Ansambl KOLO

re Belgrade as early as November 29 1948, accompanied by Belgrade Opera Orchestra and Radio Belgrade Tambura Orchestra. Thus, on its very first performance it commenced collaboration with representative art institutions of Serbia, which was also to become its tradition. The Ensemble becomes a true artistic representation and from its very beginnings gathers the most eminent experts in the field of traditional dance, music and song. Along with Olga Skovran and her assistants Milena Penić and Nada Patrnogić, Dobrivoje Putnik became resident choreographer, and Dr Olivera Mladenović, one of the undisputed greats among ethnologists, was appointed Secretary and Associate Expert of the Ensemble. An eminent Board of Experts (Stana Klajn, Dragutin Čolić, Branko Marković, Maga Magazinović) also took part in the Ensemble’s first steps, along with sisters Danica and Ljubica Janković who offered lectures and advice. STAGE RENDITION OF FOLK DANCES

Stage rendition of folk dances in the shape of choreographic miniatures was developed by Olga Skovran at “Kolo” Ensemble as a new direction in artistic dance, after the model of Soviet school of choreography. Many of her pieces are still part of the current repertory of the Ensemble and serve as examples in creation of the new ones. Out of 133 choreographic pieces staged so far, 66 had already been on the repertory of “Kolo” by the time Olga Skovran retired in 1965, 25 of them representing her own work as a choreographer. In 1966, “Kolo” had its 2000th concert, of the overall number of around 5500 performed since its foundation. The concept of choreographic miniatures lingered to this very day, but in the late nineteen eighties “Kolo” embarked on the path of thematically chosen and directed folk dances, songs and customs, which will be remembered as musical-stage performances and open a new chapter in presentation of folklore (first such performance: “A Girl’s Dream” by Ratomir Djurović in 1986). Some of the latter performances include “Roots”, “A Ball in Belgrade”, “Golgotha and Resurrection of Serbia”, “A Balkan Odyssey”. At that time, “Kolo” also commenced performing song programmes, with varying degrees of stylisation and rendition of folk songs (“Flower in Folk Song and Poetry” by Snežana Mijović Knežević, 1989), with another six such programmes produced so far.