Christmas YU Folk Festival Belgrade 2001/2
Bognor Regis International Dance Ensemble
Evening Folk Dance Socials
The Christmas YU Folk Festival
Belgrade 2001/2 was a nostalgic reunion for Ciga. His life time work was involved in popularising international folk
dancing and this, his last project, introduced a set of people to folk dances taught by Serbian teachers. We had
several evening parties which involved early mornings (if you could keep going). The dancing was accompanied by live
music and plum brandy. The teaching was varied and excellent.
The Gradimer Dance Company
The Gradimer display team put on a special show and for an evening we were treated to a variety of Serbian folk dances. It was an experience not to be missed especially the recitation by the 'bard' in full traditional style.
Janet Douglas nobly suffering in the cause of folk dance
We arrived in Belgrade for the Christmas YU Folk Festival to find temperatures below 0. Janet does not like the cold though she liked the snow as we rarely see it in Bognor Regis. It was difficult to get her to go out sight-seeing. I did point out that it was the one holiday where it wouldn't rain and she wouldn't have to climb a mountain, explore a volcano, go underground or defend herself against mosquitos. Despite this she has vetoed the idea of a winter holiday to Leningrad or visiting Santa in Lapland.
Belgrade Ethnographic Museum
One reason for the lack of good photos of the rest of the holiday was that I used up my films at this museum photographing folk dance costumes. Of course I forgot to photograph the text so don't know which is which! Anyway here is a small selection - once I discover what the regions are, I'll put them all on a proper page with descriptions. I will do it in Balkan time.
