Bal Experience: Dé Academie + Le Mange Bal (FR)

The rising enrollment numbers at the folk department of the Ypres Academy prove that traditional music is thriving. With a particularly driven and talented team of teachers, the students elevate their playing to a high level, featuring tunes from all corners of the globe. It comes as no surprise that they can also get an entire room dancing with an infectious selection of balfolk dances. In varying formations, sometimes joined by their teachers, they effortlessly get the dance floor moving. Discover the future of the trad scene… but above all: shake those legs loose.

As if that weren’t enough, headliner Le Mange Bal arrives to turn up the heat even further. This formation is considered one of the pioneers within the vibrant trad-folk-electronica scene, in the company of names like Beat Bouet Trio, Patate Sound System, Turfu, and Superparquet.

Their music is deeply rooted in the traditional dance repertoires of Occitania, Auvergne, Poitou, and Brittany. What once echoed on wooden dance floors and village squares is given a new form through drum machines, samplers, accordion, clarinet, and analog synthesizers. The result? An irresistible cocktail of tradition and electronics that sets both festival stages and balfolk floors across Europe on fire.

The group centered around Théodore Lefeuvre and Loïc Vergnaud lets you surf on waves of deep grooves and ancient melodies in a brand-new guise. Standing still is not an option. All that’s left is to choose: jump, spin… or just everything at once.