Venac Folklore Ensemble Gracanica
The “Venac” Ensemble of folk dances and songs of Kosovo and Metohija was founded in 1964 in Pristina as a national professional folk ensemble. The Government of the Republic of Serbia is the founder of the Venac Ensemble, with the the Ministry of Culture and Information in charge of support. From 1964 to 28th June 1999, the “Venac” Ensemble worked in its premises in Pristina, from where they were expelled and forced to find temporary accommodation in central Serbia in Nis. However, the unfortunate events did not stop the players and musicians of the Venac Ensemble who all live and work in the southern Serbian province to survive, sustain and spread music, traditions and dance of Kosovo and Metohija and present the beauty of the rich cultural heritage of the region throughout Serbia.
In October 2003, the “Venac” Ensemble collectively returned to its dwelling, where they started work and development in very difficult conditions in the village of Caglavica near Pristina. There in Caglavica they remained until 2008, and then moved to Gracanica in the House of Culture where they are located today.
After return to Kosovo and Metohija and with hard work of the entire ensemble, the devoted member of the Venac Ensemble managed to revive and enrich cultural events throughout the Kosovo. Since returning until the present day the Venac Ensemble organizes their own concerts throughout the province of Kosovo and Metohija, being also holders of all cultural events there and providing exceptional experiences with their colorful amazing traditional costumes. It should be noted that the Venac Ensemble members were the first to visit the Serbian enclaves in Kosovo and Metohija, where it was entirely unthinkable to hold any kind of cultural events. In the most difficult moments these artists were and will remain with their people and share their fate. In its long history, the “Venac” Ensemble from Gracanica – Kosovo and Metohija had noticeable concerts and performances throughout Serbia, as well as in countries in the region. In their work they have cooperated and still cooperate with the most eminent artists and choreographers of Serbia.
In early 2014, director of the Venac Folklore Ensemble initiates the idea to widen the ensemble in the shortest time possible, and successfully succeeds, so soon the Venac Ensemble formed one youth and five children ensembles. In 2014 he founded more children ensembles through schools of folklore that include about 20 cities in the area of central Kosovo and Metohija. Youth ensemble for talented youth over 15 years was founded in Gracanica and five Venac children ensembles (10 groups – 5 younger and 5 older) in central Kosovo. The idea of Venac Ensemble provided the young folklore strength which nowadays numbers about 320 members, of which Venac is very proud, and above all, their all members make sure they secured future of the folklore art.
Also, Venac Ensemble as a real leader in culture and tradition preservation work, unselfishly helps and works with amateur cultural ensembles throughout the Kosovo. One of the most important tasks of the members of the “Venac” ensemble is working on the preservation of dances, songs, customs and traditions of the people from Kosovo, and they do it very successfully dressed in lavish and colorful original traditional costumes. It should be noted that in 2014 “Venac” ensemble celebrated the 50th Anniversary – that was a very important event. In their rich repertoire, which primarily consists of the choreographer from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, the members of the Venac Ensemble perform over 35 choreographies of the most famous choreographers – Olga Skovran, Bratislav Bata Grbić, Desanka Đorđević, Dobrivoje Putnik, Branko Marković, Branimir Bata Lačković, Radojica Kuzmanović and many other. It is always our great honor and privilege to arrange performances of the Venac Ensemble for our clients, who truly love such presentation of rich cultural heritage of Kosovo and Metohija which is proudly maintained and spread by this reputed Ensemble from Gracanica !
