Jonathan Trew: Avant Garde Dance mix parkour and street theatre

THE Fireworks Concert on Sunday signals the end of the International Festival in Edinburgh, but the closing weekend will not go out with a whimper. As well as the flash, bang, wallop of the pyrotechnics over the Castle, there will be plenty of lights, sound and colour over the weekend as the Mela gets into its stride at Leith Links.

Fashion, food, bhangra, dhol drumming and Afro-beat are just some of the attractions at this showcase of Scotland’s diverse communities. One of the mains strands of this year’s bash is dance. Among the terpsichorean treats are a troupe of Chinese dancers performing the Peacock Dance and the Mongolian Chopsticks while hip-hop specialists Avant Garde Dance mix parkour and street theatre in Taxi!, a show taking place in, on and around a black cab. Eat your hearts out, Spice Girls.

For a quieter weekend, you might want to toddle along to the new Abbotsford Visitor Centre near Melrose. It is the first stage of a £14.5 million transformation of Sir Walter Scott’s home in the Borders. It’s hard to underestimate the impact that Scott had on 
shaping perceptions of Scottish identity. The centrepiece of the new building explores Scott’s rollercoaster life from his birth in 1771 to his death in 1832 and looks at the legacy he left.

At the Byre Theatre in St Andrews this evening, stage and screen star Virginia McKenna OBE will also be looking backwards, but to the First and Second World War rather than the 19th century. The Bafta-winning actress, who starred in the 1966 hit movie Born Free, will perform in The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, an evening of stories, songs, poems and music from the era of those two conflicts. The concert is in aid of Combat Stress, the mental health charity for veterans.

Finally, there has to be a mention for the Lady Boys of Bangkok, who play Dundee’s Caird Hall on Sunday night. One imagines that neither party will know what’s hit them.

• www.eif.co.uk; www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk; www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk; www.byretheatre.com;

www.ladyboysofbangkok.co.uk