The Berea Festival Dancers Folk Dance Troupe is a community group for youth ages 12 – 18, based in Berea Kentucky. Those interested in dancing and traveling are welcome to join; no tryouts are necessary. Rehearsals are on Sunday afternoons during the school year, and members are expected to participate in at least 6 performance or fundraising events with the group each school year.
The group performs dances from the Regency period, English Country Dances, Danish and Irish dances, English Ritual dances, Appalachian dances, as well as dances from the U.S. Antebellum period. International travels have taken us to England, Scotland, Wales, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Australia and Fiji. Domestically the group has performed at Walt Disney World three times, toured most of the American West, and in May and June of 2017 our dancers performed on tour in China and Denmark.
Many of our performances are education-related, and of course as a group composed entirely of students, our focus is on education and development for youth. We strive to present historic dances as accurately and professionally as we can, so our audiences, and our youth dancers, can better understand the culture from which the dances arose, and how those older cultures have shaped the way we live today. It is important to us as performers, that our performances display the beauty of American and British folk dance, both old and new, and that we leave our audiences with a heightened interest in folk dance, in history, and in cultural exploration, particularly through the Arts.
Contact us for information on booking us to perform, or to find out more about what we offer!
berea festival dancers 