Update #241
Estonian Arts Centre, the charity associated with KESKUS, is delighted to announce that Nou Pois Äläud, the latest addition to the 'rahvatants' scene in North America, has been granted 24 confirmed spots at this summer's Tantsupidu (Dance Festival) in Tallinn, Estonia! The majesty and scale of this Festival is extraordinary to behold, and participating in it will be next level for these 24 determined women. Congratulations to them all!
Some 12,000 dancers will together perform the finale dances, and just as importantly, this is the first Song and Dance Festival to which a stand-alone dance has been choreographed just diaspora Estonians. Thirty-eight diaspora groups registered to audition, and, after intensive rounds of rehearsals under the direction of Marika Järvet (who graciously flies from Estonia to Toronto for rehearsals), the Nou Pois Äläud audition recording was accepted.
"Of course it was a nail-biter as to whether we'd be accepted, !" exclaims Ellen Valter, who started the Nou Pois Äläud retreat in the hopes of finding like-minded women interested in an annual rahvatants weekend and perhaps some who would be willing to commit to the effort to make it to Tantsupidu. "The diaspora Estonian community has evolved to where weekly rehearsals are challenging, if not impossible, so a project-based rehearsal model was one that we were not sure that we'd be able to prove out."
The dream to establish a women's folk dance group was one that hoped to meet several objectives - to provide an avenue for women from around the world to celebrate their Estonian heritage through dance, even if they lived far from other Estonians, and in addition to the pursuit of fitness and camaraderie, also to try to become good enough as a group, to obtain acceptance to dance in the 2025 Tantsupidu (Dance Festival).
This dream kicked off in 2022 with the first "Nou Pois Äläud" women's weekend folkdance retreat at Jõekääru, Ontario. These retreats continue with the 4th one scheduled for September 2025 (see www.tantsulaager.fun).
And now this Tantsupidu dream is coming true, with a double cohort of 24 women, ranging in age from 14 to 60, and from five different countries: New Zealand, Holland, Canada, USA, Estonia. Nine of the 24 are born in Estonia, the remainder are of refugee lineage. Seven live in the US, one in each of Holland, New Zealand, and Estonia, making ten plus instructor Marika Järvet, who travel from especially far to practice. A collective 70,000km roundtrip is made to attend rehearsal.
"A fiercely determined and inspiring group of women," comments Marika Järvet, who has been instrumental in making the NPÄ retreat a success since inception. The love is mutual, with Ellen noting that "Marika brings professionalism, patience and humour to the effort - without her expert coaching and encouragement, I suspect we would have thrown in the towel on this experiment!"
In the below video, half of the group danced "Üleilma Kokku" at the Independence Day celebrations at Tartu College, Toronto, as a kick off to the rehearsal weekend during which the long days of dancing led to the successful audition recording. This reception was hosted by Estonian Central Council in Canada and the Honorary Consulate of Estonia in Toronto:
One half of the 24-member group was able to fit into the reception hall for this complex dance.
Näeme Tantsupeol - see you at Tantsupidu - make sure to wave and cheer for this determined and international group, called "Nou Pois Äläud"!
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Please join our growing list of capital campaign donors to help bring this extraordinary KESKUS project to completion to introduce Estonia and Estonian heritage, culture and innovation. KESKUS leadership donors are recognized here.
To donate, click here, call +1.647.250.7136 or email donations@estoniancentre.ca. Donations may be made as a family gift, or in honour of an individual or family. All donations are issued a tax receipt, in Canada via Estonian Arts Centre, US tax receipts via Myriad USA and Estonian tax receipts via Eesti Rahvuskultuuri Fond.
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