CITY OF EDINBURGH MUSIC SCHOOL PUPILS LEARN WHY TRADITION SHOULD NOT SIT STILL

In a packed dance studio at the City of Edinburgh Music School this Wednesday (25/3/26), the school’s music, dance and drama students came to watch fiddler Amy Geddes and stepdancer Alison Carlyle perform and tell the story of their show Deiseil.

Deiseil, which will be part of Edinburgh Tradfest on Tuesday 5 May, is about Scottish step dance and how it was lost around the time of the Highland Clearances, then found alive and well in Cape Breton in the 20th century.

The duo also talked about migration, both of peoples and culture, to a rapt audience. From a straw poll it was revealed that many of the pupils were originally from or descended from a country outwith Scotland. Alison and Amy also described their own journeys into music.

After an initial Q&A the pupils were encouraged to come up and try some stepdancing. This was a popular invitation for pupils and teachers alike – they were fast learners.

With more thoughtful questions about the dancing and its origins in other cultures, there was a wider discussion of tradition and why it should never stand still, never be ‘preserved’ and never be thought of as belonging to any particular group of people. Amy Geddes summed it up when she said ‘It is ours to grow with every generation.’ We couldn’t agree more.

Amy Geddes and Alison Carlyle are this year’s Edinburgh Tradfest-sponsored tutors at the City of Edinburgh Music School. They will be performing Deiseil: Dancing in Time at the Traverse Theatre on Tuesday 5 May.

All images by Douglas Robertson.