As part of the Kaštela Cultural and Entertainment Summer, the traditional Kaštela Majorettes' Evening was held in Kaštel Novi this Wednesday. The audience was able to enjoy a rich program that brought together majorettes from eight cities and two music groups, and it all started with a ceremonial parade from the port in Kaštel Stari. The parade was led by the brass band of the Croatian Music Society "Zrinski", which brought the majorettes to the central event of the evening with marching bands.
The Kaštela Majorettes were founded in 1986 as one of the sections of the Kaštela Cultural and Artistic Association and today they are one of the teams with the longest tradition in the Republic of Croatia. For 28 years, they have been actively participating in competitions under the auspices of the Croatian Majorettes Association (HRSAM), and under the leadership of coaches Alena Rako and Ivona Bašić, they have won more than 300 national and fifty European and world medals. With about a hundred members of different ages, they have become an indispensable decoration of almost every city event, but also a symbol of Kaštela.
– The Kaštela Majorettes' Evening really has a long tradition and we are extremely proud of it. Because of this tradition, it is challenging to organize every evening, every year. We need to choose guests, our dear friends who we like to visit, and they return the visits. All of this needs to be incorporated into a suitable program in order to present the work of our girls. Of course, we make sure that at the Majorettes' Evening we present some of the most significant results achieved and give our youngest members the opportunity to present themselves. This will be a rich evening. In addition to the hosts, there are our friends from Sinj, Solin, Split, Vodice, Trilj, and we have guests from Neum and Baška Voda and even two bands, our Zrinski and Baška music society from Baška Voda - emphasized the president of the Kaštela Majorettes' Association, Draška Krajina.
President of the Kaštela Majorettes Association Draška Krajina
The Kaštela majorettes presented a series of choreographies for the audience with different age groups. The cadets brought the traditional majorette dance Pasodoble (silver at the national championship, they will represent the Republic of Croatia at the European Cup in Poreč), and the little ones – the youngest members – presented themselves with the choreography "Kad se male ruke slože" (first place at the regional competition).
Team Twirl participated in the World Cup in Turin, where they performed for the first time in that category, and the cadet marching band brought the Instrumental Mix (third place at the national and regional championships). The cadet parade band brought the Octoberfest (national champions and world vice-champions), and as a solo dancer Andrea Šalov, multiple national champion in twirling and majorette dance, performed with the repertoire from Turin, where she won eighth place in the World Cup final in the two-pole discipline.
The juniors also performed the traditional majorette dance (silver at the national championship, representatives at the European Cup), and the cadets performed The Edge of Glory (regional champions in the exhibition category 10–12 years old).
To end the parade, the seniors performed a choreography by Lady Gaga (silver medalist at the national championship, also representative at the European Cup).
The youngest groups brought a special emotion
The youngest groups brought a special emotion to the audience, while the experienced competitors reminded us of the outstanding successes of the women from Kaštela.
Sixteen-year-old member Marija Krajina shared her experience:
– I have been training in majorettes for ten years. I am attracted by the company and love of dance, and so far my best experience was the world championship in Turin in August. There I danced two solo choreographies and one group. I achieved great success with the solo choreography – I made it to the semi-finals, and that means a lot to me for further progress.
The program was also enriched by other majorette groups. The Split majorettes, who have been operating as a cultural and artistic society since 2002, presented themselves with the choreography Baton Flag – Juniors. They can boast the title of world vice-champion in 2023 and nine consecutive European champions.
– For us, majorette dance generally means promoting the culture of our region. Our colleagues, the Kaštela majorettes, grow together with us in our creative expression. I must tell you that we have excellent interpersonal relationships within our community, whether they are Kaštela, Solin, Split or all Dalmatian majorettes. Our greatest honor is when girls come out of our clubs who are preparing for life, and through majorette dance they learn to fight with victories, deal with defeats and everything else. So, in addition to gold, silver and bronze medals, the most important thing is that they develop as individuals. They also nurture the culture of majorette dance of this region. The greatest success of the Split majorettes is that we have had the title of European champion for nine years in a row, and in 2023 we were vice-champions of the world. But, I say again, our greatest treasure is the girls who come out of our clubs and the generations that we nurture - emphasized the president of the Split Cultural and Artistic Association Janka Bubica Šarić.
They were joined by majorettes from Sinj, Vodice, Trilj, Neum, Solin and Baška Voda, who presented themselves with the Makarska dance. The audience followed each performance with thunderous applause.
The national championship is coming soon for the majorettes of Kaštela
– We really have a busy schedule. Competitions take place in different categories of our age groups, and considering that the Kaštela majorettes are also active in twirling, the activities never stop. In September, meaning at the beginning of autumn, the Kaštela majorettes participate in the European Cup in Poreč. We recently returned from the world championship in Turin, and after that we will start preparations for the national championship, first in twirling, and then in majorette dance. Of course, we hope that we will continue with good results that will enable us to continue working and competing throughout the rest of the year. You are very welcome to the city administration. The City of Kaštela always tirelessly follows and supports us. Indeed. We use every opportunity, including this one, to thank the city for its comprehensive support. There is also the Kaštela Tourist Board. We cannot forget about it, but we also have good cooperation with our schools, where trainings are organized. This is an opportunity to sincerely thank everyone - said Krajina, speaking about the plans for the coming months.
In addition, free trial training sessions will be held during September, where anyone interested will be able to try out majorette dancing.
A special motivation for the future is the fact that the Kaštela majorettes will celebrate their 40th anniversary next year, and they are already announcing a big celebration.
Photo: Andrej Valentić
This text was co-financed by the Fund for Promoting Diversity and Pluralism of Electronic Media.
