Oriënt to Korea!!!

Folkdance group Oriënt has received an invitation to participate in the SeongNam International Folklore Festival in South Korea. This festival will be held for the fourth time and has hosted fifty-six participating groups from fifty-two countries.
	Orient's invitation for this festival is a result of the groups visit to an international festival in China in 2001, where amongst other groups from Moldavia, Georgia, Egypt, America, The Cook Islands etc., the Seoul Performing Arts Company of Korea was present, which is a professional group of very talented and friendly performers. Orient had left a good impression on this group, which resulted in the performers from Seoul suggesting Orient as participants in the SeongNam Festival. The first invitation for the festival arrived a year ago for September 2003, but because there wasn't much time to arrange the necessary preparations, Orient suggested a visit to Korea one year later. Videotape and pictures of performances by Orient were sent to South Korea, and in December the official invitation for 2004 was received.
Receiving the official invitation for this large international festival was a great honor for Orient, because it meant that the organization considered Orient as well talented and well trained as professional groups and dance academies from all over the world.
Unfortunately, the festival will not take place in September as Orient had hoped, but already in May. Although this is good news for the people who work in education, since they will find it easier to leave work for ten days, it also resulted in a much shorter period to collect funds to finance the trip. And there is no doubt about the fact that the trip to South Korea will cost a considerable amount of money. The organization of the festival will arrange the accommodation, but the plane tickets and the additional costs have to be paid by Orient.
Organizations such as the Prins Berhard Cultuurfonds and the FAK Fonds voor de Amateurkunst subsidized Orient in their trip to China in 2001, and they have been contacted again this year. But even with their help, Orient will need to pay a large sum themselves. Several fundraising initiatives have been suggested and already organized by Orient dancers and the members of the band Vranje, who will accompany Orient to SeongNam. For instance the dancers were present on the annual Culemborg Christmas fair, where they encouraged people to have their picture taken with Santa Claus.
For more information about Orient, performance bookings or for information about any form of sponsoring, please feel free to contact: Lisette Couwenberg tel. + 31 345-518439 email: orient@zonnet.nl