Escola de Ball de Bot Calabruix
Balearic Islands, MALLORCA
Dance ensemble Escola de Ball de Bot Calabruix, who’s roots reach back to 1990, was officialy formed in 2004. With the main goal of maintaining and spreading “El Ball de Pagès” one of the most important facets of majorcan popular culture, they regularly perform at majorcan festivals and recitals, where they showcase the local traditional dances.
Skupina se ve svém repertoáru zaměřuje na tance typické pro Baleárské ostrovy, mezi které patří pomalý a smyslný tanec Bolero, tradiční námluvní tanec Jota, slavnostní Mateixa nebo bujarý námluvní tanec Fandango. Doprovází je instrumentální skupina „colla de xeremiers“ hrající převážně na malou flétnu fabiol a buben tamborino.
The group’s repertoire focuses on dances typical for the Balearic Islands such as the slow and sensual Bolero, the traditional courtship dance Jota, the festive Mateixa or the jaunty courtship dance Fandango. Their performances are accompanied by “colla de xeremiers” insturmental group primarily using the fabiol flute and tamborino drums.
Academic folklore group ORO
Niš, SERBIA
Academic folklore group Oro, which was founded in 1959 and operates as a part of Student cultural center in Niš since 1992, is among the oldest ensembles in Serbia. Their repertoire represents every region of the country with a focus on Ponišavlje and south-eastern Serbia.
For more than 60 years, Oro has successfully represented the beauty and the meaning of Serbian folklore heritage and inspired young people to continue this tradition. In 2008 the ensemble became a co-organizer of the International student folklore festival, which happens annually and takes place not only in Niš, but in several other cities in south-eastern Serbia and is one of the country’s biggest folklore festivals.
TRENČAN, foklore group of Gymnázium Ľ. Štúra Trenčín
Trenčín, SLOVAKIA
The youth ensemble was founded in 1949 under Gymnázium Ľ. Štúra in Trenčín. The dance group is comprised of the high school’s students, who practice and perform with the ensemble in their free time. The group has participated in many domestic and foreign festivals during its 73-year life span. They regularly take part in exhibitions and competitions, where they rack up top finishes and accolades to this day.
Trenčan focuses on preserving the folklore materials of Trenčín, Myjava and Púchov regions in their performances. Their typical dances are for example the improvised pair dances sellácké with their signature figures such as cifrování, kroucená and výskoky.
Their perfomances are accompanied by their very own cimbalom band.
Folklore Song and Dance Group ŽEROTÍN
Strážnice, CZECH REPUBLIC
Žerotín traces its beginnings to Slovácký Krúžek founded in Strážnice in 1969 by a group of enthusiasts, with the goal of learning traditional songs and dances of the region. The group underwent some changes in 1971 under the new leadership of Jan Loutchan – they changed their name to Žerotín, expanded their repertoire to include dances from further-away regions and the group’s artistic level rised up, as confirmed by the many invitations to festivals across the whole of Europe – Norway, Austria, France, Spain, Romanie and others.
Nowadays, the group covers dances form Strážnické Dolňácko, Uherohradišťsko, Horňácko, Moravian Wallachia and Lachia but also form Czechia or Slovakia. Žerotín’s dancers, who are truly imersed in the folklore culture, are currently being accompanied by Jožka Šťastný’s cimbalom band.
Ensemble FLAIR
Kozlovice, CZECH REPUBLIC
This year’s (2022) 22nd of July marks ten years since the death of a fenomenal musician and radio editor Jan Rokyta (1938-2012).
The wallachian Jasená’s native came to Ostrava when he was fifteen years old (1953) and with the exeption of ten years spent in Prague with the Pražští Madrigalisté ensemble (1970-1980), he lived in the moravian-silesian metropolis for another 60 years until his departure to musical heaven. In 1958 Jan Rokyta founded Cimbalom Band TECHNIK Ostrava, that became the supportive musical body for Folklore Song and Dance Group Hlubina in the sixties. This dynamic collaboration lasted into the early seventies and produced many legendary dance choreographies with timeless musical accompaniments.
Ensemble FLAIR with artistic director Jan Rokyta Junior will pay tribute not only to Jan Rokyta of Jasená, but also to the renowned choreographer and long-standing artistic director of SLPT Hlubina Zdena Kyselá (1918-2004). The joined work of these two icons of the ostravian folklore scene will be represented with both dance and music through three of their most important creations: Starodávný, Ruská polka and Taněc.
Cimbalom Band ÚSMĚV
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
Cimbalom band Úsměv is an experienced collective of young and passionate musicians, who have played together with mostly the same lineup since 2009. The band performs folklore songs from Moravia, Slovakia or even Hungary.
Úsměv activelly collaborates with Moravian Folklore Group Ševčík since 2011. Together they present wallachian folklore not only domesticaly but also at international festivals abroad (for example in Taiwan, Brazil, Italy or Serbia).
Martin Zálesný serves as the artistic director and leader of the band.
Folklorní klub FOGÁŠ
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
FC Fogáš has formed in Ostrava in 2010 out of interest in slovakian folklore culture, its variety and temperament. Its member base consists of experienced dancers and musicians, who previously performed with other well-known folklore groups and cimbalom bands across Moravia and Silesia or they still do to this day.
FC Fogáš’s dance department currently has 19 dancers and its repertoire is formed by customs, dances and songs from various slovakian regions, namely Zemplín, Šariš, Spiš, Podpolaní and Horehroní.
Their performances are accompanied by cimbalom band Fogáš and the singing department of FC Fogáš, which acts as a supporting body for the dancers.
Moravian Folklore Group ŠEVČÍK
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
History of MFG Ševčík dates back to 1950 when it was founded as a youth ensemble and took on the name of Ladislav Ševčík that it carries to this day. Nowadays the ensemble operates from Culture House Akord in the Ostrava-Zábřeh city district and its activities mainly focus on bringing the beauty of folklore dancing and traditions to the wider public.
Ševčík covers dances and songs from the entirety of Moravia Wallachia in its repertoire, and especialy from its southern part. Their performances are accompanied by cimbalom band Úsměv.
The ensemble has traveled to Taiwan, Serbia and Brazil in recent years. Its seventy year-long tradition makes Moravian Folklore Group Ševčík one of the oldest folklore ensembles in Moravian-Silesian region.
Silesian folklore group OPAVICA
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
The original OPAVICA ensemble was founded in 1952 by Marie Bohušová, a music teacher, in Ostrava-Svinov city district, to satisfy a request of the local youth, who needed help with a performance they were preparing for the local harvest festival. Together they gathered information about traditions and customs typical for the area of Opavica river basin from historians and contemporary witnesses, which were then woven by the artistic director into Opavica’s performances characterized by strong plot, unique choreographies and specific dance step known as “six beat polka”.
In 2019, a group of former members of OPAVICA bravely and enthusiastically began rerehearsing some of the dances of one of the most successful folklore ensembles, and now they are bringing back the beauty of the original choreographies of Mrs. Marie Bohušová to a wide audience. The Silesian folk ensemble OPAVICA is accompanied by the brass band Jistebnická desítka, led by Ladislav Mariáš.
Silesian Ensemble of Helena SALICHOVÁ
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
Ostravian group that was founded in 1977 by etnographer Hana Podešvová and teacher Anna Buroňová with the name SATINA, under VŠB-TUO, where it operates to this day.
The group functions under its current name since 1982. The title draws connection to the name of academic painter Helena Salichová, who collected folklore art of Opavian Silesia – the region on which the group focuses in its work. The ensemble has perfomed at many exibitions in the Czech Republic but also in France, Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia.
The group stages multiple annual events – Silesian Ball, Vynášení Mařeny and autumn festival Třebovický koláč, that is slated for its 18th return in 2022.
Folklore Song and Dance Group HLUBINA
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
Folklore Song and Dance Group Hlubina is among the oldest dance ensembles in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1947 in Ostrava, formerly as a girl dance group that studied silesian folklore. After a short while the small group expanded to an ensemble that took on the name Hlubina – taken from the name of a no longer existing mine shaft and culture house, where it operated up untill 1990.
SLPT Hlubina nowadays functions under SVČ Korunka in the Ostrava-Mariánské Hory district. Its repertoire is based on the folklore materials of Silesia and Lachia, baroque dances and it traditionally focuses on the expression of the mining environment as one of the only collectives in the Czech Republic. The crown jewels of Hlubina’s repertoire are the choreographic interpretations of Leoš Janáček’s Lachian Dances.
Children’s Folklore Group OSTRAVIČKA
Frýdek-Místek, CZECH REPUBLIC
DFS Ostravička was founded in 1982 by Marie Nováková and Stanislav Novák in Frýdek-Místek. The young dancers are split into two groups and they cover folklore of the lachian region, but also that of Cieszyn Silesia and the moravian-slovakian border. The group is accompanied by its own cimbalom band.
Since 1994, Ostravička acts as the head organiser of the International Folklore Festival Frýdek-Místek, which became one of the most renowned folklore festivals in the Czech Republic
Children’s Folklore Group KRASNIČANEK
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
Krasničanek was formed in 1999 under Elementary Art School of Helena Salichová in cooperation with elementary school in Krásné Pole. The ensemble focuses on dances from the region of Opavian Silesia, which it present in the form of longer connected perfomances.
The children’s group currently only consist of girls and they closely collaborate with kids from Elementary School Krásné Pole, who can attend a folklore dance club. Krasničanek organizes “Folklore Afternoon” – a meet-up with another children’s group in Krásné Pole every June. In recent years, they dance to the music of cimbalom band Grut from Háj ve Slezsku.
Children’s Folklore Group HLUBINKA
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
Folklore Group Hlubinka formed in the sixties under Hlubina mine club in Ostrava. The group functions under its artistic director Kateřian Macečková at Lidová konzervatoř a Múzická škola in Ostrava-Přívoz since 1992.
The kids focus on folklore games, customs, dances and songs of northeast Moravia – the Silesia and Lachia folklore regions.
The group’s performances are accompanied by Cimbalom Band Hlubinka under the leadership of Teodora Osuchová. The band formed in 2015 from the ranks of Hlubina’s current dancers.
Children’s Folklore Group HOLÚBEK
Ostrava, CZECH REPUBLIC
DFS Holúbek was founded in 1994 by ostravian native Per Ščerba. Its young dancers learn the basics of folklore dance and singing in kid-friendly form, which they then present in form of longer connected performances and dancing games. The ensemble covers dances, songs and customs of lowland Lachia, the wallachian-lachian border, Moravian Wallachia and Silesia.
Holúbek currently functions under the artistic leadership of Kristýna Mílková Pavlíková at SVČ Gurťjevova in Ostrava-Zábřeh. Apart from their involvement in many folklore events in the Czech Republic, they also present their art abroad. The group visited Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Hungary and Lithuania in the last 25 years. They also organise the international children’s festival Chidren and Traditions.
