Veselica International Dance Company is a performance and research collective dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and innovating traditional folk dances from around the world.
Rooted in embodied and scholarly inquiry, Veselica fosters deep engagement with cultural practices, inviting dancers and audiences alike to connect with movement as a powerful tool for storytelling, inquiry and transformation inviting critical questions about culture, identity, and the transmission of tradition. We strive to honor the diverse origins of traditional dances while critically examining the ways culture and identity are shaped, shared, and reinterpreted through contemporary moving bodies. We are committed to rigorous research into the histories, contexts, and transformations of traditional dance forms, fostering respectful engagement with source communities and archival materials. Using innovative choreography, collaborative exchange, and inclusive practices, we aim to keep dance traditions vibrant and evolving – bridging past and present, research and performance, local and global, tradition and innovation. The company serves as a dynamic laboratory for cultural performance, where artistic expression, scholarship, and community come together to keep traditional dance vibrant, evolving, and deeply meaningful in a globalized world.
“Veselica” (pronounced veh-SELL-eetsah) translates as “celebration” in Serbo-Croatian. Dance Faculty Emeritae, Anne von Bibra, founded the international dance ensemble in the late 1980s.
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