About us

CaDansa is a balfolk festival of four days. It is the largest balfolk festival in the Netherlands, with a dance floor of approximately 1000 m2. Visitors can dance balfolk here [link to what is balfolk page] to live Western European balfolk music from national and international bands. Since 2012, hundreds of visitors enjoy themselves every year with good music, fun dances, delicious local food, dance and music workshops and many small additions to the program that encourage around 1000 visitors to make contact with each other.

CaDansa is unique in its kind, the only festival in the Netherlands that is committed to this specific music genre, balfolk, on this scale. It brings together enthusiasts from all over the Netherlands and far beyond, and the musicians who are inspiring examples are an important part of the success. More information about balfolk can be found here.

Talent
In addition to the dancing and listening stages, there is also an open stage, where visitors who make (Balfolk) music themselves can go on stage to share their music with the dancing visitors. This results in a very diverse and surprising programme. The open stage was created to help aspiring musicians develop their talents. More information about the open stage can be found here.

Steenwijk
Cadansa took place from 2015 to 2018 in the OGtent (Duiven), a beautiful new building with a large capacity, especially compared to the early years when it started in Utrecht. Unfortunately, the capacity has become smaller in recent years due to the rental of some spaces that were previously used by the festival. That is why we have chosen to move to a new location that can handle our growth for the coming years. The location that houses us since 2019 is Rabotheater de Meenthe in Steenwijk. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the festival in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19. In 2022, CaDansa was back as usual. The tenth edition of CaDansa will be celebrated in 2023.

Organization
The CaDansa festival started in 2012 under the direction of Louise Marius. During the first years of CaDansa, Selena van Hesteren always assisted her as a volunteer. She has taken over since the end of October 2017. Selena came into contact with Balfolk in the spring of 2007. After dancing fanatically for a few years, she started organizing balls and small events. Over the years, she has gained the experience to fully take over the organization of CaDansa since 2018. The rest of the organization consists of a core team of six others who work all year round to help make the festival the succes it is now. 

Volunteers
Shortly before and during the festival, the volunteer team grows to around 95 volunteers who are contributing to making this festival a reality. Some of these volunteers come from abroad. The different teams (first aid, bar, cash register, etc.) meet as much as possible in advance, so that they can get to know each other and work together more easily. In addition, an activity has been planned during the construction period in which the volunteers eat and dance together, get to know each other and have fun while working. More information about volunteering can be found here.