Exciting participation of the folklore dance ensemble “Thea Maass” of the TU Dresden at the 24th International Folklore Festival in Zielona Gora / Poland
Publication in the “Dresdner Universitätsjournal” 15/2010
On the morning of September 5, 2010, we, the folklore dance ensemble “Thea Maass” of the TU Dresden, started our journey to the 24th International Folklore Festival in Zielona Góra, Poland. The 34 dancers, six musicians and the director Maud Butter and Gert Hölzel were in for a multicultural week of dance, music and exchange that we will not soon forget.
Dancers accommodated in a simple student residence in Zielona Góra and linguistically supported by our personal interpreter Kaska, the days flew by. Our performances on the large market square, in schools and in the towns of Witnica and Sprotawa represented the German tradition through dance and were enthusiastically received by the audience. A big gala program in the Zielona Góras amphitheatre rounded off our stay perfectly, as the groups from all seven participating countries (Poland, Slovakia, Portugal, Argentina, Macedonia, Lithuania and Germany) came together on stage. Once again, it was very interesting to see which traditions the individual countries were able to conjure up on stage with the help of dance, music and costumes. The fantastic atmosphere was crowned by a finale with all countries dancing together and a fireworks display.
There was also a lively exchange between the groups outside of the performances, we received invitations to Macedonia and Slovakia and, with the help of an information folder, we encouraged our student interpreter to do a postgraduate course at the TU Dresden. All in all, the festival was very successful despite the cold and wet autumn weather and we succeeded in making our group, the TU Dresden and German folklore a little better known around the world.
Elsa Butter
