Every month there is a House of Traditional Dances organized by the Dragúni NGO – a dance party in the centre of Bratislava where you have a chance to learn how to dance to the classic folk music or music of various minority groups. The idea of these events is that there are no performers and spectators, there is just dancing and fun! So what is House of Traditional Dances all about?

Rich cultural resources, unique geographic location preserving various shades of temperament, natural communicativeness of music, dance and interactions with the public are the fundamental pillars on which the project The House of Traditional Dances (Tanečný dom) was built. It has been organised in different towns and cities of Slovakia regularly since 2002. The art project applicable in any region of the world makes space for active entertainment – direct enjoyment and development of traditional music-dance art in its entire spectrum.

A flexible and well-working concept based on knowing the history and traditions, and respecting it, has the ambition to enable all participants to experience first-hand – and help create – a splendid atmosphere of live music, making it a good prospect for applying the project in local, national, international and inter-genre context. As you see, Dragúni NGO hold Slovak traditions in high esteem. The House of Traditional Dances project itself was inscribed in the prestigious Register of Best Safeguarding Practices in Slovakia in 2018 thus becoming the best traditional dance party in the country.

This Dance House has two parts. In the first part, the instructors use video projection of authentic records, focusing on teaching one or two folk dances. In the second part, participants try what they have learned in the first part in a form of free entertainment.

Cheerfulness expressed in dance is not enough this evening. Do not also miss presentation of an interesting element inscribed on The Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovakia. The December edition of the event will therefore be dedicated to specific Slovak craft - tinkering. Wire craft was developed by itinerant tinkers who went from door to door repairing kitchenware and making and selling a variety of items from wire and, later, also sheet metal. Tinkers also created their own cultural traditions. Wire can now be found in indoor and outdoor sculptures of all sizes, in jewellery, in craft design and in combinations with a huge diversity of materials.

Also look forward to interesting presentations and discussions about one of the intangible cultural heritage phenomenons, as the tinkering pipe will be presented this evening. The Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovakia is a listing of remarkable elements and practices acknowledged by both society and individuals and preserved in compliance with universal principles of human rights, equality, support and mutual respect between cultural societies. The inclusion in the national representative list is a basic condition for applying for the inclusion in the UNESCO World Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Tinkering is going to be inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during actual session of Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO Convention the same week this Dance House will take place.

Taking place at KC Dunaj in Bratislava city centre on December 12th, 2019, this edition of The House of Traditional Dances will be dedicated to folk from Kysuce cultural region in northwestern part of Slovakia and Spiš cultural region in eastern and northeastern parts of the country.

Come over to enjoy the Advent evening under the leadership of Katarína Babčáková and František Morong as well as Ján Michálik a Zuzana Palanová with their guests. Pure joy of life expressed in dance will be this time presented through couple dances from Haligovce in Spiš region and from village of Riečnica in Kysuce region. Music will be provided by Muzička Folk Band and Betlehemci from village of Lom nad Rimavicou.