Dance of Beli

Dance of Beli

“Bejski tanac” (Eng. the Dance of Beli), a two-day festival of music, dance, and culture, was first introduced in 2011. The event, organized by the association “Volim Beli” (Eng. I Love Beli), connects the young and the old, tourists and locals, and takes place at the village of Beli, the centre of Tramuntana, the north part of Cres island. Participants arrive from Cres and other parts of Croatia, as well as from Slovenia and Italy. A regular guest at the festival is Livio Morosin, one of the best pop, rock, and ethno songwriters of our music scene. The festival saw performances by local klapa ensambles, majorettes, dance groups, magicians, and a variety of performance artists: a multimedial artist Tajči Čekada (Rijeka), acrobats from the Traumatic Arts group (Zagreb), the Officine Artistiche group (Italy) with their exotic rhythms, as well as dance marathons, art workshops, and the best cake contest. People also have fun playing traditional games, such as the Game of Beli: a search for the pieces of a puzzle scattered across the village.

Specially arranged stalls are set up for the duration of the festival, offering local products, food, drinks, and souvenirs. Products made by Ruta, an association from Cres dedicated to felted wool, are regularly presented at these stalls.

Bejski tanac is one of the many events organized by the Volim Beli association, aiming at revitalizing and improving local living space, which is now inhabited only by a small portion of the former population of Beli and Tramuntana. The association organizes various events, from ecological activities to New Year’s parties in the main square. These events are carried out by numerous volunteers, mostly young people originating from Beli where they now spend their summer months.