Yoga Features as Fringe Workshop at Alan Cumming’s Out in the Hills

Alan Cumming’s three-day Out in the Hills festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre mixed performance, politics and community practice, with yoga tucked into the fringe workshops as a social, movement-led counterpoint to the main stage programming. The schedule foregrounded readings, conversations including an appearance by Graham Norton, ceilidhs and panels, while community workshops provided informal opportunities for connection and shared practice.

Yoga did not headline the festival, but its presence mattered. Fringe sessions gave attendees a chance to unroll mats between performances, warm up for late-night ceilidhs and anchor the revelry with gentle movement. A light cultural nod came in the form of an event labelled Kilted Yoga, led by Finlay Wilson, which fit the festival’s playful blend of local colour and queer visibility. For people who came for the talks or the theatre, the workshops offered practical wellbeing tools - breath work, grounding and social ease - that helped turn short visits into lingering community time.

The programming choice reflects an arts-led approach to wellbeing that positions yoga as communal and accessible rather than purely fitness-focused. By placing yoga in the fringe line-up, curators signalled that movement could be part of festival socialising - a way to meet neighbours, steady nerves before onstage conversations, or recover after energetic ceilidhs. For local teachers and queer practitioners, the festival offered visibility and a different kind of performance platform, integrating embodied practice into a weekend otherwise dominated by spoken word and theatre.

Pitlochry’s mix of star draws and grassroots activity made the festival feel exuberant. The presence of mainstream figures alongside community workshops expanded the audience for alternative classes, showing how arts events can broaden who tries yoga and how it’s presented. At the same time, keeping yoga on the fringe preserved the festival’s focus on arts and politics, letting movement complement rather than compete with headline events.

For readers interested in community yoga, the Out in the Hills model underscores two takeaways: festivals can be useful sites for outreach and informal practice, and short, playful workshops can lower barriers for newcomers. Expect to see similar wellbeing slots at regional arts festivals as organisers look to combine social programming with physical and mental wellbeing. The Kilted Yoga moment may have been small, but it pointed to a larger trend of making room for movement in cultural gatherings, blending communal flow with local flavour.