11. In conversation with Margaret Belford

Trad Dance Cast podcast presenter Eleanor Sinclair, a trad dance artist-activist talks to Margaret Belford aged 85, the legendary leader of the Edinburgh branch of the UK-wide Society for International Folk Dancing.
Part of our two presentations curated by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland celebrating the role of women as tradition keepers and dance innovators in our contemporary world for the 10th anniversary of the Harpies, Fechters and Quines festival, 7 June 2023, Edinburgh Central Library.
Margaret Belford is one of the special guests, alongside Patricia Ballantyne, Natasha Khamjani, Helen Russell and Kerry Fletcher, to be featured in the Trad Dance Cast podcast episode dedicated to the pioneering dance artists from Scotland and beyond since 1805 till today.
The conversation was preceded by a set of Ukrainian traditional dances presented by the new generations of performers Oksana Saiapina and Anastasiia Boiko. It was followed by a screening of our short dance film To Begin the Dance Once More (Dir. Marlene Millar, 2023). Launched as part of our Pomegranates Festival in April 2023, the film follows the climate refugees Beira, Isis and Bride, named after ancient mother and daughter deities of Scotland and Egypt. The dance film creatively reenacts the female creation myths visibly inscribed in the water cycles dominating the landscape around us - from the floodplains of the Nile in Egypt to the sea lochs of Scotland.
"We, at Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland curated two unique events as part of the festival programme, entitled Feisty Trad Dance Artists of Ukraine (5 June 2023) and Trad Dance Pioneers Past and Present (7 June 2023). This is our first collaboration with the festival which in turn is a collaboration between Bonnie Fechters - Edinburgh’s own women’s group, Glasgow Women’s Library and City of Edinburgh Libraries. Every year the festival aims to highlight the important social contribution of women, especially those based in Scotland. This year the theme is feisty women. These are women, past and present, who have faced a challenge and risen to it."
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Videography: Barrie Barretto
Curated by Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova for Traditional Dance of Forum of Scotland as part of To Ukraine with Love project: tracscotland.o...
Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland: www.tdfs.org/
Pomegranates Festival: linktr.ee/pome...
Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival: www.eventbrite...