Ethnic Dance Theatre: Preserving and presenting world music and dance as art for over 30 years!

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Quick Calendar

April 14, 11am-4pm, 2013:

EDT at the Mankato International Festival

May 2-3, 2013:

Festival of Nations

More information here.

Links

Mila Vocal Ensemble

Orkestar Bez Ime

SG Edelweiss St Paul

Natalie Nowytski

Ukrainian Village Band

Szaszka

Tapestry Folk Dance Center

Katha Dance Theatre

Dolina Polish Folk Dancers

Wild Goose Chase Cloggers

DykunTube

Hutsul Dance Project

ETHNIC DANCE THEATRE AT YOUR EVENT!

EDT accepts bookings for public performances and festivals, corporate events, school performances and workshops, and private gatherings.

To request a DVD sampler or to inquire about a performance, please contact us at info@ethnicdancetheatre.com or call 763-545-1333.

There are several options for hiring the Ethnic Dance Theatre; please have a look below!

Full Company Performance with Live Music

Audiences of all ages will thrill to these joyful dances, live music played on folk instruments, and dazzling costumes from EDT’s award winning costume collection! Bring the world to your doorstep with these exquisite treasures created by village cultures worldwide. Educational and inspiring, these family-friendly performances are a feast for the senses! Enhance the audience experience with village style dancing following the performance; school performances and workshops also available.

Approximate running time: 2 hours (with intermission)
Approximate number of performers: 12-16 dancers, 4-8 musicians
Tech and space requirements: large non-concrete performing platform, 8-10 mics, monitors, lights, orchestra pit preferred.

To book an EDT performance at your venue or for more information, e-mail info@ethnicdancetheatre.com or call 763-545-1333

Small Ensemble Performance

EDT’s touring shows are scalable, offering an affordable alternative to a full length performance and a format that may be more appropriate for community events.

Approximate running time: 30-60 minutes
Approximate number of performers: 4-12 dancers, 4 musicians (or recorded music)

Tech and space requirements: non-concrete performing platform; tech requirements negotiable depending on venue

To book an EDT performance at your venue or for more information, e-mail info@ethnicdancetheatre.com or call 763-545-1333

School Programs

Performances, Workshops & Residencies

A dynamic and invaluable educational resource, EDT has provided workshops and residencies at K-12 schools and college campuses throughout Minnesota and the Midwest. Our interactive programs balance performance, demonstration and instruction.

In-School Performance, or Informances

Help your students discover the importance of history and ethnic traditions through performances, residencies and workshops featuring music, dance language and stories from Costa Rica, Tajikistan, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and other countries.

Length: 30-60 minutes
Approximate number of performers: 2-8
Tech and space requirements: access to electrical outlet

In-School Performance as a Mini Festival of Nations!

You can style your in-school performance by the Ethnic Dance Theatre as a Mini Festival of Nations! Celebrate diversity with your students and parents by hosting a performance at your school styled after St. Paul's yearly Festival of Nations--a festival that is often dubbed as Minnesota's Second Great Get-Togther!

Ethnic Dance Theatre (EDT) will take you and your students and parents on a global tour to witness vibrant music, dances and costumes that are testimony to the creative spirit of village folk worldwide. Experience a slice of village life by joining EDT dancers for simple folk dances. Involve your community by setting up booths where families can share their heritage through ethnic foods, craft demonstrations, storytelling and other educational activities.

School Dance Workshops

EDT's workshops develop students' skills and enhance their enthusiasm for world cultures by teaching traditional dances from Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. Workshops can center on a single culture or on a combination of several cultures and can be custom-designed to meet your needs.

Length: 45 minutes

School Residencies

World Dance and Culture Residencies focus on dance, music and cultural history from around the world. Regions include Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. Residencies give students more opportunity for long-term, in-depth work with an EDT artist.

Length: Multiple 45 minute workshops that can be scheduled over days, weeks or months

School Music Series

Diversify your music series with lively folk music provided by the EDT Folk Orchestra!

With an international repertoire that spans the globe, EDT's outstanding musicians will thrill your audience with instrumental and vocal music from village cultures worldwide. Add a few dances to make it a treat for the eyes as well as the ears. Make it an interactive event by recreating the village square with simple folk dances, taught and demonstrated by Ethnic Dance Theater artists, following the performance!

Booking School Programs

EDT has partnered with the Young Audiences of Minnesota since 1985. To book a school program, visit Young Audiences at www.yamn.org or call 651-292-3399. To work with EDT directly, contact us at info@ethnicdancetheatre.com or call us at 763-545-1333

 

Ethnic Dance Theatre Folk Orchestra

Voted Best Folk Ensemble by the Minnesota Music Awards, the EDT Folk Orchestra enchants audiences of all ages with music from five of the seven continents, played on native folk instruments. EDT instrumentalists are among the most accomplished and versatile in the country, each having studied with masters in their field.

Approximate running time: 10-90 minutes
Approximate number of performers: 4-8 musicians
Tech and space requirements: 2-8 mics preferred (with monitors)

To book a performance, e-mail info@ethnicdancetheatre.com or call 763-545-1333.

Mila Vocal Ensemble

Formerly the Ethnic Dance Theatre Vocal Ensemble, Mila Vocal Ensemble has now been performing as an independent group for several years with great success.

To learn more about Mila and their current availability for workshops, residencies, school "informances," etc., please visit their website: www.milavocalensemble.com

Concert Factoids

BLACK SEA TRIVIA!

12. Strabo's Geography reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called "the Sea" (ho pontos). For the most part, Greco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the 'Hospitable Sea', Euxeinos Pontos.

11. The warm subtropical Black Sea coast of Russia is the site for a number of popular sea resorts, like Sochi, the follow-up host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The mountains of the Northern Caucasus contain popular ski resorts, including Dombay.

10. Originally a land-locked fresh water lake, the Black Sea was flooded with salt water from the Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene era. The influx of salt water essentially smothered the fresh water below it because a lack of internal motion and mixing meant that no fresh oxygen reached the deep waters.

9. The Black Sea Cossack Host also known as Chernomoriya, was a Cossack host of the Russian Empire created in 1787 in the southern Ukraine from former Zaporozhian Cossacks. In the 1790s, the host was re-settled to the Kuban River. It comprised the Caucasus Fortified Defense Line from the inlet of the Kuban River to the inlet of the Bolshaya Laba River.

8. Ancient trade routes in the region are currently being extensively studied by scientists, as the Black Sea was sailed by Hittites, Carians, Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Slavs, Varangians, Crusaders, Venetians, Genoese, Lithuanians, Georgians, Poles, Tatars, Ottomans, and Russians.

7. Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Ethnic Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi, their land Sakartvelo (meaning "a land of Kartvelians"), and their language Kartuli.

6. The 1936 Montreux Convention provides for a free passage of civilian ships between the international waters of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. However, a single country (Turkey) has a complete control over the straits connecting the two seas.

5. The Danube flows into the Black Sea within Romania's territory forming the Danube Delta, the second largest and best preserved delta in Europe, and also a biosphere reserve and a biodiversity World Heritage Site.

4. The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate Eastern Europe and western Asia. The Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.

3. Romania is a country located at the intersection of Central and Southeastern Europe, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.

2. Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east.

1. At 17,075,400 square kilometers (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km (22,991 mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as along the Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea and Caspian Sea.

**If you know something interesting--including your own personal story--about a culture represented in our current season, please tell us about it here!

Ethnic Dance Theatre
3507 Clinton Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55408

763-545-1333

info@ethnicdancetheatre.com