The Aberdeen International Youth Festival will kick off on next week with a host of dance, music and performance-based events across the city.
Festival-goers will be treated to a preview of the 2014 programme, now in its 42nd year, with a one-off Get Scotland Dancing event at The Lemon Tree tomorrow.
The pre-festival performance is a dance project created by 100 youths from across the north-east.
It will be orchestrated by internationally renowned choreographers Royston Maldoom and Tamara McLorg, and set to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
AIYF chief executive and artistic director, Stewart Aitken, said this year’s festival would be a “year of firsts”, adding: “We’re looking forward to the stuff that arches back to the festival’s routes.”
While celebrating the north-east, this year’s AIYF has also attracted young performers from Russia, China, America, Europe and Zimbabwe.
Mr Aitken said a “highlight” would be seeing how “different cultural ways of working” sat side-by-side.
He said: “The variety of dance is again very strong, we have got beautiful ballet from Japan and dance from Jordan and Azerbaijan. So it’s an exciting mix.
“And then there’s loads of nice, traditional music in the programme as well.”
The AIYF will run from Thursday until August 2.
The Get Scotland Dancing event is on from 5pm to 7pm at The Lemon Tree. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance through the Aberdeen Box Office.