Our 23rd International Folk Dance Festival ran from 19 to 25 July 2015
Overall the festival was very successful despite the weather being less clement this year.
The visiting groups staged exciting performances, and
returned home well satisfied, having enjoyed both the performances and the social events at our base camp, George Watson's college.
The Performances:
(see the leaflet)
Sunday 19th July: FALKLAND PALACE, Palace Gardens
We saw the bridges at South Queensferry en route to Falkland Palace in brilliant sunshine.
The picnic in the Palace grounds and the parade from the village went ahead, but due to persistent rain the performances
were cancelled.
Monday 20th July: EDINBURGH, Scottish Parliament
The parade down the Royal Mile went ahead, but again the performances outside the parliament building had to be cancelled
due to heavy rain. So we performed for each other at GWC and everyone had a lovely afternoon anyway.
Tuesday 21st July: PERTH
We had a very successful day performing in the Perth pedestrian area, blessed with sunny weather and many
satisfied spectators from whom we collected more than half of our total money donations for the week.
Thursday 23rd July: EDINBURGH
We had a sunny parade through Princes Street Gardens;
the performance at the Mound was well attended and went well - although we had some spots of light rain.
The performance in the National Museum of Scotland was enjoyed by the many museum visitors.
An STV crew filmed us there, and we featured on the Fountainbridge Show later in the week.
Friday 24th July: EDINBURGH GALA THEATRE PERFORMANCE
The performance at the Church Hill Theatre was an extremely good show and was much appreciated by the audience.
We were rehearsing inside all day and of course it was sunny outside!
Saturday 25th July: STIRLING CASTLE
As usual, one of the highlights of our festival.
Despite a short, sharp shower our French guests opened with their performance.
After that, the heavens cleared and the rest of the event was bathed in sunshine.
We all enjoyed the performances especially the Dunedin Festival Dance which we did with all of our foreign guests,
both dancers and musicians.
General Information
The three groups who visited us for the 2015 festival were:
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le Point d'Alençon
from France The group Le Point d'Alençon (which means Alençon Lace, named after the famous needle lace made in their town) consists of 80 dancers and musicians - adults and children - dressed in traditional costumes as worn around 1830/1850. They represent the local tradition of the area through themed performances, and have successfully performed in France and abroad. The group also organises a yearly folk dance festival in Alençon, the Festival des Folklores du Monde. The Dunedin Dancers first met Le Point d'Alençon a few years ago at a festival in Hermannsburg (Germany), and - jointly with Newcastle RSCDS - performed at the Folklores du Monde festival last Summer. |
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Thüringer Folklore Tanzensemble Rudolstadt
from Germany This dance group is grounded in the German traditions, in particular those of the Thüringen area. Their lively, attractive and artistic dances and performances are based upon their research of the old traditions, but they also perform more modern dances. The high quality of their performances earned them many praise at international dance festivals. Their performances are crafted to appeal to today's public. They perform regularly in Rudolstadt itself, in the surrounding Thüringen area, and further afield. We first met the Thüringer Folklore Tanzensemble a few years ago at a folk dance festival in Portugal. |
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A Pacchianeddra Sansustisa
Gruppofolk from
Italy The cultural association I Cantori del Pettoruto aims to preserve the local traditions from the San Sosti ("San Salvatore") area in Calabria through the research of songs, music, poetry, dance and handmade musical instruments. It encompasses the folkloristic group A Pacchianeddra Sansustisa, which displays the local costumes, song and dance in choreographed performances, and organises cultural events with the schools and communities of the local area. The group consists of about 40 members: 14 dancing couples, two singers and 10 musicians. They play musical instruments linked to the Calabrian tradition including accordion, bagpipes, tambourine, and guitar. In the performances the group evokes through dance and song the most significant moments of the 12 months of the year and the religious activities of the rural "sansostese" territory . The New Scotland Dancers visited the Pacchianeddra Sansustisa festival in Italy last year. |
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Support the Festival
Dunedin Dancers does not receive any official grants to run the festival -
it is financed mainly through money raised from our own membership,
from the income of our demonstration dancing, and a few donations from wellwishers.
We would be very grateful if you would support our festival by making a donation online using a credit or debit card via PayPal.