Dancing Bridges 2025.
Dancing Bridges event traditionally takes place on 1 May on the St. John’s Bridge in Rastoke in Slunj. It is an opportunity for residents and tourists to enjoy dance performances and become acquainted with dance expressions from different dance areas.
This event consists of dance performances and free dance and art workshops. The dance workshops are held in a natural setting, on the bridge above the Slunjčica River. In addition to the dance workshops and performances in Rastoke, next to the Slunjčica River, a protected cultural heritage and significant landscape of the Republic of Croatia, art workshops and performances by artists are also held.
2025 Event Program:
Dance Performances and Workshops
11:00 CasaBlanka Dance Show
11:10 Silkuets, Silk Dance
11:30 Slunj`s Majorettes
14:00 Children’s folklore group KUD Korana Slunj
Dance Workshops
11:40 Dance Fitness by Mirela Matešić
12:00 Latin American and Standard Dances – Fredi Dance Center
12:30 Hip-Hop – Talent House
1:00 Mini Silk Dance School
Green Workshops
12:00 Bug Hotel – the wonderful world of insects by ProPlants
Presentation of the book Ebby the Magnificent by Jessica Julian
Portrait Drawing
Labor Day and VRO Bljesak celebration
11:00 – 16:00 DJ program – Tonna
14:00 – 16:00 free lunch (free bean soup)– UHBDR Slunj, Rakovica, Cetingrad
Blanka Androšević, from the CasaBlanka Sports and Recreational Dance Club , and her dance partner will open the Dancing Bridhes event. With their performance, they will provide a unique opportunity for visitors to feel the rhythm of dance and enjoy it. After a dance show, dancers from the Silkuts Association will perform silk dancing.
The Slunj majorettes will take over Rastoke on May 1st, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy majorette dancing and interesting choreography.
The members of the children’s folklore section of the Korana Slunj Cultural and Artistic Association will demonstrate their dancing skills and the folklore tradition of Slunj, and their dance performances will close the first part of the Dancing Bridges event.
Dance fitness
Along with warming up and performing different dance styles to the music, we will be introduced to the “world of dance” by licensed trainer, Mirela Matešić.
Workshop of standard and Latin American dances
We are proud to collaborate with the Fredi Dance Center, which has enriched the Dancing Bridges event since the very beginning. The Fredi Dance Center can boast of having trained numerous dancers who still rule the Croatian dance scene today, including famous faces from Dancing with the Stars to professional dancers with enviable titles at the world level.
Hip-Hop dance workshop
Hip-hop is a dance style based on freestyle movements with techniques derived from social dances and other influences of Hip-Hop music and culture.
All interested parties will be educated in the modern HipHop dance style by the Talent House dance studio from Zagreb.
Silk Dance
Three dancers – Urška, Martina and Nives – will brighten up a spring day in Rastoke with their silk dance.
Do you want to try something new and exciting? Try silk dance! From 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, with the assistance of dancers from the Silkuets Silk Dance Association, all visitors will be able to safely try their hand at this dance challenge.
Green Workshop – The Wonderful World of Insects
A bug hotel helps preserve the biodiversity of the insect world.
Why a bug hotel?
- Helps beneficial insects (pollinators, ladybugs, etc.) find shelter
- Strengthens ecological awareness and encourages care for nature
- Ideal for gardens, patios, balconies and public areas
The workshop is free and is intended for children and all interested visitors, individuals. No prior registration is required for the workshop. It is enough to express interest in participating on May 1st, from 11:30 am to 12:00 am, at the ProPlants stand that will be set up next to the St. John Nepomuk Bridge in Rastoke (towards entrance 3).
ProPlants was founded by Ivana Mihaljica, a Master of Agronomy and a lover of plants and insects. Over the years, she has had the opportunity to share her knowledge of plants and insects with children of different ages and lead various workshops for adults. What she enjoys most is seeing the creativity that develops in the workshops and the participants who surprise themselves with their newly discovered talents.
Presentation of the book Ebby The Magnificent by Jessica Julian
American author and illustrator J. W. Julian, will present her book “Ebby the Magnificent” during the Dancing Bridges event in Rastoke on the St. John’s Bridge. “Ebby the Magnificent” is a fantastic and inspiring adventure intended for readers aged 8 to 108 who are looking for an exciting and heartfelt story about happiness, kindness, and friendship.
The story takes place in Croatia, which she calls the “Land of Stones” and key parts of the story are set in Slunj-Rastoke. Discover the author’s rich world of imagination through the story of a little bunny who is brave, kind, and curious. Ebby leaves her home to find a place where the sun sets at night. Along the way, she meets other animals, people, and a dragon, who become her friends. The book is illustrated with over 80 color illustrations painted by the author herself, as well as a map and sketches made by her Croatian husband Ivica.
May Day Celebration
The Bridges Dance is organized in combination with the celebration of Labor Day and the VRO Oluja, organized by the City of Slunj and the UHBDR Slunj, Cetingrad, Rakovica.
The UHBDR Association of Slunj, Cetingrad, Rakovica is active in creating events in the destination Slunj Rastoke, and with their voluntary work they contribute to the celebration of commemorative dates related to the Homeland War, and other dates and anniversaries important to the community. On May 1st, by organizing a gathering and serving free bean soup lunches, they will enrich the content of the Bridges Dance event.
A good atmosphere will ensure DJ Tonna.
Painting credit: Jessica Julian | Photo credit: Vedran Božičević