Ball tradition
A ball was never just a dance.
The word dates back to the 12th century, from the Latin ballare — to dance.
- 1834.
Kragujevac, the court of Prince Miloš
The first ball in the Principality of Serbia was held in 1834 in Kragujevac, at the court of Prince Miloš.
Over the decades that followed, balls were places of meeting, conversation, connection and agreement. People from politics, culture, business and the arts met at them, while charity balls raised funds for schools, societies and other public needs.
- The 1860s
Slovenian lands and reading rooms
In the Slovenian lands too, dance had long been part of civic and social life, but until then ball culture had developed within the civic circles of the time, often under strong German and Austrian cultural influence.
From the 1860s a network of Slovenian reading rooms (čitalnice) began to develop.
- 1863.
The reading room in Kranj
When the reading room in Kranj opened in 1863, the performance of the song “Hej, Slovani” was followed by a dance that closed the celebration.
Reading rooms were spaces where people did not only read books but gathered, listened to music, staged plays and lectures and, of course, danced.
- 1898.
In Maribor, this idea found its home
In 1898 the Narodni dom was built, the centre of cultural and social life of Maribor's Slovenes. Under its roof were a reading room, a library, and music and drama societies, while the ceremonial hall hosted concerts, plays, gatherings — and dances.
That is how places of encounter became more than places.
They became places where culture was built, people were brought together and ideas were born that lasted far longer than a single evening.
It was a way for people to meet, for different cultures to draw closer, and for something lasting to grow out of a single encounter.