The Let Us Save Our Tradition folk dance festival was held in the Mladost sports hall on Saturday.

This festival was organized by the Prijedor cultural and artistic society Šarenica, and included participation, in addition to the members of this society, of six other societies from the Republic of Srpska, Croatia and Austria.

The vice-president of the Graz cultural and artistic society Kolo sreće, Ljiljana Aksentić, says that this is their first performance in the Republic of Srpska.

‘We are probably the youngest cultural and artistic society. We were founded in March with the goal that our children continue our tradition. About 20 of our members have come to Prijedor, and we have about 50 of them’, Aksentić said.

The artistic director of the preparatory ensemble of the Banja Luka cultural and artistic society Čajavec, Andrea Gračanin, stated that they were the guests of Šarenica from Prijedor for the first time.

‘We are happy to be here and the preparatory ensemble of the Čajavec cultural and artistic society will perform dances from around the Pčinj region’, said Gračanin.

The artistic director of the Šarenica cultural and artistic society, Milana Lukić, reminded that this society normally organized festivals in July.

‘We had a two-year break due to the coronavirus epidemic, and this is otherwise the first time we are organizing such a festival with several ensembles like tonight. The name is Let Us Preserve Our Tradition because everything that used to be is being eradicated, and this is precisely how we preserve tradition – through folk dance’, Lukić said.

It is interesting that the entrance fee to the sports hall, where the festival was organized, was paid by voluntary contributions.

Lukić stated that they would use part of the income to purchase costumes for the members, while the rest of the money would be donated to Nenad Aničić, a seriously ill boy from Prijedor.

This festival is part of this year’s Prijedor Summer of Culture.

Source: PrijedorDanas.Com - Kozarski vjesnik

Photo: Kozarski vjesnik