Dear Friends,

it is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 81st Strážnice International Folklore Festival and the 44th Children’s Strážnice Folklore Festival. The Festival enters a new decade of its existence and remains attentive to the changing times, continually seeking to bring new inspiration. At the same time, it pays tribute to the cultural legacy of our ancestors and upholds the principles of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The National Institute of Folk Culture, as organiser of the Strážnice IFF, has long made every effort to ensure that folklore cultural heritage is presented in its full breadth — local, regional and international, across generations and artistic genres. We are delighted to offer you a wide spectrum of dance and music performances, educational programmes, discussions, creative workshops, and presentations of folk crafts. You may also look forward to distinguished guests from neighbouring countries as well as from lands far beyond the horizon.

This year, the Festival places a special emphasis on dance - an important expression of folk culture, a means of sharing emotions and a powerful manifestation of both individual identity and the identity of the community. Dance is memory in motion. It carries within it the rhythm of landscape, music, and speech, the experience of generations, and the energy of contemporary performers.

This year’s programme will offer a rich spectrum of dance performances: from returns to historical sources to stylised stage compositions; from rather intimate, chamber-scale presentations to large-scale choreographies; from child performers to experienced tradition bearers. Dance does not stand in isolation here, but unfolds in natural harmony with music, singing, and folk costume. It is part of the broader cultural context that the Festival has long sought to present.

Strážnice is a place where folk songs and dances can be not only observed, but truly experienced. Whether listening to a musical performance in the chateau park or joining an informal gathering of musicians and dancers, you will discover that folklore is a form of communication that transcends both language and generational boundaries.

We wish you that this year’s Festival brings you the joy of movement, music, and shared experience. May the dancers’ steps inspire you and remind you that tradition remains alive only when it is passed on not only through words, but also through the body.

You are warmly welcome.

Lucie Uhlíková
Chairwoman of the Programme Council
Strážnice International Folklore Festival