LTSI
XII Šokių Šventė
IV Šokių Šventė - 1972 (Our first)

Other Lithuanian Dance Groups

Zaibas - Madison, WI
Vejava - Minneapolis
Jorė - Washington, D.C.
Retro
Grandis - Lemont, IL
Spindulys - Los Angeles
Jūra - San Diego
Saulė - Arizona
Aidas - Kansas City
Ažuolynas - Uruguay
Nemunas - Brazil
Gojus - Anykščiai, LT
Grandinėlė - Cleveland
Baltija - Sweden
Lietuva - Valstibines Sokiu Ansamblis

The Malūnas Logo It's tradition at every Pasaulio Lietuviu Sokiu Svente at the practice before the big show for each group to wear a uniform practice outfit.  In recent sventes, groups began to design custom T-shirts.  This practice has many purposes.  It's fun to have some unique identity; many groups come up with rather colorful, unique and humorous designs; during the practice it is easier to find your group members in the mass of humanity; and after practice, it's fun to trade shirts.  In Toronto in 2000, the Malūnas Dance Group came up with a great idea.  Inspired by the Grateful Dead shirts of the 1992 and 1996 Lithuanian Olympic Basketball teams, Malūnas enlisted the help of their own Michelle Dulys to come up with a spoof design using skeletons in dance costumes instead of basketball players, with the design on a tie-dyed shirt.  Working with a Dutch artist, Michelle came up with some great artwork.  The shirts were a huge hit.  All extra's were either traded or sold in less than an hour.

Malūnas

Baltimore's Lithuanian National Folk Dance Group

Some History:    Malūnas was founded in Baltimore, MD in 1968, and consisted of dancers of high school and college age from Baltimore and Washington who wanted to form their own group independantly operated by the dancers, apart from the Kalvelis Dance Group (which at that time was under the control of a parent's committee).  With their new found freedom, Malūnas changed their focus from a local community dance group to one that created independant productios and performances, highlighted by the production of a special program of song and dance which which they toured several East Coast cities, from New York to St. Petersburg, FL.

Malūnas co-existed in Baltimore with the Kalvelis group for many years, many times the groups borrowing dancers from each other or performing at events together.  After the 1980 performance at the 6th Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival in Chicago, Il, Malūnas stopped active participation and existed more as an informal group of friends who were former dancers, while the Kalvelis group took the forefront in representing Baltimore at most events.

 In 1985, after the Kalvelis group, now renamed Svajone, disbanded, and seeing a void in the Baltimore Lithuanian community for Lithuanian Dance groups, Danute Drazdyte-Balciuniene, one of the original founders of Malūnas, invited several members of both former groups, the Aras Veterans groups, plus some new faces, into reviving Malūnas as a performing group.  This revival allowed Baltimore to continue having a representative group at the next five Lithuanian Folk Dance festivals in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004.

The group is currently taught by Rytis Grybauskas, a former dancer with both Kalvelis and Malūnas, who is now  teaching for the 21st year, and is this year preparing the group again for the XIII Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival in 2007.

Malūnas practices at the Lithuanian Hall at Hollins and Parkin Sts. Sundays from 3:00 - 5:00, and their season is from September to June.  Malūnas has performed from Florida to Canada, but concentrated mostly in the Middle Atlantic area.  They have danced at prestigious events such as Presidential Inaugurals, representing the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania at cultural events in the Washington area, and at ethnic festivals both large and small, including the yearly Baltimore Lithuanian Festival, most recently held in Catonsville, MD.  They have been invited as the premier group at major festivals, been televised, including an appearance on PBS as part of a nationwide New Years program, and photographed for newspapers, video taped, and danced in many venues large and small including Nursing Homes, schools, weddings, etc.

Our last performance was at the Lithuanian Festival in Frackville, PA.  

Check Here for XII Šokiu Šventė Pictures

See our 2004 Group Photo.

If you are interested in joining Malūnas, the practices are held Sunday nights from 3:00 to 5:00 or Friday nights from 7:30 to 9:30 (depending on availability) at the Lithuanian Hall in Baltimore which is on the corner of Hollins and Parkin Sts. Call the instructor Rytis Grybauskas at 410-795-0553 for more information, or send email to rytis@comcast.net before coming. 

Dance Costume and Juosta weavers can be found at http://javlb.org/ssvente/audejos.html

Photos from Dainava - 2003
Photos Dainava - 1999 Šokiu Kursai

Malunas Videos
2006 Videos
2007 Videos

 Muzika

While we take our Summer/Fall Break, you can find music here to practice the dances at home. 

abruselis
malūnas
rolendiris
blezdingėle
pakelt_kojis
suktinis
labas_vakaras
pasuit_polka
zirklės
Coming soon... XIII Svente practice music...

Talk to the Instructor of Malunas via live chat (assuming he's online)