The festival, which gets underway in Narva's EV100 Park from midday on Saturday, will be held in honor of the 120th of the birth of legendary Estonian folk dance educator Ullo Toomi (1902 – 1983), with many of the dances performed on the day based on those recorded in Toomi's seminal 1950 book "Estonian Folk Dances" (Eest Rahvatantsud).

"We have ten Estonian folk dances, one Chuvash (Republic of Chuvashia in central Russia – ed.) and one Ukrainian folk dance," explained organizer Jaana Linno, who is also a communications specialist at Wild Stream, the Voluntary Youth Association of Ida-Viru County.

"It is an integrative dance festival," said Linno, adding that it was also important to mention that the event marks the 120th anniversary of Ullo Toomi's birth.

Linno explained, the troupes involved had all been fast to register their participation for the festival. "They were the quickest to get in touch," she explained. "But we would like to have more dance festivals in the future, with even more (groups) involved,"

Linno said, that the Chuvash dance troupe 'Narspi', which is set to perform at the festival, had been extremely active in Narva's cultural scene of late. "They have 12 people involved (in their group) so far, and they are really quite active in trying to bring their company and their people to the fore in Narva," Linno said.

She was also keen to encourage more dancers to join this year's event. "At the moment there are 12 troupes registered," Linno said. "And actually, there is room for more,"

More information about the Narva dance festival (in Estonian), including how to register, can be found here.

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