The Ondráš Military Art Ensemble is a professional art ensemble belonging to the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. The ensemble consists of three components - an orchestra, a dance group and a girls' choir. They will perform an author's programme on Friday (18.8.) at 21:00 in the Municipal Amphitheatre.
VUS Ondráš will soon celebrate its seventieth anniversary
"The ensemble has been active since 1954 and since then it has developed into today's almost 100-member collective, which consists of a professional base accompanied by a large group of external members," says Gabriela Ševčíková, coordinator, project and programme worker at VUS Ondráš. At first the ensemble was called the Military Ensemble of songs and dances Jánošík, but after the revolution the name was changed. Today, the ensemble presents a truly wide range of performances, from small parades to large-scale theatre and dance programmes.
Performance Step by Step, Photo: Jiří Lubojacký
Can you imagine how a military art ensemble works?
As we have already indicated and as the name of the ensemble implies, Ondráš is a professional artistic ensemble consisting of both internal and external members. "The ensemble consists of a dance group, an orchestra of folk instruments, a girls' choir and the equally important management and security of the ensemble. All of the performers and also the artistic management staff are what we call civil employees. The director, his deputy and most of the security staff are military. The artistic staff includes both professional artists who are employees of the ensemble and outside members who have the ensemble as a hobby. The professional performers rehearse throughout the week during work hours or travel to performances," explains Gabriela.
Performance Step by Step, Photo: Jiří Lubojacký
In total, the ensemble has 90 members, in addition to folklore, they also practice contemporary and ballet
The dance group consists of 5 professional and 12 external couples, the orchestra consists of 14 professional and two external members, the girls' choir consists of 15 external members. Interestingly, the "professional dance group" has, in addition to "folk" classes, also ballet or contemporary classes and attends evening or weekend practices with the external component. The external members have rehearsals in the evenings, complemented by weekend camps, similar to other folklore groups," Gabika adds.
Performance Step by Step, Photo: Jiří Lubojacký
The Ondráš ensemble certainly does not spare any successes
Apart from more or less distant foreign trips around the world (Japan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Holland, Great Britain, Azerbaijan), the skilled Ondráš has many awards and collaborations with artists to his credit. "We have recently won the title of Laureate of the International Folklore Festival Strážnice 2023, which was awarded to the dancers of the Vivat Libuše Hynková show for their exceptional dance performance in reconstructions of original choreographies. The award was received by Jan Kysučan, the author of the show and also the head of the dance component of VUS Ondráš. The programme Vivat Libuše Hynková was dedicated on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of an important choreographer, teacher and dramaturge, Mrs. Libuše Hynková (1923-2012), who was instrumental in the formation of the folklore movement in the post-war period and especially in the creation of the first professional folklore ensemble in Czechoslovakia - the Czechoslovak State Song and Dance Ensemble (CSSPT)."
Performance Step by Step, Photo: Jiří Lubojacký
Through music, singing and dancing VUS Ondráš presents to the audience folklore from local regions - Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Occasionally, it also processes Central and Eastern European regions (Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia. What will we see? Let ourselves be surprised!
