HISTORY
The foundation of the Vysočan group dates back
to 1981. Then eight married couples came
together to bring back to life an old folklore
dance Round the May Pole. The group had neither
name nor costumes.
1983 - The Vysočan Folklore Ensemble of
Songs and Dances was founded by cultural
organization SKP Hlinsko. The ensemble's
repertoire comprises mostly songs and dances
from the etnographic region Polabí (Hlinecko and
Nasavrcko).
1985 - Vysočan takes part
in its first international folklore festival in
Lázně Bělohrad. Primary 8 couples grew into a
quite large group of 30 members including 5
musicians. Group performs before the public in
the surroundings of Hlinsko.
1989 - April 29 - the date of the first full-lenght
performace that has unexpected success. In May
Vysočan goes to its first trip abroad (Wolmirstadt
in Germany).
1990 - Vysočan takes part in the
International Folklore Festival in Gaziantep in
Turkey and is awarded Prize for the Best
Ensemble there.
1994 - A new full-lenght program is
performed on the occasion of the 10th
anniversary of Vysočan foundation.
- the group visited
Netherlands - town Wognum
and Italy - town Viterbo.
1995 - Vysočan countacts Krakus ensemble
- the oldest student's group in Poland and in
July Vysočan takes part in a festival in Krakow.
1996 - The
ensemble travels to Spain again. This time it is
Pola de Siero and Vysočan performes there with
success in two festivals. In August "Adámek's
Folklore Celebration" (AFS)
is held for the first time in Hlinsko with the
participation of 5 Czech and 2 foreign groups.
1997
- Participation in a folklore festival in Poland
and trip to Civitella d' Agliano in Italy.
AFS - for the second time - 6 ensembles from
the Czech Republic and 2 groups from abroad take
place in it.
1998 - A festival in
Slovakia and a trip to Greece. Participation in
the International Folklore Festival in
Thessaloniki.
AFS takes place for the third time in August
and in December a new program is put on the
stage on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of
Vysočan foundation.
1999 - Festival in Slovakia - friendship
with the Váh ensemble has been made. A trip to
Warhaug in Norway is the first visit to the
North Europe.
AFS - tradition continues - this year it is
for the fourth time - 6 Czech and 3 foreigen
ensembles take part in it.
2000 - The 5th Adámek´s
Folklore Festival- Hlinsko,
Czech Republic - August 26. and 27
2001 – Civitella d' Agliano - Italy.
2002 – Folklore Festival in
Daruvar - Croatia.
2003 - Folklore
Festival in Púchov -
Slovakia .
2004 – on May 5th 2004 the group
celebrated 20 years of existence by performing
in a chamber theater in Hlinsko.
2005 – in
June/July the group visited the north of Europe,
exactly Wognum in Holland
2006 – the group
performed at the open-air museum Vesely Kopec as
a part of the program “ From the cradle to the
grave “ and in Lazne Bohdanec at the traditional
celebration called Pod
Zvicinou. At the end of July Vysocan performed
among others in a village Zdirec where they
danced and sang in Josef’s House at the event of
Natives’ Meeting. On September 16th
the group continued in multi-annual tradition of
their performance at the “ Open Door Day in
social-service home”
2007 – the group attended
10th annual National Costume Ball in
Zdar nad Sazavou. That is the greatest folk
event in the whole Czech Republic. The group
spent a long time getting ready for this event
at couple of preparations along with other
highland groups. In the summertime Vysocan
attended also a festival in Brno – Lisen, a
celebration in Svetla nad Sazavou and an
international festival in Sumperk. In the end of
summer the group visited a partner-city Puchov
in Slovakia.
2008 - ...
ABOUT THE COSTUMES
Festive Costumes
For the boys – black vest,
yellow pants, an ornamented belt, boots and a
black hat.For the girls – a skirt in one color
with a white apron, stays and a hat.The
first costumes made Brona Slavikova who used to
be an art director of the group for many years.
She used contemporary paintings from Litomysl
region as a model. The embroidery on aprons made
the dancers themselves. Decorating of the men’s
belts created Milan Slavik in accordance with a
borrowed documentation form a museum
ORDINARY
COSTUMES
For the boys – corduroy
vests, pants, an ornamented belt and boots.For
the girls – gray striped skirts and bodice,
which replace canvas and colorful aprons.These
replicas made Brona Slavikova in accordance with
materials from Hlinsko museum and near
surroundings.
ABOUT THE
MUSICIANS
Vysocan band has about 10
members. The most of them were members of kids
folk band Vysocanek. The music is written for
1., 2., 3. violin, 1., 2. clarinet, flute and
contrabass. The music was composed by Mr.
Doubek, Mr. Holicky and also a longtime member
of the band Roman Svetlik. They got their
inspiration from Hlinsko and the close region.
