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The Ausrine Lithuanian Folk Dance Company has created a "Friendship Project" in which they will appear free of charge, travelling away from the usual urban centers to areas where the population has less access to ethnic heritage activities. The company is now lining up concerts and workshops for Bucks County beginning in September 2006 through August 2007. This is a professional ensemble that has performed in Lithuania, Washington D.C., Chicago, upstate Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. The Company is willing to appear free of charge at a variety of venues. If you would like to contact the group about appearing at your school, church, theater, community center, nursing home, festival, block party, etc. contact Tomas Dura at tomasdura@hotmail.com or call (215) 203-8383. Below is more information about Ausrine and Lithuanian folk dance.
The Ausrine Lithuanian Folk Dance Company performs upbeat, intricate dances in authentic colorful costumes accompanied by rousing music on accordion and tambourine. Couples whirl in polka rhythm, the men spinning and lifting the women. They ease momentarily into an occasional stately formal dance or perhaps a comic number for all men and then everyone jumps right back into the breakneck polka. "Polka arba Mirtis" is Ausrine's motto - "Polka or Die"!
The company presents Lithuanian folk dance concerts and workshops in venues such as theaters, folk festivals, churches, schools, nursing homes and community centers. While specializing in dances traditionally performed by young adults, the group educates and entertains both Lithuanian and American audiences of all generations and ages.
In ancient Lithuanian mythology, Ausrine is the Morning Star, the daughter of the moon and the sun. she appears in the sky when it is time to bid farewell to the darkness and prepare for the new day. by sharing the wealth of the vibrant heritage of Lithuanian folk dance, the Ausrine company sheds light on ancient cultural roots, reminding us that America is a land of immigrants, a home for pilgrims from many lands.
Like many of America's European ancestors, Lithuanians came to this scountry fleeing oppression and seeking a better life. They migrated from a green, rainy land by the Baltic Sea, north of Poland. today, threads of Lithuanian ancestry have woven themselves into the ethnic fabric of the United States. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, young people from Lithuanian now venture here, reinvigorating the colorful traditions.
The Ausrine Company was founded in Philadelphia in 1975. Since then the group has performed in various US cities as well as in Canada and Lithuania. Most recently, Ausrine has appeared in Vilnius, Lithuania (2003), Chicago, Ill. (2004), Washington, DC (2005), Roanoke, Va (2006) as well as celebrations in Connecticut, upstate Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.
For more information check out the website at http://www.matulis.com/Ausrine.htm. For booking arrangements contact Tomas Dura, (215) 203 - 8383, tomasdura@hotmail.com.
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