Ethno Flanders Dance!

Ethno Flanders Dance!  

You’re young and totally into traditional dancing? Ethno Flanders Dance! is for you! We are looking for young dancers between 16 and 30 that have a big appetite to exchange their dances and experiences. Join our international group of dancers and be prepared for a week full of new dances, learning and performing. 

Ethno what? 

Ethno is an international youth music camp that will be organized in 40 countries this year. During 9 days young people from all over the world gather to share their traditional music, dance and culture. Our camp will finish with 4 performances, one at the Dranouter Festival! 

The Ethno-concept has been developed for musicians, 2022 was the very first year in the 22 years of it’s existance of Ethno Flanders that we applied it for dancers. 

Facts & checks:  

Ethno Flanders is a project of Muziekmozaïek and is a part of the JMI Ethno program. Together they are a world wide community that organize music camps for young traditional musicians. If you got really curious about Ethno you should check out the Ethno World website.

Our dance camp will be organized at the same time as Ethno Flanders. Check out their website! 

What will happen? 

During the first days of the camp the participants will learn each others traditional dances. You will also have the opportunity to teach a few dances from your own repertoire. You won’t be alone to do this, 2 professional coaches will be there to guide you through the learning process, dance techniques, creating choreographies, improvising … After these workshops we will finalise some dances that will be performed together with the musicians.  

Your coaches are:  

Rikke Rasmus (DK) 

Folk dancing has always been a part of Rikke’s 33-year long life, even before she was born. She started dancing around as soon as she learned to walk, and as a 25-year old she won the Danish Championship in Traditional Danish Folk Dance with her dancegroup Embla and as well with her sister in the category couple dances.

Rikke is a skilled dancer and dance teacher with a strong base in the Scandinavian roots, and she loves to play around by mixing different dance styles, rhythms, and choreographies – all coming from the folk dance genre.

She has studied traditional folk dance as well as more modern dance arts, and she teaches traditional Danish folk dance on a weekly basis. She often gives dance workshops at international folk festivals.

Throughout the years Rikke tried to learn to play the violin and the cello, but she always got ‘distracted’ and ended up on the dance floor instead of practicing the instruments, so she gave up that career-path and kept on dancing. Since Rikke doesn’t play an instrument this will be her very first Ethno, and she’s very excited to get to include the dance in an Ethno!

Pieterjan Hantson (BE) 

At the age of 15, Pieterjan Hantson started to lead occasionally the folk dance group of his father, Choronde in Roeselare. He’s never really stopped since then. 

Out of love and passion for folk dance, he took dance lessons with numerous international specialists, which resulted in over 20 years of experience and dance material. Balkan dances, that’s what he likes the most, but all folklore dance styles make him happy, as long as it’s fun.

Pieterjan is very active in the Flemish world dance scene, as co-founder of performance dance group Senlima and as coordinator of the world dance festival Tanatsfestival. The last years, teaching became more and more important, so he decided to take teacher training in the Netherlands with Caspar Bik and Bianca de Jong. 

He is known as a very enthusiastic, energetic and entertaining teacher who puts dancing pleasure at the top of the list. Pieterjan is very excited too to be part of the very first edition of Ethno Flanders Dance!

When and where?

Keep an eye on this page for the practical information.

Applications

For who?

• Are you between 16 and 30 years young?
• You are bitten by traditional dancing and can’t wait to share your dances with the other participants AND learn their dances?

How to apply + price?

Keep an eye on this page for the price and application form.

Need a visa?

Contact Leen at ethnodance@danspunt.be if you need to apply for a Visa for your stay in Europe. We will provide you an invitation letter for the Belgian embassy. Don’t forget this process takes a few weeks/months, so ask us in time!

More questions? Contact Leen : ethnodance@danspunt.be