The Grand Bal de l’Europe postponed for public health reasons

As soon as we announced the possibility of postponing the Grand Bal de l’Europe until next year, we received a very large number of testimonies expressing a deep commitment to the gatherings.

We have tried to keep our summer event as long as possible and have worked to ensure that it takes place in flawless safety conditions and with serenity.

During this period, we were engaged in many discussions with all the players involved in the Grand Bal de l’Europe, musicians, dancers, organisers, members and suppliers.

We have worked on decoding the information, trying to understand the logic behind it in order to foresee the potentials ways out of this crisis. We had talks with the crisis unit of the Ministry of Culture and, of course, with the mayor of Gennetines.

We share the distress and concerns of professional musicians and dancers, creators of emotions and dreams. They need to meet their public, to share their work, to exchange, to bring their work to life and to sell their production.

We share the fears and worries of the organisers, volunteer musicians and dancers who have invested so much in the organisation of the Grand Bal de l’Europe, who in thirty years have built an exceptional space, a cradle of many encounters and adventures, a place that allows artistic diversity to express itself, a place grounded on humanist values, a place that is renewed every year…

We fully appreciate the great disappointment of the participants in this beautiful project, for whom the Grand Bal de l’Europe is an important meeting, a place to recharge and refresh, a place to dream, a place where everyone can experience great moments, a place where we can “re-endanced” our lives…

We now have to live with this setback that brings down one year’s work of preparation; the result of which would have brought such emotions, joys and exchanges. We trust that you will understand.

In the short term, we will reimburse all the sums paid in full to those who had already registered and paid for their attendance.

Several organisers or regular participants who have not yet registered have also informed us that they would like to join for the year 2020-2021 (the one that includes the Grand Bal de l’Europe 2020) and possibly make a donation to the association.

We will therefore re-open the registration site from September to allow membership for the current year and possibly make a donation. We will give you an update by newsletter and will specify our position on this matter at that time.

In the short term, we will have to review our forecasting models. We were in a good dynamic and we could compare registrations from one year to the next to adapt the organization. Usually, we work on the planning for the following year, based on the summer’s results, comments and suggestions. We will have to rethink our provisional organization to integrate the consequences of the postponement.

Despite the devastating impact of this crisis on culture, events and festivals, we will survive.  We are doing everything possible to be able to organise the Grand Bal de l’Europe in the coming years. We know that we can do it thanks to the understanding of the artists and our partners, as well as to the action and unfailing support of our wonderful team of volunteers.

It is possible, thanks to your support and encouragement.

We have published on our website “Emotions partagées” some testimonies underlining this support and the importance of these meetings, which are a source of hope for a lot of people.

See you soon to rejoice in a get-together at Gennetines or elsewhere.

Collective summary signed by Bernard Coclet, President of the A.E.A.D.T.