- Source: National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia LADO
National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia LADO was founded in 1949 in Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFRY as a professional national ensemble. LADO represents the rich and diverse regional musical and choreographic traditions of Croatia. It has been called Croatia's most successful "cultural export product".
The ensemble consists of 37 dancers who also sing while they perform, and a group of 15 musicians who play traditional and classical instruments. LADO has had numerous famous Croatian ethnographers and choreographers, music arrangers, and folklorists work with them.
History
The LADO dance ensemble was founded on 11 November 1949 by Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer Zvonko Ljevaković, thanks in part to a grant from the government of the People's Republic of Croatia under the name Državni zbor narodnih plesova i pjesama (DZNPiP). Its mission was to find and collect samples of the rich Croatian music and dance traditions.
A women's choir consisting of LADO members named Ladarice was informally split off the main LADO ensemble in 1965 by Zvonko Ljevaković and Božo Potočnik and continued to work independently of LADO until 2003. Ladarice worked on preserving traditional folk songs and built an extensive repertoire of their own, especially with their work on the Yugoslav Partisan combat songs.
Awards
Throughout the years the LADO ensemble has won numerous national and international awards and competitions. In 1954 they won first place at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Great Britain. Afterwards, they won awards in various competitions in Zagreb and Cork, Ireland, as well as honorary awards from Santiago, Punta Arenas, Antofagasta, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, and the key to the city of Cleveland.
2002 - LADO represented Europe at the sixth World Symposium on Choral Music in Minneapolis, United States.
2003 - Winners of the Orlando Award at the 54th annual Dubrovnik Summer Festival.
2004 - Winners of the Ivan Lukačić Award at the 34th annual Varaždin Baroque Evenings.
2006 - Winners of INA award for promoting Croatian culture
Discography
= Albums
=1987 - Narodne pjesme i plesovi sjeverne Hrvatske
1994 - Telo Kristuševo, Narodi se mladi kralj
1994 - Kalvarija
1998 - Iz Kajkavskih krajeva
1998 - Iz Kajkavskih krajeva vol.2
1998 - Iz Hrvatske narodne glazbene riznice vol.1
1999 - Kolo igra, tamburica svira vol.1
1999 - Kolo igra, tamburica svira vol.2
1999 - O vreme prelubleno -
2000 - Na moru i kraju -
2000 - U društvu svirača vol.1
2001 - Najljepše Božične pjesme
2001 - U društvu svirača vol.2
2001 - Na zelenom travniki
2002 - Raspelo
2003 - Preveliku radost navišćujem vama
2003 - LADO electro
2004 - Zorja moja zorja - Anđela Potočnik
2004 - Božić u svijetu
2005 - Iz Hrvatske narodne glazbene riznice vol.2
2006 - Kalvarija
2007 - Polke i drmeši
2007 - Tete Liza i Lado
2009 - Janja - Niz Muru i Dravu
= DVD
=2005 - Lado in concert
2006 - Veronika
See also
Croatian dances
References
Sources
Shay, Anthony (2002). Choreographic politics: state folk dance companies, representation, and power. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6521-0.
Vitez, Zorica; Vučić, Miroslava, eds. (2009). Lado: hrvatsko nacionalno blago 1949.-2009 [Lado - Croatian national treasure]. Školska knjiga. ISBN 978-953-0-60855-9.
External links
Official website (in Croatian)