About the festival

year of foundation

Folklore Without Boundaries Ostrava was founded in 1998 with the aim to bring traditional dances and songs from the Czech Republic and the rest of the world to the streets of Ostrava. That’s why our annual concerts take place in spaces commonly frequented by Ostrava’s residents – places where they live, work, shop or spend their free time. We want to present folk traditions of various countries as well as different folklore regions of the Czech Republic. The festival has a long-standing tradition of breaking down cultural barriers and connecting genres, ethnicities and nations.

city districts visited every year

We travel through different districts of Ostrava during the festival week, trying to enrich and sweeten the summer days of their residents. Our concerts take place during the afternoon hours on temporary stages built on the main squares of the various districts and are freely accessible to the public. Everyone is invited.

venues to be visited as part of “The Dancing City” program

“The Dancing City” is a series of performances throughout the festival week. Through them, we can bring our program to those who can’t attend our afternoon concerts. Artists perform in retirement homes or centres for people with disabilities. Traditionally, Wednesday evening is dedicated to a concert in the Sanatoria Klimkovice.

volunteers working on the festival

The festival was established by Director Emeritus Ms Kateřina Macečková, who expanded on the work of her mother, a renowned dance teacher Zdena Kyselá. Mr Lukáš Pavlík, the current Festival Director, carries on the tradition. He and the rest of the team are members of the co-organising ensemble SLPT Hlubina and other friendly organisations. Who is in the team?.

countries represented by performing ensembles

Every year, we welcome foreign ensembles that bring their homeland folklore and traditions to Ostrava. Our streets were alive with the tropical rhythms of Ecuador, the Haka Maor war dances from New Zealand, the ritualistic drumming of Congo but also with modern Latvian folklore and songs from various Slovakian regions such as Orava, Spiš or Zemplín.

collectives that performed over the years

We believe that folklore is not dead! Quite on the contrary and that’s why we want to continue celebrating folk art and traditions that have been with us since time immemorial. When choosing ensembles to invite, we focus mainly on variety but also on inclusion of our national dances and traditions. That’s how you can witness such beautiful scenes as excited kids from ostravian folklore groups (for example Hlubinka, Holúbek or Krasničánek) taking pictures with exotic dancers and musicians after their own performances.