The year 1991 and the time around that date were very turbulent for the whole of Europe. The clay feet of the red colossus in the east began wobbling. Its influence which it had wielded over the countries of the so-called Eastern Bloc for more than 40 years was waning. Subsequent countries were gaining their independence. Some, like Poland and Hungary, were simply recovering sovereignty. Others became states, demarcating their borders and electing their authorities. The latter included Moldova, which had been a Soviet republic since 1940. It declared independence on 27 August 1991.
A year earlier, when it was already clear that the political winds were bringing important changes, Maria Lupu founded one of Moldova's first children's ensembles. OPINCUTA (the name is a reference to the traditional footwear used by Moldovan peasants on working days) sets itself the task of collecting, researching and performing the forgotten folk traditions of Moldova, and thereby rediscovering its national identity. The thirty-five-member ensemble from Chișinău is still one of those few that perform authentic, not stylised, Moldovan folk dances.
The treasure of its tradition that OPINCUTA has extracted from the abyss of history has already been presented in Romania, Austria, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, France, Slovakia, Switzerland, Hungary, Turkey and Serbia. And to Nowy Sącz they are coming with... surprise, surprise! children's folk songs and dances representing the folklore of the historic Moldova on both sides of the Prut river.
The treasure of its tradition that OPINCUTA has extracted from the abyss of history has already been presented in Romania, Austria, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, France, Slovakia, Switzerland, Hungary, Turkey and Serbia. And to Nowy Sącz they are coming with... surprise, surprise! children's folk songs and dances representing the folklore of the historic Moldova on both sides of the Prut river.