BSS News 4. 4. 2013

BSS2013 – what is ahead of us?

The school will be able to accommodate summer school participants from coming further away, in classrooms, using own sleeping bags and mats. Hygienic conditions will certainly change and also there will not be a chance of much cooking – there is no proper kitchen in the building. The proximity of the Jedlička Institute and its accommodation facility will offer the more demanding participants accommodation in their youth boarding house for an affordable price.
The school is situated almost in the centre of Prague, there are quite many pubs and taverns nearby, even good wines are served in the area, it is close to the Vltava river, there is a relatively wide choice of dining options, Lidl and Tesco supermarkets are within walking distance. And since the school is located below the Vyšehrad hill, it will be close also for the teachers and guests who will stay in the Jedlička Institute at Vyšehrad.
And now to the very content of BSS or what you can expect. Dance lessons will be opened in the usual range (step dancing, set dancing, ceilí dancing, sean nós dancing) and for all levels. Also teachers group will undergo a change in only one person: Gerard Butler returns to the summer school and will be teaching set dancing and sean nós dancing. Not much is changed in music lessons either. We would like to open banjo lessons and on the other hand we will not count on guitar lessons. After last year’s little „bust“ we have decided to have this instrument „cool off“ for once.
We will gladly offer lessons of Irish and sean nós singing. John Cullinane will be the guest of the summer school this year. His name and his whole life are associated with Irish dancing, working for CLRG and archival collection relating to Irish dance. He will teach one ceilí dance in the ceilí dancing programme and will speak at a seminar focused on the history and evolution of Irish dance. After the summer school we will accompany John on a journey in the footsteps of the first cultural representative delegation from Ireland, which brought Irish music and dance to Czechoslovakia in 1967, and John was just the one leading it.
We are currently also negotiating a visit by musicians from the Ragús show and their performances during the Final Evening, in case of a longer stay also their support of our sessions.
The usual ingredients will of course include the ceilí night in KC Novodvorská on Wednesday 21 August and the Final Evening in Ponec Theatre on 23 August. The list of accompanying programmes has not been finalised yet and we will certainly keep you informed in the future.

VB

Václav Bernard