Festival

Encouraging us to explore our creativity as we age is Luminate Festival, a month-long programme of events and activities running across Scotland from May 1 to May 31.

Bring together older people and others from across the generations, the festival aims to offer opportunities for sharing our thoughts and ideas about what growing older means to each of us.

As well as increasingly working with older people throughout the year, Luminate’s month-long festival sees a wide diversity of events held in cinemas, care homes, community centres, galleries and theatres from Ullapool to Kirkcudbright.

Highlights include In The Dark, a dance and poem inspired by conversations with people in Glasgow and Dundee, and Come and Sing, a massed-singing event at Aberdeen’s Music Hall at which Luminate will launch their nationwide Dementia Inclusive Choirs Network which is intended to help broaden singing opportunities for people living with dementia.

May 1 to May 31, venues across Scotland. www.luminatescotland.org

Dance

This week Scottish Dance Theatre debut The Circle, a new work by renowned choreographer Emanuel Gat, as part of a double bill with Ritualia, an acclaimed reimagining of Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces by Scottish choreographer Colette Sadler.

The Circle marks the first time SDT have worked with the award-winning Gat and the first time the France-based choreographer has worked in the UK for the best part of a decade.

Speaking ahead of the opening Gat said: “It’s been a pleasure to make work for such a talented hard-working company. The Circle celebrates each dancer as an individual and their own unique dance language whilst also telling the story of this collective and the relationships contained within it. I’m excited for audiences to see these dancers in a new light and for the work to breathe as it feeds from their energy.”

May 3 and 4, Dundee Rep, 8pm, £17, £14 concs. Tel: 01382 223 530. www.dundeerep.co.uk www.scottishdancetheatre.com

Festival

Kicking off on Friday is the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, host of over 300 events across Scotland including film screenings, theatrical productions, exhibitions, spoken-word events, discussions, talks and walks.

Inspired by the division and anxiety created by Brexit and how the festival is rooted in local communities, SMHAF’s key theme is connection and how its inverse – isolation – impacts our mental health.

Throughout its 13 years, SMHAF’s writing awards have been an enduring success, offering first time writers the chance to be published alongside established names.

This year the awards will be hosted by best-selling author Ian Rankin at St George’s Tron Church in Glasgow on May 22, with live music from Emma Pollock.

SMHAF founder Lee Knifton said: “Since this festival began 13 years ago it has grown and thrived because of the connections it has made, between communities all across Scotland, between the arts and the public sector, and also with artists, filmmakers, activists, organisations and other festivals from all across the world. Those connections are authentic, deep-rooted and unique, and have taken a long time to build. This year we want to celebrate that.”

Knifton added: “We also want to continue to be provocative and challenging, which is partly why are making a point of celebrating connectedness at a time when so much of what is happening politically, from Brexit to the rise of the far right, is pushing people apart.”

May 3 to May 26, venues across Scotland. See listings at www.mhfestival.com/whats-on

Disco

Following the success of their events last year, promoters One Night At The Disco return to Glasgow’s Queen’s Park for a two-day celebration of the glamour of the 1970s New York club scene and the records the likes of Walter Gibbons, Giorgio Moroder and Tom Moulton were making specifically for the dance floor.

Glitter-up and get set to groove to the likes of Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross, Donna Summer and Chic.

May 4 and May 5, Queen’s Park Bandstand, Glasgow, 4pm, £18. Tickets: bit.ly/QPBandstandDisco

Concert

A music show made specifically for young people with profound autism begins to tour this week.

Sound Symphony is an interactive show where audience members can feel the vibrations made by musician-composers Sonia Allori, Greg Sinclair and Shiori Usui.

Theatre maker Ellie Griffiths created the show in response to a lack of shows in Scotland designed for the needs of young people with profound autism, a condition associated with high levels of social isolation.

Relaxed performances, the current model of provision for people with autism, is often not suited to those with more severe manifestations of the condition, she says.

“A lot of the young people I work with who have profound or severe autism, and what they love is really intense sound experiences where they can feel the vibrations of the sound in space. They also love getting involved.”

Tickets for the shows, which are for young people aged 8 and above and their carers, should be booked via contacting the venues directly – online booking is not available.

May 3 to May 7, The Studio, Edinburgh; May 11, Perth Theatre; May 13, Platform, Glasgow; May 15, Johnstone Town Hall; May 17, The Barn, Banchory; May 20, Byre Theatre, St Andrews; May 22, Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy; May 24, Lyth Arts Centre, Wick. www.soundsymphony.co.uk

Opera

Sir Thomas Allen returns to Scottish Opera to revive his five-star production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, set in a spectacular world inspired by the city of Glasgow at the height of its industrial powers.

Conductor Tobias Ringborg is joined by Peter Gijsbertsen as Tamino, Gemma Summerfield as Pamina and Richard Burkhard as Papageno, the role he created in Allen’s original production of Mozart’s most inventive opera.

Sir Thomas said: “Our production of The Magic Flute, first created in 2012, makes its return to the stage and to theatres around Scotland. There are many changes from our original cast, but one welcome return will be that of Richard Burkhard in the role of Papageno.

“As for what you will see, well, if you are familiar with Glasgow and the richness of its constituent parts, then you will recognise all of the references in this show. It is a tribute by designer Simon Higlett and myself to a great Scottish city.”

May 4 to 12, Theatre Royal Glasgow; May 21 to 25, Eden Court, Inverness; May 30 to Jun 1, His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen; Jun 5 to Jun 9, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh. www.scottishopera.org.uk

Film

The Basque Film Festival finishes in Edinburgh today before touring to Glasgow later this week with a selection of classic and contemporary films which particularly look at the history of the Basque conflict and land and tradition in the autonomous community.

The Glasgow Film Theatre will screen Montxo Armendariz’s 1984 film Tasio, often considered the magnum opus of Basque cinema, Julio Medem’s allegorical view of the Basque conflict Vacas (1992) and the UK premiere of The Spy Within, Ana Schulz and Cristobal Fernandez’s documentary about the peace process.

May 1 to 8, various venues, Glasgow. www.cinemaattic.com

Festival

Inverness Science Festival begins tomorrow, with a range of free events taking place around the city including a periodic table trail at the Victorian Market, a science scavenger hunt and a public lecture programme with expert talks on astronomy, the science of nursing and artificial intelligence.

The festival is organised by the University of the Highlands and Islands science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) team. STEM development manager Samantha Clark said: “We hope the festival will inspire people to find out more about science and develop a passion for this fascinating subject area.”

April 29 to May 12, venues around Inverness. www.uhi.ac.uk/isf

Film

Thirty-nine world premieres feature at the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Hawick’s internationally-renowned showcase of experimental film. Highlights include the UK festival premiere of Ceremony by Turner Prize nominee Phil Collins and a programme of shorts curated by Crossroads, San Francisco Cinematheque’s annual film festival.

May 2 to May 6, venues across Hawick. See full programme at www.alchemyfilmandarts.org.uk

Exhibition

Today is the last chance to see the latest instalment of NOW, the National Galleries of Scotland’s contemporary group shows. This fourth exhibition centres around new and existing work by the Turner Prize nominated artist Monster Chetwynd and brings together work by Moyna Flannigan, Henry Coombes, Betye Saar and Wael Shawky.

Today, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 10am to 5pm, free. www.nationalgalleries.org