Behind the scenes of Czech balfolk, there is the Rond society and many dedicated hands and hearts. They organize, produce, teach, and most of all play and dance. Balfolk – that are dancers and musicians doing what they love for and with other dancers and musicians.

CONTACTS: balfolk@balfolk.cz | facebook: balfolk.prague.

In our grant applications, we state that “Rond preserves and develops European cultural heritage, mostly through dancing and music. The ambition is to bring dancing back to people’s everyday lives.” What does it mean in practice?

For more than fifteen years, Rond has been striving to help people dance more. To present dancing as a common activity which simply belongs to life. Just as it has been for ages. (Are you wondering why people don’t dance much these days? Maybe you know Ken Robinson’s famous talk. We believe that this is exactly what the talk is about.)

That’s why Rond goes back to the roots: in the Czech Republic, we spread balfolk, living European folklore which takes the best from folk tradition and adapts it to an appealing, modern form. We believe this to be the best way to make the world dance – in France and the rest of Europe, balfolk has enthralled hundreds of thousands of people. We also study various sources and old dances, belonging inseparably to the European dance tradition.

Rond organizes international festivals, dance evenings, concerts and other events, cooperating with musicians, bands and dancers from all over the world.

Mikuláš studied theatre studies, but he tweaked it a little: his Master thesis was in fact about dancing. He was inquiring into dancing also during his PhD – before he left the studies to have more time for dancing. He spent a year in Brittany, where he joined the Astour folklore society. Despite his rich experience with blues, tango, lindy hop, salsa and other dances, Brittany dances and balfolk have captured his heart for good. Besides balfolk, he occasionally teaches also blues and old dances, both at international festivals and smaller seminars. Besides dancing and teaching balfolk, he also plays it – his various bands/projects (ba.fnu, BAL LAB, Yanyk and Mr. Folxlide) can be heard and seen both in the Czech Republic and at festivals and balls in France, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belgium and other European countries. He created and managed the festivals Prague Balfolk Weekend and Prague Balfolk Immersion.