LADO Celebrates 60th Anniversary, Launches Tour, Stops At Roy Thomson Hall 10/30

It's the 60th anniversary of LADO, the National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia. To celebrate this milestone, LADO is taking its show on the road for an international tour with a stop at Roy Thomson Hall on Friday, October 30 at 8 PM.

"Lado" is an archaic Slavic word, which means "good, kind and nice" and is often used as a refrain in ancient ritual songs of northwestern Croatia. Founded in Zagreb in 1949, this professional national ensemble's mission was to research, artistically interpret, and present on stage the rich traditions of Croation music and dance. LADO represents the rich and diverse regional musical and choreographic traditions of Croatia, which is geographically situated at a crossroad of Europe in which the Mediterranean Balkan, Pannonian and Alpine influences are found in the dances, music and costumes. The 34 members are all trained in voice and dance, so that LADO can switch between folk dance and folk choir. Fourteen musicians in LADO play some 50 different traditional and classical instruments.

The repertoire consists of more than a hundred different works of choreography and several hundred vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental numbers. "Pavo, Come and Play for Us", "Girls, Come and Dance in the Circle", "Dance from Primošten", "The Bunjevci Young Man's Dance", "Take That Pretty Girl by the Hand", and "Wedding Dance from the Podravina Region" make up some of the more playful and charming dance titles featured in this production. LADO is often referred to as a "dancing museum" because of the attractive authentic national costumes (more than 1,200) some of which are "functional antiques", given they are over 100 years old. The Ensemble also presents new, contemporary musical and dance works based on traditional motifs and elements.

Internationally, LADO has travelled throughout the globe, spanning all six continents, and have performed in many prestigious concert venues, such as the Royal Albert Hall in London; the City Center in New York City; the Sorbonne Grand Amphitheatre in Paris; the Palais des Beaux Arts in Bruxelles; the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv; the Konzerthaus in Vienne; the Konserthus in Oslo; the opera houses of Cairo, Budapset, and Kyiv; the Perth Concert Hall in Sydney; the Kyoto Kaikan Daiichi Hall; and the Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo.

LADO - National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8 pm / Roy Thomson Hall
60 Simcoe Street, Toronto
Tickets $69.50 - $49.50 - Call 416-872-4255 or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office
www.roythomson.com