Slovakia Blog

Rusyn Dance in Munhall, PA

Here is an invitation written by Maryann from Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Center for their fall dance. You can also find them on Facebook. Rusyns are an ethnic group spanning from the eastern part of Slovakia to Ukraine. Many of the traditions that Slovak Americans associate with Slovakia actually come from the Rusyns.

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Posted By Maryann to Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Center at 7/10/2010 10:11:00 PM

Event: Rusyn Zabava (Dance)
When: Friday, July 16, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Carpatho-Rusyn Society, 915 Dickson Street, Munhall, PA
Phone: 412-567-3077

After a successful summer sing-along program with Jerry Jumba, we thought you would enjoy learning Rusyn dances to the tunes of his wonderful accordion and Bob Bartko’s guitar.

On Jul 16th the C-RS National, in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Chapter, will be hosting a summer dance at the Cultural Center in Munhall. Admission to this, our first zabava, will be $5.00 per person. With your suppport, we hope that this will be the first of many. We will be delighted to see you there.

We are pleased to announce that the mayor of Presov,Slovakia, and his wife will also be attending this dance. Presov is Pittsburgh’s sister city. John Righetti and I first met Mayor Hagyari at a Rusyn masquerade ball in February of 2009. That evening he mentioned a possible trip to Pittsburgh. Naturally we invited him to come and tour our center. We are very pleased that he did remember and are looking forward to his visit.

For those eager to learn authentic Rusyn dance step, Dean Poloka will offer demonstrations. You will also have the opportunity to practice the steps before going on the floor.

Dean started his career with Slavjane in 1976 and was a member of the dance troupe for 13 years. He won a Duquesne University Tamburitzans scholarship in 1989. He has
instructed and performed for several Junior Tamburitzan groups and the Pittsburgh
International Folk Theater (PIFT). With grants from the Carpatho-Rusyn Society and Slavjane, Dean has studied traditional Carpatho-Rusyn dance styling and choreography with the well known ensembles Šarišan, PUĽS, Dúbrava, and Folklórny Subor Šariš. He is presently director and choreographer of Slavjane.

So please come and dance with us on July 16th. This could be a great opportunity to show Dean’s Slavjane youngsters that real fun begins after high school.

Slovak 80s Music Hits, Part 2

Here is the second part of post on hits of Slovak pop music during the 80s. If you haven’t seen the first part, make sure to check it out as well. Richar Müller This song by Richard Müller is titled “Po Schodoch“, which means by (taking) the stairs. Most Slovaks lived, and still live, in prefab block buildings called panelák. Some were up to 13 stories tall, and contained between 2 and 4 units on each floor. Despite the rather unappealing look from the outside, the units were actually pretty nice. Except that some didn’t have very thick soundproofing, and Read the Rest…

Slovak 80s Music Hits

Here you will find some of the greatest and most popular Slovak songs from my childhood in Czechoslovakia. These definitely bring back good memories! This is part 1, don’t forget to check out Part 2. Peter Nagy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAiolr49WiU& My favorite singer when I was growing up was Peter Nagy (his last name originating from Hungarian, and is thus pronounced as if spelled Naď). This song is titled “Láska je tu s vami“, meaning Love is here with you (all). The chorus continue: Buďte s ňou (be with it/her) / Láska je tu s nami (Love is here with us) / Read the Rest…

Slovaks in Washington, D.C.

I started this website about a year ago, and probably the best things that came out of it so far, is that I became more involved in the Slovak community here in the USA – or at least in Washington, D.C. Turns out, Washington, D.C. has a fairly significant Slovak population. The problem is, it’s very spread out, without a single center where Slovaks can easily find each other. Sure we have the Slovak embassy here. The embassy organizes cultural events, but these are pretty rare, and usually require advance reservation and business attire. This is all great, but perhaps Read the Rest…

World Cup: Slovak game food

On Tuesday, June 15th, Slovakia will make an appearance in its first-ever World Cup game as an independent country. The 7:30 ET match will pit Slovakia against New Zealand. Do toho, Slovensko! (Let’s go, Slovakia). Thinking of the game I realized I have no idea what could be considered Slovak “game food”. You know, how here in the USA friends get together before football to grill burgers and hot-dogs and drink few cold ones. Well, beer (pivo) is definitely part of game watching in Slovakia. So are salty peanut flavored snacks called chrumky. But to find out more, I asked Read the Rest…