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The international project "Dance and folklore connect us"
At the heart of the old part of the town Omišalj, on Prikešte, an interesting musical and dance program took place on July 29 before a numerous audience. The program was prepared by young people and their leaders from four countries - Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia and Croatia - as a part of an international youth exchange program financed by the European Union.
The project was carried out during the 10-day visit of young people from the four countries, at what time the participants, between the ages of 13 and 25, from EU (Czech Republic and Slovakia) and candidate countries (Serbia and Croatia) were introduced to the musical culture of participating countries and established many new contacts and friendships.
The project leader was the elementary art school from Nemcice nad Hanou (Czech Republic) with its headmaster Ladislav Gazdag and conductor Josef Kuchař. Other participants were the students of Art school from Lipan (Slovakia) with their conductors Miroslav Kobelak and Jano Štofka; students of Music school "Pavao Markovac" from Kraljevo (Serbia) with conductor Dejan Ostojiš; and young members of Czech Beseda Rijeka lead by Snježana Husak. Czech Beseda Rijeka represented Croatia in this project. Singing group "Kantori" from Omišalj also participated in the program.
During the week of living together in Lovran, these young people rehearsed 4 short plays, each representing a legend or tradition from one of participating countries. Representatives of all four countries participated in each play. Croatia was represented with the legend of a young sailor who fell in love with a beautiful siren. Their true love overcame all obstacles, the siren became human and, despite all plots against her, kept her beauty. The Czech play was based on a legend saying a man can prove his true love and faithfulness to his loved girl if he takes red-hot iron bar from a circle without burning his palms. Serbian musicians, who turned into actors for this occasion, won the audience with a play about a cunning woman who is good at everything she does, so she manages to find a rich and handsome husband for her lazy daughter. Slovaks based their play on the legend of the well-known Slovakian hero Janošik who took from the rich and gave to the poor with the help of his magic belt, axe and robe.
"Kantor" singers from Omišalj sung several local songs in the distinctive island style and technique. The dance group Riječke Ribice charmed the audience dancing four dances from their repertoire. As always, Ribice radiated beauty and smiles, and their performance was impeccable.
The grand finale of the program was the performance of about 30 young musicians from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Serbia. After only one week of practicing together, they sounded as one, as if they have always been playing together. Their music sounded very professional. Singers and solo players of all three orchestras enriched and perfected the spectacular performance.
