I started dancing with Neris at the age of 16 (1975).  The group was practicing at St. Casimer's school on the South Side at that time.  I joined with my brother, Alan Burnelis.  I danced with the group for 25 years.  There were a few years between 1975 and 2002 that I had to sit out due to foot surgery.  I thoroughly enjoyed those years.  Being of 100% Lithuanian descent, I considered it a duty and a privilege.  I have seen many dancers come and go, and many transitions take place within the Folk Festival.  My fondest memory was performing at the Civic Arena.  That was awesome!  I performed at three or four Sokiu Svente's (I have lost track over the years).  They have all been a wonderful experience.  Over the years, I personally brought in 12 other dancers to the group.  The standing joke with my friends is if you want to remain a friend of mine, you need to come and dance with Neris!  Thinking of Neris always brings back many, many fond memories.  I wish I could continue to perform with the group (I miss it), but life has a way of marching forward with other factors that use up our daily allotment of time.  My husband, Dale, and I continue to finish our studies.  I am in my last year at Carnegie Mellon University's Master program in Business with a concentration in Finance.  I will graduate May, 2006.  I completed my bachelor degree at Duquense University in August, 1999.  Dale is in his last year of his bachelor's degree at Point Park University's Civil Engineering program.  We both continue to minister at Willow Lane Assisted Living Facility in Kennedy Township on the first Sunday of the month.  Dale has his ministerial degree from Berean College of the Assemblies of God.  I wish Neris the best at this years Folk Festival (2005).  I welcome the opportunity to perform in the 2006 reunion (I will finish up my studies, so that shouldn't be a problem), and thank Marlene and especially Janet for all the wonderful memories!

I began dancing with Neris right out of high-school in an effort to connect with my dad's Lithuanian roots. It was my first attempt at folk dancing and I was hooked.  Many Lithuanian dances tell a story, not only through the music and lyrics, but through the dance itself, as the couples twirl or polka, creating geometric designs, concentric cirlces or moving to and fro across the stage.  The woman's costumes are regal and breathtakingly beautiful.  The color combinations awesome -- and by far the most beautiful of all that Eastern or Western Europe has to offer. 

One of the moments that stands out in my mind was my very first trip to Chicago in the mid-70's for the Sukio Svente.  While I was not able to perform with Neris that year, I wanted to support their participation.  I had heard about the 2,000 dancers and the special choreographies, but I wasn't prepared at all for what unfolded before my eyes.  I was speechless (except for the many oohhs an aaaahhhs) and for anyone who knows me -- speechless is definitely NOT a word that describes me. I am still moved when I think of the last choreography in which nearly 2,000 dancers moved into a tight circle in the center of the great hall, bent forward from the waist and then slowly standing upright, flower in hand, re-creating the image of a rose opening to full bloom.  I was astounded, pleasured and fully hooked yet again.  I re-counted the details of that weekend time and time again, along with my disappointment that I was not one of the dancers that year.  But had I been, I would never had experienced the joy of seeing that particular production or realized the emotion that I did at seeing it. Sitting in the audience gave me a vastly different perspective from that of being on stage, and as a result, I feel I have a fuller understanding and appreciation of Lithuanian choreographies. 

Several years passed from that first Sokiu Svente before I had the pleasure of attending another dance festival in the early 80's -- this time with my husband and toddler daughter, Ondrejana.  I was so proud of my Lithuanian heritage and of the Neris dancers, that I had created a mini Lithuanian costume for Ondrejana to wear just for that occasion.  I wanted my family to experience that wonderful sense of being one with the music and dance that I had experienced years earlier.  As young as she was, I wanted Ondrejana to be thrilled with the sights and sounds and maybe gtet her hooked on Lithuanian folk dance too.  My hope was that one day perhaps we could all dance with Neris as a family.

That day came in 1993 when my children (Ondrejana, Danitza, Timmy and Katya) became part of the first Neris Children's Group, and I signed on to "help" with practices.  The following summer, Neris adults AND children participated in the Sukiu Svente in Chicago!!  I was estastic that my children would be able to be a part of that wonderful presentation and that I would be able to watch them from a special vantage point reserved for teachers and instructors. Little did I know that the teacher moderators were also to parade on to the floor and be a part of the children's presentation.  There I was living out two dreams in one:  Dancing with my family and actively participating at a Sokiu Svente!  It was a moment that my children and I still fondly remember and set the foundation for a number of years of the Zatek family continuing to dance with Neris.

It is now a dozen years later, and I am proud to say that my children still have an appreciation for Lithuanian dance.  Our eldest, Ondrejana, and our youngest, Katya, are still dancing with Neris (and with me) in the adult ensemble, and with their brother, Tim, and sister, Danitza, they still help at weekly practices with the Neris youth group.

I look to the future with excitement as Neris celebrates its 40th anniversary and hope that through the participation of other families and young people, it will go one to celebrate yet another 40 more!! 

LABAS to everyone.  Vida here, along with Alan... and our two beautiful children Andrius and Vilija.  Alan and I just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on 5/18.  Our sweet son Andrius just turned 6 (5/2) and our princess of a daughter Vilija will be 3 on 6/13.  We do have an angel baby watching over us, sadly, my first pregnancy ended at 10 weeks along, before Andrius came along.

I'm a SAHM, Alan still works in the printing industry.  Andrius will complete his kindergarten year in less than two weeks, and my little Vilija will be starting a strictly speech therapy class in June.  She was born with a cleft lip and palate, which we knew about before birth.  She is the most beautiful little girl on earth (!) and has the best surgeon at Pittsburgh's Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Center.  Vilija has had 4 surgeries so far, and will endure so much more.  It's been quite a challenge, but we are handling it.

Both kids know a little Lithuanian, Vilija even uses sign language at times, and both kids just learned how to say "Mano vardas yra..." (My name is...)  I'm so proud of them!

 I work in Washington, DC and live in Northern Virginia.  I travel to Pittsburgh several times over the course of a year.  In addition to dancing in the early 1980s, my mother (Pat Macey), my niece (Diane Wetmore), and I participated in the multi-generational dance at the 2001 Folk Festival.

I live and work in Kane, PA as a controller of a forest products company.

Would love to visit with those I danced with.

 I would very be interested in a reunion.  I have taken off the past few years of dancing, but would like to join everyone again next year, especially since it will be Janet's final year as our director.

And, I would still like to take a trip to Lithuania sometime, hopefully with my Neris friends.

I am married and have one son who just started college.  I am studying blue grass banjo and still play piano at times.  I sew Civil War era Bonnets (for women) and sell them to sutlers who travel from one reenactment to another. It's a great part time job.  I work full time as a Certified Hand Therapist at the Cleveland Clinic.  I no longer have the costume I used to use for dancing.To travel to pittsburgh for practices would be too much of a hardship.

Greg Marchuska & I managed the group with Marlene as instructor from 1976 to 1983 (might be off by a year or so) & took the group to the 1980 dance festival in Chicago.  Had one of the best times of our lives.   I retired from the group in 83 to start a family, work a lot of overtime, & build a house.  I really enjoyed the last years we (Patty & I) participated in the group & I believe after many Thursday practices we were able to finally perfect the Kamikaze recipe.  Practice makes perfect.

Memorable moments:

•       My first practice - OMG I had to hold hands with a girl

•       Exploring the secrets of the many hidden rooms at the club (almost falling thru the ceiling)

•       My best buddy Poviliuk

•       One of my most memorable moments was singing This Land is My Land on stage with many many people of many many nationalities as the roof of the Civic Arena opened to expose a lit up Pittsburgh skyline.

•       During folk festival practice - watching the Irish screw up the maypole dance about 4 times in a row & finally have Jordinoff lose his temper kick them off stage.

•       One year watching the Israelis dance as though they were floating on air.

•        The bus rides to Chicago

•       The Conrad Hilton, the Lithuanian restaurant, the Lithuanian bakery (bundukies)

•       Watching the Lithuanian group from Brazil dance like they were floating on air

•       Wishing we could dance like we were floating on air

•       It Ain’t Nothin  but a House Party

•       Marching proudly while carrying the Lithuanian Flag in the McKees Rocks Nationality Parade with my costume pants fly all the way down.

•       The picnics ­ South Park, Gallitzin, the Country Club

•       The Parties

•       The Holiday Dinner with a stripper for entertainment

The group was such a good time that my wife Patty joined in 1978 & danced until 83 with me.  All my children have danced with the group (Anna & Christine are in college & Rose & Toni still dance today)

With little effort, these thoughts came to mind, I’m sure there are many more.

I have two daughters Sarah and Anna.  Sarah will graduate from Seton-La Salle High School the weekend of the Folk Festival.  I would love to dance again but cannot due to the graduation.  I am always telling my girls stories about when I danced in the dance group.  I have such wonderful memories...the trips to Chicago, Canada and Cleveland, the picnics, the New Years Eve and other parties with the dancers and parents, and all the local performances.

It is hard to believe that a discussion in the Lithuanian Club with a few of our parents would start a group that would last 40 years.