Balkan Music &
Dance Workshops

Every summer the EEFC presents two week-long workshops. Follow the links below to read all about them!

June 28-July 5, 2025
More info…

August 9-16, 2025
More info…


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Stay in Touch

There’s more than one way to stay connected to the EEFC throughout the year. Subscribe to our email Newsletter for monthly updates. Join the Discussion List (an active email group with searchable archives since 1993). Send us a message.


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Get the FAQs

Find out almost everything you always wanted to know about the EEFC’s in-person Balkan camps.
FAQs


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Kids at Camp!

Our in-person workshops are a great experience for families. Get the scoop to ensure everyone has a blast!


Scholarships

We award full scholarships to our in-person workshops.
Find out more

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The Idiot and the Tsimbl

May 25, 2020 at 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

The tsimbl (trapeziform hammered dulcimer) formed the sonic backbone of many klezmer ensembles as early as the 16th Century, and was ubiquitous enough to have generated the Ashkenazi family name “Zimbalist.” It generated reams of engraved icons with Jews, Gypsies, cherubs, skeletons, tramps and thieves and even led to the emergence of the xylophone in the classical orchestra via the mysterious "Wood and Straw" man. The lore surrounding the instrument is full of references to the wandering Jew and the instrument itself has alternated as a symbol of both poverty and wealth, Jew and Gentile alike. Join Josh in a colorful lecture to find out why Poles still say, "Ty cymbały!" (you idiot) and what caused an instrument so common for hundreds of years to fall from grace and almost disappear from modern consciousness.

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