Genuine folk entertainment in the centre of Brno

4 March 2020, 16:00
Genuine folk entertainment in the centre of Brno

Spontaneous joy of dancing is hiding behind the mysterious cry Šej-Haj-Hop! That is why the new school of Slovak folk dance in Brno chose it as its name. There are three friends behind it – Michal Janšto, Edita Borščová and Ondrej Mišík, who all met a few years ago at VSĽPT Poľana.

On Monday, the Na Šelepce club hosted the first ever Tanečný dom [Dance House] event under their baton. Dance Houses are a very popular form of dancing classes in Slovakia and Hungary (called Táncház), where they are held regularly and attended by a huge number of dance couples. They became popular especially for people who, due to time or other restrictions, cannot attend folk groups but who love dancing; they are also intended for members of ensembles who want to learn dances from new regions. Alternatively, this event is also suitable for complete beginners or retired group members who do not yet plan to hang up their dance shoes. Exactly this composition of participants came to Na Šelepce and completely filled the dance floor. They learned dances from Eastern Slovakia from the villages of Zámutov and Dlhé Klčovo. Thanks to this varied composition, dance houses are a much more natural form of passing folk tradition than stage performances and closed groups of folklore ensembles.

sej_haj_hop_foto_marie_hvozdecka_02

Šej-Haj-Hop members come from different parts of Slovakia and have rich dancing experience. Edita Borščová comes  from Prešov and went through the folk groups Rozmarija and Hornád. Michal Janšto is from the border village of Košariská and attended the Brezová ensemble as a dancer, but he also continued in the musical tradition of the family. Ondrej Mišík comes from Trenčín and went through the children's ensemble Kornička and two other groups – Trenčan and Nadšenci. Their paths converged during university studies in Brno, where they wanted to continue dancing. They chose the Vysokoškolský soubor lidových písní a tanců Poľana [Poľana University Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances], where three years ago they had the opportunity to devote themselves to preparing newcomers and beginners. It was this experience that eventually led them to found their school. As they say: "Thanks to it, we realized that although there were many folklore groups in Brno, there was a lack of opportunities for a layman to start doing folklore. People often said that they were interested in folklore and would like to give it a try... An ensemble always represents quite a big commitment and often does not have the space to work beginners. This was our impulse to establish Slovak folk dance courses. ”

The first Dance House was certainly an encouraging start not only for lecturers but also for potential visitors. The dancing was moreover accompanied by a high-quality music trio headed by Martin Janšto, brother of one of the lecturers. The environment of the Na Šelepce hall was reminiscent of a folk festivity in the countryside, which hardly anyone would expect near the Brno centre. This also contributed to the atmosphere that one likes to get back to.

I wish the new Šej-Haj-Hop school a lot of success. I hope that they will be able to awaken the tradition of similar dance workshops in the Czech Republic to a greater extent.

Photo by Marie Hvozdecká

Comments

Reply

No comment added yet..

The Brno Philharmonic's New Year's concert on 1 January at the Janáček Theatre is already a well-established tradition. This year was no exception, and the orchestra, led by conductor Michel Tabachnik, gave a performance consisting mainly of works by Johann Strauss the Younger. This was the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra's show opening the 'Strauss Year'. After all, 2025 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the composer, dubbed the king of waltzes. Strauss's compositions were accompanied by works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Richard Strauss and Dimitri Shostakovich.  more

"Culture is a Bridge" was the theme of the second Czech-Austrian Partnership Concert, held on Friday, 20 December at Schloss Thalheim. It was the final evening of the 5th year of the pan-European project Czech Dreams 2024, and also part of the celebrations of the Year of Czech Music and the Concentus Moraviae international music festival. Culture is a bridge that connects not only different generations and social classes, but also entire nations. And the Czech Dreams project, which in 2024 alone presented music by Czech composers in 25 European cities in 17 different countries, is an eloquent example of this. In December alone, besides the final concert in Austria, six more concerts were performed in southern Europe, from Amarante in Portugal to Varaždin in Croatia. The concert was dedicated to the Lower Austrian Governor Erwin Pröll, who has long been committed to building and deepening relations between the Czech Republic and Austria.  more

Christmas in Brno also means the traditional pre-Christmas concert of the Brno Contemporary Orchestra (BCO), this time entitled From America to Tuřany. It took place on 18th December and after a one-year break it returned to the Sokol Hall in Tuřany. The BCO, conducted by Pavel Šnajdr, performed works by Mauricio Kagel, Steve Reich, Trevor Grahl and, as always, Miloslav Kabeláč. Appearing together with the orchestra were four singers, Aneta Podracká BendováKornél MikeczMichal Kuča and Martin Kotulan. At the end of the first half, Pavel Šnajdr set aside his baton and clapped the beat, joined by Petr Hladíkmore

The now world-famous Swedish band Dirty Loops finished their autumn European tour on Saturday, 30 November at Brno's Metro Music Bar. The band featured on the programme of the seventeenth annual Groove Brno funk, soul and jazz festival. The virtuoso trio, consisting of Jonah Nilsson - vocals and keyboards, Henrik Linder - bass guitar and Aron Mellergård - drums, are famous for their flawless technical proficiency, sophisticated original compositions and cover versions of well-known numbers, especially pop songs. However, these songs are often reharmonised in their arrangements and the style is more a combination of disco, pop and jazz fusion. To avoid having to resort to using pre-recorded backing tracks, the trio was joined on tour by keyboardist and vocalist Kristian Kraftlingmore

Ensemble Opera Diversa put a distinctive "spin" on its last orchestral concert of the year. It took place on 26 November at the Alterna music club, which is more a rock, electronica and indie pop hangout than an artistic music venue. The pair of selected pieces consisting of Vojtěch Dlask's premièred work Querell Songs for soprano saxophone and strings and Miloslav Ištvan's Hard Blues for pop-baritone, soprano, reciter and chamber ensemble also reflected this. Naturally, it was Ištvan's Hard Blues that gave the evening its name - the clash of the artistic, composed and purposefully "artistic" world (not meant pejoratively) with authentic African-American musical expressions springing from the depths of the soul of a man tested by life formed as the centre of the evening. This was not merely a stylistic inspiration, but more thematic, which was also evident in the opening piece of the evening. This was the composition Querelle Songs, inspired by Jean Genet's novel, previously dedicated to Ensemble Opera Diversa, but this time in a new instrumentation.  more

Leoš Janáček's (1854-1928) Moravian national opera Jenůfa was brought to Brno for the Janáček Brno 2024 festival by the Moravian Theatre Olomouc in a co-production with the Janáček Opera NdB. Rather than using the Czech title Její pastorkyňa, the production team, headed by director Veronika Kos Loulová, decided to stage the work as Jenůfa, the name under which it is performed abroad. On Wednesday, 20 November, five days after its première in Olomouc, the audience at the Mahen Theatre could also see the latest domestic take on Janáček's most widely performed opera. The musical staging of the significantly modified original version from 1904 was the work of conductor Anna Novotná Pešková, and the main roles were played by Barbora Perná (Jenůfa), Eliška Gattringerová (Kostelnička), Josef Moravec (Laca Klemeň) and Roman Hasymau (Števa Buryja).  more

The office of Brno - UNESCO City of Music, with the financial support of the South Moravian Region, presents a line-up of active folklore groups (ensembles, chasers, musics) in the Brno region as part of the Year of Folklore Ensembles.  more

Trumpeter Jiří Kotača founded the big band Cotatcha Orchestra ten years ago. Nowadays, he performs a variety of programmes ranging from the most traditional jazz to a visionary fusion of jazz and electronica. We chatted with Jiří Kotača about how the orchestra has gradually developed, how the original repertoire is blurring the boundaries between jazz and electronica, and also about what fans can expect from the November concert to celebrate the orchestra's 10th anniversary. We also talk about Kotača's International Quartet, as well as how the trumpet and flugelhorn can be enriched with effects.  more

On Saturday, 24 August, the Korean radio orchestra KBS Symphony Orchestra with its musical director - Finnish conductor and violinist Pietari Inkinen - came to Brno's Špilberk Festival with an exclusively romantic repertoire. The invitation was also accepted by South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim, a graduate of the prestigious Julliard School.  more

For a quarter of a century now, the Brno Philharmonic has been organising the Špilberk Festival at the end of August in the courtyard of the castle of the same name. Four open-air musical evenings offer the audience a selection of concerts featuring classical, film and computer music, as well as often jazz and other genres. This makes it a diverse mix of performers and repertoires with an often pleasant, summery, laid-back ambience. This year's big and rapdily sold-out attraction was the Wednesday evening of 21 August, full of melodies from the James Bond films, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, headed by world-renowned conductor, composer and arranger Steven Mercurio. During the concert, the audience also got to enjoy singers Sara MilfajtováVendula Příhodová and David Krausmore

As part of its European tour, the Taiwanese Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir (TPCC), under the direction of artistic director and choirmaster Dr. YuChung Johnny Ku, took the city up on its invitation and visited Brno. The concert was held on Monday, 13th August in the hall of the newly renovated Passage Hotel.  more

The final concert of this year's season of the Brno Philharmonic was devoted to works by Antonín Dvořák and Jean Sibelius at the Janáček Theatre. On Thursday, 20 June, Danish conductor Michael Schønwandt, who had not appeared before a Brno audience since January last year, took the lead of the Philharmonic. In the first half of the programme, the orchestra was accompanied by violinist Alexander Sitkovetskymore

In the spirit of the idea that Brno and folklore belong together, the Folklore Ensemble Happening of the Year took place on Thursday 6 June. The event was organised by the Brno UNESCO City of Music Office in cooperation with the Brno Dances and Sings association. The event thus became part of a long-term project that set out to map the amateur music scene in Brno, and not only folk music. Last year Brno City of Music reached out to choirs in a similar way, and in the future will host garage bands and more. This just goes to prove the diversity of Brno's music scene, not only as regards professional ensembles, but also enthusiastic amateurs for whom music is an inseparable part of their lives.  more

The Brno Dances and Sings Association and TIC Brno organised the 49th annual Brno Dances and Sings show on 6 June. The programme, concentrated into a single day, was busier than in previous years. The subtitle Year of Folklore Ensembles was borrowed from the project of the same name organised by the Brno UNESCO City of Music Office.  more

A year ago we would have found an Asian market in the New Synagogue in Velké Meziříčí. However, the town decided to buy the building and has started to make more fitting and dignified use of it. On Wednesday 5 June, during the ongoing Concentus Moraviae festival, audiences could visit this heritage site and enjoy a chamber concert by singer and violinist Iva Bittová and her women's choir Babačka, featuring musicians Jakub Jedlinský (accordion) and Pavel Fischer (violin).  more

Editorial

After more than 50 years, a new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut returns to the Janáček Theatre as the opera directorial debut of Štěpán Pácl and with music conducted by Ondrej Olos.  more

The Brno Contemporary Orchestra (BCO) will be serving up a Culinary concert that will show that sounds can be as captivating as the most refined dishes. The event will take place in the dining room of the Masaryk Student Home in Brno and is subtitled "Dinner for Magdalena Dobromila Rettig". However, do not expect food on the table, but music - the main course will be the musical works of Ondřej Adámek.  more

The National Theatre Brno invites Brno lecturers, educators in culture and anyone working in audience education at cultural and educational institutions to come along to a joint meeting at the Janáček Theatre.  more

A gig by hypnotic British trio Mammal Hands combining jazz and electronics will open the twenty-fourth annual JazzFestBrno festival at the Fléda club. Newly additions to the line-up are the May concerts of pianist Nikol Bóková with her trio, double bassist Klára Pudláková with MAOMAH, and guitarist David Dorůžka, who will be launching a new joint album with the Piotr Wyleżoł Quartet entitled When the Child Was a Child. From the beginning of February to May, the festival will offer thirteen gigs by some top world jazz stars, as well as performances with a club atmosphere from the Club Life series in the stylish Cabaret des Péchés.  more

The Brno Philharmonic has announced that due to the illness of Robert Kružík, Leoš Svárovský will take up the baton for Thursday's Concert with Laureates.  more

The production team and soloists will appear in a pre-première preview of the new production of Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut. The preview will take place at the Janáček Theatre and can also be watched online.  more

Iggy Mayerov kicks off 2025 with a new single, Feels Like Yesterday, offering an intimate look at life's losses and changes, and the path to come to terms with what we can't control. The single is currently available on YouTube as a recording of a live concert from the Brno Alterna club, and is a precursor to his upcoming album.  more

Brno's Pop Messe music festival, which showcases the contemporary foreign and domestic electronic, rap, pop and indie scene, has come up with the first confirmed names for next year's event. For the first time ever, Brno will be hosting dance club legend Orbital, one of the most influential producers of our time Danny L Harle, who has produced albums by Caroline Polachek and written hits for Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Tommy Cash and Rina Sawayama, as well as Leon Vynehall and Batu, top names on the British DJ scene, and American hyperpop duo Frost Children, Toccororo, the queen of the Spanish club scene, Polish electronic duo Wczasy, the five-member Parisian collective 15 15 aka Quinze Quinze, who mix global underground culture with Tahitian roots, French dance duo Atoem, and Mikuláš Příhoda aka Kewu, whose set will feature the Czech-Slovak ballroom dancers Viktor Velvet and the Kiki Dancers collective.  more

Planes from all over the world have been landing in Brno Tuřany for seventy years now, but there hasn't been a single direct flight from America. The Brno Contemporary Orchestra decided to make up for this symbolic deficit with a concert entitled From America to Tuřany. And it's in just the right Christmas spirit. The ensemble will transform the Tuřany Sokol hall into the heart of the Euro-American world. It will be filled with Argentine rhythms, minimalism, a postmodern waltz and unorthodox carols.  more

The Leoš Janáček Foundation, the Society of Friends of the NdB and the JAMU Faculty of Music invite you to a discussion with singer and teacher Natalia Romanová. The event will take place in the Mozart Hall of the Reduta Theatre.  more