Shell National Folkloric Festival

Shell National Folkloric Festival was an annual ethnic folk festival held in Australia. Sponsored by the Shell-Sydney Opera House Foundation[1] with a grant of $50,000, the first Festival was held at the Concert Hall during the opening celebrations of the Sydney Opera House in 1973.[2] The festivals were held in Sydney but were later also held in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane.[3]

"Boyan" Ukrainian choir with the "Ukrainian Folk Ballet". Photo taken during the Shell National Folkloric Festival in 1974, Sydney.

In 1975 one thousand performers, representing 30 ethnic groups living in Australia, performed folk music, song and dance at the Opera House,[2] and by 1982 this had grown to 1400 performers representing 48 different ethnic groups.[4][5]

One of its first producer-directors was Victor Carell (Victor Thomas Cioccarelli),[6] who with his wife Beth Dean (a notable Australian ballerina and choreographer) auditioned ethnic groups in Sydney, Adelaide. Canberra, and Wollongong for the festival.

From 1979 to 1994, Guillermo Keys-Arenas was the major artistic producer-director of the annual event.[1][3]

Performing Groups

Between 1973–1994 performers representing ethnic groups from Australia, Austria, Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, and Ukraine, performed at the Festival.[7]

Groups which performed at the Festival included:

  • Ensemble Gavrilo Princip - Serbian National Defence Council with choreographer Milivoje Stojanovic
  • Boyan Ukrainian Choir, with Basil Matyash as conductor
  • Daina Sydney Lithuanian Choir, with Zita Belkutė and Bronius Kiveris as conductors
  • Dorothy Kerr's Highland Dancers
  • Grandinele Lithuanian National Dancing Group, with Ginta Viliunas as a featured dancer
  • Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble, with Hryhory Bazhul and later Peter Deriashnyj as artistic directors
  • Jautrais Pāris, Latvian folk dance group from Sydney (and Canberra)
  • Koleda Croatian Folkloric Ensemble
  • Oplenac Folklore Dancing Group (Yugoslavia), with Vera Djuric as director
  • Syrenka Polish Ensemble, with Josef Walczak as artistic director
  • Punjabi Bhangra Group of NSW (India), with Sardool Singh as director
  • Sprigulitis Latvian group
  • Swiss Yodlers of Sydney
  • Ukrainian National Ballet, with Natalia Tyrawsky as artistic director
  • Virmalised Folk Dancing Group (Estonia), with Annelie Sildnik as director
  • The Mary Nassibian Dancers representing Greece and Egypt

Notes and references
  1. "Shell National Folkloric Festival (advertisement)". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 June 1986. p. 23. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. "Cast of 1000 in festival". Parramatta Advertiser. 11 June 1975. p. 55.
  3. Hawthorn, Harry (27 March 2006). "Dance's voice for diversity". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. "10th Shell National Folkloric Festival 1982 (advertisement)". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 May 1982. p. 14. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  5. "Theatre Directory: Shell National Folkloric Festival". Sydney Morning Herald. 4 June 1986. p. 22. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  6. "Shell National Folkloric Festival (advertisement)". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 June 1976. p. 12. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  7. Dean, Beth (1974). Folkloric in Australia. Sydney: Pacific Publications. ISBN 0-85807-017-0.
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