"Dance is the hidden language of the soul."

Martha Graham

An outdoor preformance

By Mediha Jusufagic

Mission Statement

The Lilies' objective is to provide opportunities for Bosnian girls and boys, ages two to early teens, to come together, interact with each other, learn about their heritage, traditions, and native language, and above all maintain their native culture. They accomplish this through exposure to dance, song and theatre.

About Us

The group was established in April 2001. Currently Bosnian Lilies have 20 active members, girls and boys. They are children between the ages of 3 and 15. We have been meeting as a group for two hours every Saturday. At our meetings the children are enthusiastic and eager to learn songs and dances from their native country.

The children in the Lilies group, along with their family members, were forced to leave Bosnia because of the war. Ever since they have had to deal with the loss of friends, cousins, and destroyed homes, places where in many cases their families had lived for generations. On the other hand, parents here are trying–through a lot hard work–to provide at least what their children had before. All of those tragic circumstances caused the children to mature overnight. The leaders' goal for the Lilies group is to bring all of these children and their parents to their cultural roots and traditions.

Mediha Jusufagic, one of the Lilies' founders and its primary leader, with support from the Vermont Folk life Center's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program has instructed Nijaza Šemic, in 2005-06, who became the group's co-leader.

Goals

The Bosnian Lilies' mission is to provide opportunities for Bosnian girls and boys, ages two to early teens, to come together, interact with each other, learn about their heritage, traditions, and native language, and above all maintain their native culture. Almost every child speaks "broken" Bosnian and good English. The Lilies' goal is to expose these children to their native culture through dance, song, and theater. Some members left Bosnia as very young children and never had any exposure to their traditions and culture. One Lilies member, a fifteen-year-old girl, said "I want to be able to learn these songs and dances so I can share them with my American friends. Also, when I go back to Bosnia I do not want to feel like I do not belong there." As a part of rehearsal sessions, dance leaders show videotapes about the folk culture of Bosnia. Plans for the future include educational sessions about Bosnian language, history, proper behavior, and respect–this in addition to dance instruction and performances.

It is clear that these cultural goals are being met by the numbers of young people (and adult family members) who have elected to participate, the quality of their interest in and engagement with Bosnian culture, and their clear sense of community as Bosnian-American youth. Moreover the Bosnian Lilies group is well received by the Vermont Bosnian community and has become one of its well-recognized symbols. The group also provides a window into Bosnian culture for outsiders and is an important way that the Bosnian community can show other Vermonters who they are.

In order to sustain this momentum and continue to achieve these goals, the group's main challenge is finances. Until now the Lilies group has relied on the personal resources of its leaders and the support of parents. In the beginning the Community College of Vermont provided practice space, but as numbers grew the group turned to the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, which offered free space for weekly practices. Unfortunately that space is no longer available. Costumes initially were sewn by one of the mothers and paid for by the parents, but the group has grown beyond the community's capacity to supply costumes in this way. The Lilies group has been forced to do without traditional instruments due to their cost and lacks also the traditional dance shoes that can only be purchased in Bosnia. As the group's numbers have grown the community has not been able to keep up. The Lilies group is seeking funding which will enable it to meet the challenge of this high level of interest by providing the basic supplies that the group needs in order to perform.

Our goal is to bring all of these children and their parents to their cultural roots and tradition.
Our plans for the future include educational sessions about Bosnian language, history, proper behavior, respect and more.

Our utmost goal is to be able to visit our native country Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, we want to have participation in one of their folk festivals, and meet some other Bosnian children and learn about their life.

Contact Information

BOSNIAN LILIES
107 Northgate Rd.
05408 Burlington, VT

bosnianlilies@gmail.com