The Estonian Folk Dance and Folk Music Society organizes the relay dance-marathon, during which participants dance folk dances to Estonian folk music through all fifteen Estonian counties, covering a thousand kilometres of Estonian roads. “Our wish is to promote Estonian folk dance and folk music and to motivate dancers, musicians and teachers to be active within different spheres of our national culture,” says Kalev Järvela, author of the idea. TeateTants 2011 is part of the programme of the European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011. The participation is open for everyone interested in folk dance and music, both groups and individuals.

There are one or two dancing couples on the road at a time, which pass on the dancing turn to the following dance couple after dancing through the distance assigned to them. One group of dancers (consisting of six to eight dance-couples) passes four to seven km and it is their job to divide it into shorter distances. Dancing takes place around the clock without any breaks, which means that when one group is finished the next one starts immediately. The average moving speed is approximately 5.5 km/h.

During eight days and nights the main roads of Estonia are covered on the route Tallinn Town Hall Square – Lagedi – Aruküla – Albu – Ambla – Rakvere – Kiviõli – Jõhvi – Mustvee – Tartu – Uue-Antsla – Tõrva – Audru – Virtsu – Kuivastu – Valjala – Triigi – Sõru – Emmaste – Heltermaa – Rohuküla – Haapsalu – Risti – Märjamaa – Tallinn Town Hall Square.

“The idea of TeateTants in itself is beautiful and simple but the logistics and support systems that will allow the dance and music to go on for 8 days and nights non-stop to cover 1000 km are rather complicated,“ comments project manager Eero Kiipli.
The team of TeateTants invites media to join the chain of the dancers to share the experience along the way.

www.teatetants.ee