the story

the story of the festival

the winter of 1993. eve is at home suffering from  chickenpox for two weeks. sad but true... within these two weeks she came to a new big idea – what if i’d organise a meeting in viljandi for all those groups that practice “contemporary dance” for children. the reason for the birth of such idea is again rather practical - her choreography is something which doesn’t fit under the name “folk-dance” nor “competitive couple dancing”. and since she knew that there are a few more dance-groups in estonia by that time that were afflicted by lack of the same output, eve decides to collect them all together for just one day in viljandi.

on the 1^st of june 1993 the festival called “laste tantsu festival” (“children dance festival”) takes place in viljandi koidu seltsimaja. the budget of the first meeting is 25 estonian crones which covers the transport of the participants from viljandi railways station to the town. that moment eve has no idea what she has given birth to… for three years the festival is called “laste (children) dance festival” but since the participants of the festival grow older, from 1996 until now the festival is called “noore tantsu festival” (young dance festival - notafe). being one of the most important contemporary dance events in estonia, notafe has been operating in estonia for ten years now, bringing in viljandi hundreds of young dance-enthusiasts. many important dance-teachers and choreographers from all around the world have given their workshops in the frame of notafe’s (summer) school.