Tarbatu Summer Days 2010

                                                      

The town of Järvselja of Tartu county was occupied by warriors on the 30th day of july in 2010. Arrivals were first greeted by a „tank“, followed by a pack of militaristic dancers. These were the summer days of folk dance ensemble Tarbatu.

Hoisting of Tarbatu's flag was a first and the summer days were kicked off by singing in unison. The first day of the event, friday, could be called an adjustment day – we played volleyball and got acuainted with our surroundings. Some bolder members even  took a sauna in the plastic structure built by EMÜ students. As darkness fell our guests from Kuljus also arrived from the capital. The main attraction for the evening was a getting-to-know game on narrow balance beams where we had to get by each-other without falling off. Naturally, the festivities didn't end with this game but with dancing (for some it never did...).

Saturday morning spared no one with the wake-up call being fairly early. It was the beginning of competitive games with the weatherman being naturally benevolant in covering all our participants with rain. The most exciting game was one that involved a lengthy adventure in the woods in which we had to solve various tasks at different checkpoints. In essence, it was hiking without a map. Winners and losers were subsequently determined as well.

The folk who attended our summer days were introduced to Järvselja's hunting cabin which had been living space to EMÜ's scholars during their teachings there. Järvselja is a place of picturesque nature and diverse plantlife which makes it perfect for EMÜ's students for practising what they've learned at school.

By saturday evening the amount of bold attendants had increased so our home-made sauna along with a nearby lake had been tried and tested by nearly everyone.

The night ended with the fourth dance marathon in the history of Tarbatu. For the uninitiated reader – a dance marathon is dancing with one partner for as long and as spectacularly as possible with the music being varied and prepared beforehand. Even after the lengthy and exhausting dance marathon, a true dancer's physique does not diminish so the action continued 'til morning when we packed our things and everyone headed towards their own destination.