Celebrating the twinning of Cardiff and Stuttgart

50 years ago Cardiff and Stuttgart came together as a partnership and this week, half a century later, representatives from both towns will join together in a festival of dance to celebrate this milestone.

Cwmni Dawns Werin Caerdydd, the capital city’s official folk dancing team, has accepted an invitation from the German dance team Stuttgarter Spielkreis this weekend to attend an exciting festival, hosted by the town of Helibronn on the outskirts of Stuttgart. On Sunday May the 10th, 2015, the Welsh group will perform a variety of dances in traditional costume before meeting the mayor of Stuttgart in order to exchange gifts that will commemorate Wales’s capital city’s long and successful partnership with the Germans.

The Welsh and German dance teams have been on friendly terms for over ten years, since the Stuttgarters first visited Cwmni Dawns Werin Caerdydd in 2005 for Cardiff’s annual midsummer dance festival Gŵyl Ifan. In keeping with tradition, this latest visit has the Welsh dancers staying with German host families and being welcomed wholeheartedly to the twin town.

Enfys Dixey, Chair of Cwmni Dawns Werin Caerdydd’s Dance Committee, said that the team were “very excited” about this opportunity to represent Cardiff and Wales’s traditions internationally. She explained, “We’ve enjoyed a long friendship with the German dancers and felt that it was especially important this year for people from Cardiff to visit Stuttgart to celebrate the partnership between the two cities as well. And what better way to do so than in a festival of dance? We’re thrilled about performing at the festival and sharing our traditions in such a positive and welcoming environment.”

Cwmni Dawns Werin Caerdydd intends to leave its mark on the twin town by ensuring that as many of our European friends as possible take part in the various traditional twmpath dances, which, according to Miss Dixey, are “an excellent way of getting everybody involved and enjoying themselves.”