In 1971 Fritz Lenz founded the folk dance group "Froehlicher Kreis e.V. Cölbe". Today it has approximately 190 members from 4 to 70 years of age.
We consist of five dance groups for different age-groups and a band. Our repertory includes folk dances from the whole German-speaking area with the forms on Hessian dances . In addition we also rehearse Hungarian-German dances. For the performances we have costumes at our disposal which were specially reproduced from original patterns.
We try to cultivate the costumes characteristic for the are around Marburg and also local traditions. Therefore we have a variety of different traditional costumes, e.g. the so - called Protestant costume and its Catholic counterpart respectively as well as the Hungarian-German one above - mentioned. Numerous international contacts have been established over the last three decades and every we have several meetings with friendly groups both in Germany and abroad.
Since 1981 we have organised the "Internationales Coelber Kindertreffen" every two years, an international meeting for children.
The "Froehlicher Kreis e.V. Coelbe" helped to start up AKIFF, an association primarily concerned with the organisation of international folklore festivals. Since its foundation it has always seen to the accommodation of the guests.
Furthermore we are in regular touch with foreign students of the local Philipps-University. Those various international meeting provide our young people with a whole range of useful contacts. Our team hopes to show the children numerous possibilities to structure their leisure time sensibly.
The "Froehliche Kreis e.V. Cölbe" was guest and host respectively of the following countries:
America:
Brazil, U.S.A.
Asia:
China,Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand
Australia; Oceania:
Australia
Europe:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, White Russia
Sören Schmock
Stand: 25.Februar 1999