Kari Petrulis’ parents enrolled him in the Lithuanian church in Detroit, Mich., and he grew up taking folk dance lessons, playing competitive sports and going to summer camps and folk dance festivals.
Now married, they live in Burbank, and their two daughters attend St. Casimir each Saturday morning so they can learn the folk dances and songs their parents and grandparents grew up with.
The whole family will be dancing in the 13th Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival on Sunday at USC. What makes this event special is that it’s the first dance festival on the West Coast, Undine Petrulis said.
They are usually held in Chicago, where the first dance festival was held in 1957, or in Detroit, New York, Cleveland or Toronto.
“We’re always the ones who have to travel, so it’s fun to have them come here once,” she said.
Lithuanian people have always had great admiration for nature and the dances in this year’s festival reflect that, said Danguole Varnas, artistic director for the festival.
The festival’s theme is “Let’s Strike Up a Dance of Joy.” Springtime is depicted in the first half of the program, and summer and harvest are part of the second half, said Varnas, a La Crescenta resident.
“The Swallow” dance has a bird theme and is attributed to the oldest Lithuanian dance recorded, she said. Then the dances become more humorous. Dancers will perform around goat and rooster sculptures that are 12 feet high, she said.
“Our group of volunteers have made the sculptures,” Varnas said. “They are based on what I’ve seen at the festivals in Lithuania.”
There will be 1,000 dancers ages 6 to 60 participating from 15 cities in the United States, three cities in Canada and three cities in Lithuania, she said.
