Roma Dance Troupe returns from Constanta

As was mentioned in this blog's posting ( August 07, 2008 )
the Roma Dance Troupe was making an excursion totally
across Romania to participate in cultural events in Constanta.


( Black Sea - Constanta )

They returned 7 Monday morning after an all night mini-bus ride.

In the afternoon I went to the Roma man's house to get
the scoop on what happened. All week I was thinking
about how they were making out.

So here is the story as it was told to me from the Roma
man (whose name is Stefan) and I will refer to him by
name throughout the remainder of this entry.

Also, I must prelude this by stating that none of
the dancers have been further than 50 km
(city called Arad) from their town.

So at about 8 o'clock Sunday evening the 10th they put all
their bags and baggage on the mini-bus and off they go
across Romania on their first big adventure.

The trip went well and it took them about 17 hours to arrive
in Constanta. They were also traveling during the peak
vacation time in Romania and all of Europe for that fact.
Those familiar with Europe know that the month of August
is vacation time. So they experienced bumper to bumper
traffic for much of their trip.

Of course we all know that no trip of this nature goes
without some problems or drama. The dancers and entourage
( to include the mini-bus driver and his wife ) arrive at where
they were going to stay the first night. It was a hostel with
one bathroom/shower. So the mini-bus driver sees this and
immediately says that if they don't give him and his wife a
normal room, he's out of there in 5 minutes. They didn't
even have time to take their bags off the bus yet
and this guy is complaining.

Also, without him, the dance troupe didn't have any
transport home. So after Stefan making a few calls to
the organizers of the event, they got it resolved.

At this point everyone is dead tired, hot and basically standing
in line to take a shower ... they get a call that they are supposed
to get ready to dance in an hour or so. Here's what they
looked like after the all night trip.



But after that first night they got better accommodations.

The festival was actually an international one with dance
troupes and musical groups throughout Europe ... Italy,
Spain, Hungary ... etc.

Here is where another drama comes in. When they planned
the festival someone forgot to put time in for the Roma
( Gypsy ) dance troupes and musicians. Stefan told me that
the man from the Ministry of Culture was basically
upset and threatened to call the European Union minority
rights section and other places that work with human rights.

But that was resolved and the Roma got their time. In all
there were 12 Roma dance troupes. Here are some pictures
of a few of them ...



Don't know where these two groups are from
( above and below ) other than there are from the
east of Romania.



I wasn't there to take pictures and these actually came from
a cell phone.

But here are a few of the dancers practicing near their
hostels the first day.



Below ... they are from our dance troupe.



The little guy is from the dance troupe of Hunedora
which about 5 hours drive from us here in the west.



We have a little guy dancer in our troupe too. They told
me that our little guy was better than the little guy above.
Ours does a cartwheel as he enters the dance routine.

The schedule was a daily parade through the city and
Stefan told me that the people were kind of surprised to
see a bunch of Roma dance troupes marching through
the streets.



But in the end it was a great time and a tremendous experience
for the dancers. They met dancers from other parts of
Romania and became friends. They exchanged contact
information and probably made lasting friendships.

Throughout my time here I lobbied for a Roma Dance Troupe
because I felt that it was important for our Roma community.
Our Slovakian and Romanian communities have had their
cultural dancers and musicians for 20 and 10 years
and counting, respectively.

For the Roma to integrate I felt that they needed to take their
place in our town. No one was going to give it to them. But it
is a two sided coin. Both sides must do their part. For the
Roma to be integrated they also need to try.

With this dance troupe I am thinking and hoping that it will help
bring cultural pride and a ... we belong here too attitude.

But most important is the Roma kids. I saw that all they did
was sit around all summer with nothing to do. Throughout
the world kids need activities so they can develop.

The dance troupe was the chance to bring some of those
Roma kids together and when you have a group, there
is something to work with.

Because of the dance troupe, someone in town contacted the
people in Bucharest and through that ... they received their
invitation and the adventures of their lives ... up till now.

Our town's Roma dance troupe saw that the troupe from
Hunedora was the best. Now our troupe wants to practice
more. Isn't the best motivation, one's own pride?

I've talked to the kids who went on the trip and they're all
animated and really not the same. They've had an experience,
their minds have been opened a little. Hopefully it is the
beginning.

In the end, there is nothing better that could have happened
to these kids this summer. I am so happy for them.

But this didn't just happen without people helping out.

I want to give those people their due ... without financial support
by our town's mayor and from Bill ( in picture with dance
troupe ... blog entry 07 August 08 before they left ) ... it
wouldn't have happened.

The package for the dance troupes were room and board
for a week in Constanta. That was without transportation.
With the collaboration of the mayor and Bill it happened.
Again, they deserve a huge thanks.

To end this article I put a picture of Stefan and his wife Daniela.



I can't wait to see the town's mini-Roma Festival
next week, hope it goes as well as Constanta did.