Malūnas

Baltimore's Lithuanian National Folk Dance Group

Events &
Items of Interest

Other Lithuanian Dance Groups

Aidas - Kansas City
Atzalynas - Toronto
Ausrine - Philadelphia
Boston Lithuanian Saturday School - Boston
Grandinele - Cleveland
Grandis - Lemont, IL
Gyvataras - Hamilton, ON
Jura - San Diego
Klumpe - IL/WI
Lankas, Lietutis, Linas - Seattle, WA
Lietuva - Valstibines Šokiu Ansamblis
Maironis Lithuanian Saturday School - New York
Nemunas - Brazil
Malūnas Facebook Page - Baltimore, MD
Retro - Santa Clarita, CA
Samburis - Boston, MA
Saule - Arizona
Spindulys - Los Angeles
Spindulys Lemont, IL
Vejava - Minneapolis
Zaibas - Madison, WI

The Malūnas Logo It's tradition at every Lietuviu Šokiu Švente at the Friday and Saturday practices before the big show for each group to wear a uniform practice outfit. At recent sventes, groups began to design their own custom T-shirts. This serves many purposes. It's fun to have a unique identity; or to present a humorous designs relative to the city you're visiting; during the practice session it's easier to spot your group members who have wandered away in the sea of humanity on the dance floor; and after the final practice is over, it's fun to trade shirts with dancers from other cities. Sometimes people bring extra shirts just to trade. For the Toronto Festival 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 resident artist Michelle Dulys to come up with a spoof of the Grateful Dead basketball shirts using skeletons in dance costumes on a tie-dyed shirt. Working with a Dutch artist (name Michelle?), they came up with inspired artwork. The shirts were a huge hit. All extra's were either traded or sold in less than an hour. There are many rip offs floating out there, but if you can get an original on eBay, it's a find!

Malūnas was founded in Baltimore, MD in 1968. History Previously, Lithuanian Folk dancing had been present in Baltimore since the second wave of Lithuanians began arriving as refugees and Displaced Persons (DP's) after World War 2. Usually performances were arranged with high school and college age students performing in various local venues, the most notable one being the Gwynn Oaks Amusement Park's annual summer International Festival. In 1966 the Lithuanian Dancers won the Best in Show trophy at that festival and gained notiriety for their dancing acumen. In 1967 the Lithuanian Community decided to form a permanent folk dance group named Kalvelis (the Blacksmith) based at the Lithuanian Hall in the Little Lithuania community. Over 40 dancers arrived for the first practice, and the dancers were split in half by age/size, forming a student group and a children's group. More...

Videos and music from Sokiu Kursai in Dainava for the XIV Lietuviu Sokiu Svente