance since 2006. Since 2013, she has actively collaborated with and performed at historical sites including Holyrood Palace, St Cecilia’s Hall and Music Instrument Museum and Stirling Castle. Since 2022 Alena has been offering historical dance courses at the Adult Education Programme of the City of Edinburgh Council. Alena is undertaking her postgraduate studies in History at the University of the Highlands and Islands and often presents her research at international conferences and public talks. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Meet at Scottish Storytelling Centre
(Sat 27 Apr: 11am) Join storyteller extraordinaire Donald Smith for a relaxed festival walking tour exploring the dance traditions of Edinburgh's Old Town, including their locations and social contexts. Learn about the local folk traditions, the Scottish Court and 'polite' society. The tour will start from the Scottish Storytelling Centre with a preview of the festival exhibition Vengefully Changed Allegiance by Alison Harm of Psychomoda. The tour will end at Edinburgh’s Central Library with a preview of the festival exhibition Dance Around the World featuring trad dance books and artifacts from Edinburgh and beyond. ~~~~~ One of the most eloquent advocates for Scottish culture, Donald Smith is the 2023 recipient of the Hamish Henderson Award for Lifetime Service to Traditional Arts. A prolific author, Donald also wrote Pomegranates 2023 screen dance poetry commission Beira and Bride. Until recently the Director of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS), currently Donald is the Director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Meet at Scottish Storytelling Centre
(Sat 27 Apr: 8:30pm) Come and try Lindy Hop with our Pomegranates festival dance musicians-in-residence from Edinburgh’s own Castle Rock Jazz Band. Why Lindy Hop? Alongside Scottish Ceilidh, Jive and Swing, Lindy Hop is one of the social dance forms at the heart of the Pomegranates 2024 festival production Elegies - the first dance theatre adaptation of Hamish Henderson's poetry, his first-hand account from the frontlines of the Second World War. Developed by Black American communities in the 1930s, Lindy Hop soon became one of the popular social dance cultures of 1940s dance halls across the pond, where its frenetic movement, spinning and twirling were in part an attempt to escape and forget the horrors and atrocities of the war. Join us for two joyful sets of Lindy Hop in the welcoming environment of the Storytelling Court, transformed for the night into a 1940s dance hall complete with a festival bar mixing pomegranate cocktails and mocktails. Swing with the rhythms and bring your own personality while sharing a dance with another person. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Storytelling Court
(Mon 29 Apr: 7pm) Join us for the finale of Pomegranates Festival 2024 to celebrate International Dance Day with a triple bill of poetry, film and dance featuring our festival artists-in-residence. Spoken word artist Jim Mackintosh will perform poems from his latest collection We are Migrant (Seahorse Publications, 2024) and some of his brand-new poetic reflections following his Pomegranates residency. Jim's work resonates profoundly with the Pomegranates festival – born in times of uncertainty, displacement and border restrictions as the only festival home for the diverse dance forms of the different migrant communities across Scotland. Performance artist and human rights activist Mare Tralla will premiere her short film commissioned as part of a new series of screen trad dance productions, drawing her inspiration from Pomegranates and the wider world of trad dance. You can also join Mare at one or all three trad craft workshops she leads as part of Dance Around the World – the festival exhibition of trad dance books and artefacts at Edinburgh's Central Library. The evening will culminate with hip-hop theatre show Sequins, a new choreography by MC, dancer, spoken word artist and director Jonzi D, who is widely recognised for his influence on the development of the UK British hip-hop dance and theatre scene. Jonzi will work with twenty Scotland-based traditional dance artists accompanied by live music and a sequence of specially commissioned poems by poet, playwright and BBC broadcaster Ian McMillan. Established in 2022, Pomegranates is Scotland’s annual festival of international dance. Initiated and produced by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year, the festival features artists’ residencies and social dance sessions, exhibitions and tours, shows and workshops, plus our first Pomegranates Family Sunday. Find out more about Pomegranates below. Pomegranates
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre
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