Dear CaDansians,

Less than half a year until the next edition of CaDansa, and only half a month until ticket sales start! In this newsletter, we share some exciting updates about this year’s mascot and about the program of CaDansa 2026. And, of course, some practical information for when you’re buying your tickets. There’s also quite a serious request for help in this newsletter. If you would like to make CaDansa possible, read on!

Ticket sale

Before you continue: mark Saturday May 30th on your calendar… Because on that day, from noon onwards, you can get your CaDansa ticket on our website! It will also be possible to sign up to volunteer if you would like to lend a hand at the festival.

Urgent: help wanted!

CaDansa is (still) looking for a new PR coordinator! If you are able to contribute in any way to our newsletters, website or our presence on social media, please reach out to us at questions@cadansa.nl. Otherwise we might have to turn to generative AI for our communication… Just kidding, we won’t – but the situation really is that dire.

The job of our PR coordinator consists of several elements:

• Writing the CaDansa newsletter;
• Managing the social media, with our communication team;
• Keeping the website up to date;
• Communicating with the press.

Even if you could help out with only some of the tasks on this list, that might be just what we need to keep our CaDansa team running! If you’re not sure, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

We will also need a new numbers person on the CaDansa team, to take over the financials after CaDansa 2026. Write to us at questions@cadansa.nl if you think you could be the one!

What do you get in return? Most importantly: the incredible feeling that you’ve put on this fantastic festival for over a thousand people. Plus, a great organising team and the chance to meet lovely people from the balfolk scene.

Once upon a time, in a magical forest…

…In a clearing filled with fairylights, a lone stag stood watching a group of people move, mesmerized. They were dancing to tunes unlike any music he’d ever heard before. Somehow, he must have wandered into the woods of CaDansa 2026…

And we are very excited to welcome him. The beautiful red deer will be the festival’s mascot this year. Before he leaves Steenwijk, we’ll try to get him to dance along with us. It can’t be too hard, navigating a dancefloor with antlers… right?

If you’re planning to travel to (balfolk) festivals abroad, and you would like to take the red deer with you: please let us know! We will send you some flyers and posters to allow him to travel all over Europe.

CaDansa’s new designer

A while ago, we announced that this would be the last edition of CaDansa to be decorated with Maartje’s beautiful creations. Thankfully, many very talented illustrators answered our call for a new designer. While it was quite the challenge to make a selection from the many beautiful portfolios we received, we’re very happy with our new designer: a very warm welcome to Iris! It will be very exciting to see in which direction Iris will take the magical world of CaDansa with her artwork.

A special announcement

We are very happy to let you know that a very special band will be playing on the CaDansa stage this year: the Gonnagles are returning from their hiatus of more than ten years to play for us!

This Dutch band consists of 10 musicians, playing violin, bass guitar, accordion, cello, trumpet, viola, percussion, clarinet and vocals. Their varied repertoire consists largely of their own compositions in the Flemish and French balfolk tradition. They manage to put their own unique spin on the old dances, ranging from ‘creative’ to ‘modern’ to ‘bizarre’ and far beyond.

Zzzzzz…

When ordering your CaDansa tickets from our webshop, it will also be possible to book a sleeping spot at the CaDansa accommodation. Take a look at our accommodations page for the details. We have different types of rooms available, in two different locations:

• At Résidence de Eese, we offer two person box beds, two person rooms and four person rooms. These cost between € 110 and € 190 per person.
• At Hoeve Montigny, we offer three person rooms and five person rooms. These cost between € 160 and € 200 per person.

Please note: transport to and from the festival location is only included for people staying at Résidence de Eese. If you book a room at Hoeve Montigny, you are responsible for your own transport. Thankfully, the festival is only a 10 minute drive or a 20 minute bike ride away!