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I’m spending this summer visiting quirky and unusual festivals throughout Europe. My first festival trip took me to Ireland and Limerick, City of Culture. My second took me to a very different destination and a country I had yearned to visit for years: Slovenia.
Allow me to introduce you to Ana Desetnica, the street theatre festival of Ljubljana. For four days in early July, dozens of street performers bring their wild, zany, and creative acts to Slovenia’s capital city.
Ljubljana Comes to Life
First of all, Ljubljana is a city straight out of a fairy tale. The brightly colored buildings, the cobbled streets, the castle on a hill — I felt like I was in a Disney movie! I fell in love with Ljubljana hard and fast, and it’s on the list of my favorite cities in the world now.
In this city, it just seems natural that performances sprout up seemingly out of nowhere — I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place for a street theatre festival.
One thing that I liked about Ana Desetnica was that none of the performances started until 4:30 PM. That way, you get time to wander the city and do your own thing without feeling pressured to catch performances throughout the day.
And there’s so much to do in Ljubljana, but my favorite thing to do while traveling is to sit in a cafe and feel like I’m a part of the city. Ljubljana is chock full of cafes — they spill out in every direction! I was as happy as a clam. As an introvert, I needed quiet time to balance out all the performances, and Ljubljana’s cafes certainly helped me out on that end.
The Performances
Anything goes at Ana Desetnica. The performances range from dance and street theatre to interactive storytelling, juggling, dance, music, improv, and performances for kids. I will say that the majority of them are kid-friendly and don’t contain any spoken language, making them accessible for the largest audience possible.
Here are some of the notable ones:
The Ukrainian group Teatr Brovi performed as the “Colored Men” — it looked fun and sweet at first, but it turns out it was a satirical take on the European Union.
Dan Le Man is famous for being able to fit a LOT of ping pong balls in his mouth (make your own jokes). He did a wacky show involving props, and was remarkably good-natured about the annoying children who threw water on him. Believe it or not, he’s not French — he’s an Australian who now lives in Estonia.
Italy’s Faber Teater was a conglomeration of “short ones” (musicians) and “tall ones” (men on stilts) performing together in the square.
It got scary when the short ones came in…
And for awhile, it looked like they actually killed the tall men. Not for long, though.
But one of my favorites was Italian MC Fois, whose show “LOVE ME!” was the funniest of the festival.
It was initially a mix of dance, juggling, and improv comedy from Conchita Wurst’s long-lost brother. But then he chose his soul mate in the audience…
Tried to make him do the macarena…
Got him to dress up and dance…
And then made him strip.
He finished by popping a balloon with a whip while blindfolded. (See the little red balloon mid-pop to the left of the smoke?)
You can see MC Fois in action here:
The last performances of the night tended to be the most dramatic and dark. Nothing was R-rated, but these were the kinds of performances that would give kids nightmares.
On the first night, it was a performance by Slovenia’s KDPM Street Theatre Company. There were fiery explosions as two opera singers sang hauntingly and a man who looked like the bad guy from True Detective played a burning violin.
On my second night, the final performance was by the Slovenian/French team Vertigo: a woman dangled from a harness as the wall lit up with a wild landscape. She ran sideways along the road as the scenery changed (and a puppet named Bruno popped up now and then to mock her). This was a really unique show and I’ve never seen anything like it.
On my third night, the final performance was a truly twisted take on Alice in Wonderland by Slovenian theatre company Amanitas. There were drug simulations and a fiery jumprope and men with antlers on stilts; at one point the White Rabbit actually PEELED OFF HIS SKIN. That’s him in the muscle suit on the left.
A Surprisingly Cheap Festival
While I was in Ljubljana, I was struck by how much of a bargain this festival was. Festivals usually come with sky-high prices, but that wasn’t the case for Ana Desetnica.
First of all, the shows are all free (though many performers ask for donations). Secondly, many hotels and hostels don’t raise their rates during the festival. And on top of that, while Slovenia isn’t quite the cheapest country in Europe (that prize goes to my beloved Macedonia), prices are far lower than what you’d pay in Italy, France, Germany, or the UK.
Ana Desetnica is still a small and relatively unknown festival, and that works to its advantage.
Say you were going to go to a bigger street theatre festival in Europe — like Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival. Though it’s much larger than Ana Desetnica and has far more shows going on, the prices of Edinburgh are ordinarily very expensive, and festival season raises them into the stratosphere.
If you went to both Ana Desetnica and Edinburgh Fringe and spent each festival exactly the same way (same caliber of lodging, same quality of meals, same number of coffees and/or beers, etc.), I guarantee that Ana Desetnica would work out to be at least 50% cheaper, if not 60% or even 70%. This festival is stupendously good value for money.
The Takeaway
I want to go back to Ana Desetnica next year! Seriously. I really enjoyed this festival, I adored Ljubljana, and coming back will help me continue my tradition of visiting the Balkans every summer. Plus, I feel like I have unfinished business in Slovenia.
This is such a fun festival and if you’re looking for something quirky and different in a gorgeous summer destination, Ana Desetnica is a wonderful option. This festival is pure joy in a spectacular city, and I loved every minute of it.
Essential Info: Ana Desetnica takes place in early July in Ljubljana.
I stayed at the Hostel Tresor, which I recommend. It’s right in the dead center of Ljubljana and the rooms are very nice. Private doubles with shared bath are €30-40 ($40-54) in high season; dorms are €22-28 ($30-38) in high season. You can find other hotels in Ljubljana here.
I never travel without travel insurance and use and recommend World Nomads.
Must Love Festivals is brought to you by the Budget Traveller with lead partner Expedia and in association with the Slovenian Tourist Board. All opinions, as always, are my own.
Love festivals! Haven’t seen any acts like these before though, this is really interesting.
Look’s like there’s gonna be a stop over in Ljubljana next year! 🙂
July every year is it? Sounds good!
Cheers,
Ken
You’re right in saying it’s quirky! It does look interesting though minus the peeling off all his skin part haha
Amazing looking festival! I wonder why it is not very well known? It looks so cool.
This sounds like such a fun festival experience! And Ljubljana looks picture perfect – it definitely just shot to the top of my must-visit list!
It’s more than picture perfect. It’s just a fantastic little city!
Seriously, that festival looks like so much fun! I’ve never heard of it until now… quirky can be so much fun!
I’ve never been that into festivals but this looks like so much fun! But the peeling of skin? Hmm…
Great write up of a great few days with you Kate! I want to go back next year too 😀
Thanks, Frankie! I had a great time with you!
You had me at “twisted take on Alice in Wonderland.” I knew a girl who would dance with giant water-filled hula hoops, it was always an impressive show. It’s actually been a while since I’ve seen a really impressive street performance.
Definitely come to the late night shows here for the most impressive performances!
Had never heard of this festival before but it sounds amazing!
Have been hearing a lot about Edinburgh Fringe lately and keep thinking I should make plans to get myself there next year, but this post has completely changed my mind, would definitely rather go to Ana Desetnica.
I’m happy to hear that, Catherine! You’d love it.
I may not be 100% right on this, but I’d say that there could be lots of similar free/semi-free festivals throughout all post-communistic countries. This would be due to their socialistic past: back then the state would provide not only health care, education or central economy in general (a total fiasco on all fronts), but also entertainment and fun (so that people would not be altogether miserable, though they rarely succeeded in that aspect as well). Of course it was all censured back then and it is completely different now – I just wanted to point out that in these countries it is part of culture that some things are provided by the state. For example in my home town in Poland (Jelenia Gora) there is International Street Theater Festival every summer, plus September is a month of many free or rather cheap festivals and concerts, and in January there is a so-called ‘Karkonosze Festival of Light’, which is a great show of multicolored lights (Karkonosze is the name of the mountain range nearby), also free. These are the first few I could think of (there are surely many more) and that’s just an ordinary (80,000 people) town.
I think what I wanted to say is that other Slavic countries are awesome as well :). And my, how I envy you that you could be there in Ljubljana!
That is really interesting, TLT! Never thought of that before. I will say that there are plenty of festivals in non-communistic countries as well, but that’s an interesting way of looking at it.
Looks awesome! Have to visit Llubliana soon!
I already loved that city so much, but this incredible festival just makes it all the more incredible.
Love that there’s just so much fun and laughter to be had on the streets.
Ha ha, this is awesome! I’m very pro-street performances. Watching them makes me feel like a kid again 🙂
You saw a lot of adults enjoying the kid-friendly performances as well! Dan the Man was a favorite. 🙂
Great pics Kate! The insta-vid of KDPM’s fire show is cool too, the sound came out nicely. Just working on my pics atm 🙂
Thank you! I loved your pics, too. 🙂
I LOVE this city, and so would use just about any excuse to go back – this festival sounds awesome! Definitely reminds me of the Fringe from your photos.
I was lucky enough to travel to Slovenia and Ljubljana a few years ago with my young family. I loved it and I would love to go back. Ljubljana has the best chocolate I have ever eaten! I still think about it at times.
Ooh, now I’m wishing I had had some of their chocolate, Jody!
Ana Desetnica looks like an awesome festival. Ljubljana is such a great city and this street festival would be the perfect addition to a trip there!
Interesting! There’s so much going in, I can imagine you can just wander around all day. And is it me, or does the guy in the white tutu look like Borat? He seems like a very entertaining guy either way.
Hahaha, he was a slightly shorter Borat!
Wow this festival looks interesting to watch! Thanks for sharing this Kate!
I am KICKING myself for making the most of £12 return flights to Ljubljana last year, because festival aside it looks like a lovely place.
Oh well – that soon taught me!!
Beanie
Sounds like an amazing festival! As a costumer, I would love to attend. Your photos and videos make it even more intriguing.
Festivals in quaint European towns are the best kinds! Though next time I challenge you to come to my hometown and check out Bonnaroo, which is a totally different beast… =)
I would LOVE to go to Bonnaroo! I’ve never been to a big music festival like that! Maybe next year!
What a great article! Photos capture the atmosphere of the festival just perfectly. Seems like you took loads of them. 🙂
Make sure you reserve enough time for exploring the rest of the country next time you visit Slovenia. If you need any local advice on what to visit in Slovenia, feel free to drop me a line at my blog. Have fun!
Thank you! I got to do a road trip around the country afterward and I really enjoyed it!