The International Festival of Dancing and the Arts’ (IFDAS) stage competition, which was due to take place at The Brunton Theatre, has been cancelled for 2023.

Following the closure of The Brunton, plans were put in place to have the dancing competition moved to Musselburgh Grammar School. However, the school became unavailable due to maintenance work.

Despite continued efforts to find a new venue for the competition, IFDAS and The Brunton have been unsuccessful, and the event has now been cancelled.

The competition was set to mark the group’s 70th anniversary.

An IFDAS spokesperson said: “It is with much disappointment and sadness that the International Festival of Dancing and the Arts advise of the cancellation of the STAGE sections at the 2023 event.

“As you are aware, The Brunton was closed suddenly in March due to issues identified during a planned roof inspection. We worked with The Brunton to secure a new venue and were advised on May 30 that Musselburgh Grammar School had been secured for our dates.

“On June 22 we received an email advising that Musselburgh Grammar School was not available due to maintenance work being carried out during the school holidays.

“Since then, both IFDAS and The Brunton have been working to try to secure a venue for the event. Despite making contact with a large number of venues both in East Lothian and Edinburgh – some of who responded and some who didn’t – we have unfortunately been unable to secure a venue for this year’s stage festival.

“We did consider rescheduling to the Edinburgh October school week however, this is the same week as the SDTA Stage Festival and Championship.

“Therefore, we have no alternative but to cancel the stage competitions for 2023."

The competition was set to mark the group’s 70th anniversary with a number of tickets already sold and sponsors secured.

The spokesperson said: "This is disappointing in any year but even more so in our 70th Anniversary year. We plan to host our special 70th Anniversary stage events at our event in 2024.

“We thank everyone who entered the event and we will be in contact separately with everyone who has paid entry fees to arrange refunds – please be patient as this will be a manual process. We will also be in contact with those who have paid to sponsor sections.”