The Lucnica Folk Festival...

I love when the Americans come...not only to meet new people from my side of the pond, but also because I get to go on the trips with them, if I'm able to (private student schedule and all)! So, last night the bus pulled into the Bible School parking lot to pick up the Minnesota group, the Bible School staff, some students and me at about 6pm. We took about an hour or so drive to the other side of the mountain from Zilina to a village called Terchova and then piled out of the bus and walked up a massive hill (no surprise there right?) to the top of a mountainside that had an incredible open air amphitheater stage. Yes.....I do WISH I had my CAMERA with me......if I've told myself once, I've told myself a thousand times.....never, never, never leave home with out it around here! Sheesh! I really had no excuse for it though....I knew we were going, I just completely forgot it until we were almost to the festival grounds. Anyway, it was wonderful looking, you'll just have to trust me for that. This festival is an annual event they have held since 1948 and even traveled all over the world to perform. The first hour was the put on by the younger up and coming singers and dancers who did a fabulous job. Then, at 9 pm, just about the time the sun went down, the main attraction got up on stage and I'm telling you what - I was totally enthralled from start to finish! I don't have any pictures for you, but I did find two clips on youtube that are the exact performances so you can see some of what I saw. You'll have to use your imagination though to see the stage at night time, lit up perfectly and the girls batons all lit up and oh my gosh...it was an incredible feast for the eyes and heart.....and soul! As you'll notice from the videos, line dancing and break dancing surprisingly enough were invented centuries ago! We didn't get home until about 1:30am, but it was well worth it! Enjoy the vidoes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDSgDZAFGII&NR=1 this first one is called Welcome Spring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcvYIs-Glu0&feature=related, this one is called Shepherds dance. I wish I could have the one with the hats and the one with the ribbon - those were my two favorites - the whole thing was just the best festival I've ever seen!