Folklore

Traditional Serbian Folk Dancing

Since 1987, with the efforts of Branko Štrbac, Miloš Rsovac and a few others, traditional Serbian folk dance and song has been a pillar of the Serbian Centre Club. With over 200 registered folkloric members and eight ensembles, our commitment to preserving the traditions and customs of our ethnic heritage has continued through generations of Australian born Serbs to this day. Over the years, our folkloric dancers have been lucky enough to travel constantly interstate, tour our ancestral homeland of Serbia and its surrounding Serbian regions, as well as to the USA & Canada.

Most recently our first ensemble “Ravna Gora” along with our choreographer Stanko Dimitrijević, travelled to Serbia, Republika Srpska and Montenegro as part of their folkloric “Homeland Tour”, performing in cities such as Banja Luka, Pale, Trebinje, Bečej, Aranđelovac, Topola and Belgrade.

OPANCICI (4-7 years old)

In our youngest group, there are our youngest and sweetest, who get to learn the basics of folklor. They learn how to properly dance in a circle and a semicircle. They learn to coordinate their movements with rhythm. They learn the directions of movement (forward-backward / left-right). Children learn songs and thus also learn Serbian language.

KOLIBRI (7-9 years old)

In this group, children begin to engage in choreographic folklor. This implies that during the dancing there are choreographic images that should be performed while dancing. Here, we encourage children to hold their bodies correctly and tread correctly.

POLETARAC (9-11 years old)

This group has two choreographies in its repertoire. We begin to deal with the first dancing motifs (poskok, dupli korak, treptaj, trokorak, etc). All these dancing motifs will be of great importance in future dancing.

MLADI CETNICI (10-12 years old)

A very promising young group made up of talented kids who are trying to grow into a serious ensemble. We currently have 4 choreographies in our repertoire and are planning on adding 2 more. Dancers from younger groups are being selected and promoted to this group when they become ready.

Milos Obilic (13-15 years old)

This group is gathering very talented teens that are ready to step up to next level when it comes to difficulty and complexity of dances performed. There are over 30 dancers in the group performing 5 different choreographies.

CAR LAZAR (12-14 years old)

The group that gathers our young teenagers has 5 choreographies in the repertoire. Dancers are encouraged to learn complex dances and perform them as well as possible.

CARICA MILICA (14-16 years old)

This ensemble is basis of our future. We currently have 20 dancers, performing 7 different choreographies from various parts of Serbia.

RAVNA GORA (17-25 years old)

Our oldest and the most representative ensemble. Ravna Gora performs at most important cultural events around Australia and internationally. Their repertoire consists of 15 choreographies from various parts of the Balkan (Dalmacije, Sumadije, Leskovca, Vranjskog polja, Crne Trave…)

Combined Folkloric Ensembles

This photo represents only a portion of our amazing dancers. It was taken during performances for Orthodox Easter Zabava at the Club.

Our Ensembles

Opančići Tuesday 6pm-6:45pm
Dukati Wednesday 6pm-6:45pm
Kolibri Thursday 6pm-6:45pm
Poletarac Wednesday 6:45pm-7:30pm
Mladi Četnici Monday 6pm-6:45pm
Friday 6pm-6:45pm
Miloš Obilić Tuesday 6:45pm-7:30pm
Thursday 6:45pm-7:30pm
Car Lazar Monday 6:45pm-7:30pm
Friday 6:45pm-7:30pm
Carica Milica Tuesday 7:30pm-8:30pm
Thursday 7:30pm-8:30pm
Ravna Gora Monday 7:45pm-9:15pm
Wednesday 7:45pm-9:15pm

Our Choreographer

Stanko Dimitrijević
Since 2019, we’ve had the pleasure of having Stanko Dimitrijevic as our head teacher and choreographer of traditional Serbian folk dance here at Bonnyrigg Sports. At the age of three, Stanko was introduced to the world of ‘folklor’ from his father Rajko. For 25 years, Stanko was an active member and dancer at the Cultural Arts Association “Abrašević” in Serbia’s city of Kragujevac. He travelled and performed all over Europe and in 2009 joined Serbia’s national folk dance and song ensemble “KOLO” – the highest level of professional achievement any Serbian folkloric dancer can reach. During his time at the National Ensemble “Kolo”, Stanko studied and received his degree in Educational Studies of Traditional Dance and Song. After completing his studies, Stanko returned to CAA “Abrašević” in Kragujevac as an artistic director for the association’s first ensemble up until he accepted an invitation to become our club’s permanent teacher and choreographer.