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50 YEARS
MKUD ILINDEN
Anniversary Group -
2000s
This former Senior A group from 2000-2010
gained a high reputation amongst the wider
Australian community for its impressive
repertoire, beautiful costumes, passionate
performances and professionalism. It became
renowned as the strongest Balkan dance
group in Australia. As MCAA Ilinden’s most
successful Senior A group, this group boasts
first place honours in the 2002, 2004, and 2006
McDonald’s Performing Arts Competitions
organised by the Sydney Cultural Council. The
group also won first place at the Sydney World
Dance Championships in 2008. This generation
of dancers had numerous tours across
Australia, including being the first Macedonian
dancing group to tour Tasmania in October
2008. The group successfully toured Macedonia
twice in 2005 and 2008.
Performing: Shopsko & Makedonsko Oro
(Шопско & Македонско Оро)
Originating from northeastern Macedonia this
traditional dance provides a tapestry of folkloric
elements of the Shop region (Kumanovo,
Kratovo, and Kriva Palanka provinces).
Characterised with the movements and specific
style of the Shop region, this dance is fast-
paced and dynamic with high tempo music.
M.C.A.A ‘Ilinden’- Today
Current senior groups and junior groups to this
day have ensured that MCAA Ilinden remains
a household name within the Macedonian
community. For this special 50th celebration,
the superb senior groups and the adorable
junior groups have spent the better part of the
year preparing and rehearsing their repertoire to
showcase the richness and vibrancy of folkloric
dancing from the various regions of Macedonia.
Accompanying the Ilinden dancing groups
is the newly formed Ilinden music ensemble
comprised of current dancers playing traditional
Macedonian instruments such as the kaval
(wooden flute), tambura (lute) and gajda
(bagpipe).