About
Open Blues is a non-profit do-it-yourself festival. The main organisers deal with renting the venue, registrations, scheduling and some logistics, but music, workshops, cooking and merriment is crowdsourced! We mean the name literally: the programme is open to whatever you bring.
Why don’t we follow the usual workshop format, invite some star teachers and segregate dancers beginner to advanced?
The simple answer is this: there are hundreds of such events in Europe anyway, and they are all very good at satisfying the need for top-down instruction (great teachers still come to Open Blues, but as participants). Yet, there is little horizontal and inter-community exchange outside of the social dance floor. Let’s fix this!
Whatever your dance passion is, bring it to Open Blues if you think it might enrich the community. You can request a very limited time frame (e.g. 30 minutes) or a bigger workshop (e.g. 90 minutes), you can lead it on your own or with your friends, with instruments or without, you can create a space for experimentation or give a traditional class.
One of us puts it like this in the film below:
We don’t have a teacher-student division. We are just kind of one mushy big thing together, and that means that everyone can bring something in.
Is Open Blues for you?
Come if you want to teach a workshop that has never been tried before, cook dinner for the whole festival, dance to a band your friends sit in with, dress up for Saturday’s fancy dinner and fall asleep in a palace attic.
Skip it if you want a fixed schedule, classes sorted by level, hotel comfort and someone else doing the dishes. No hard feelings! There are plenty of good festivals for that, and we go to them too.
What people say
You arrive as a guest and by Saturday you're running a workshop, stirring a pot, or sitting in with the band.
Dancing till sunrise in a half-renovated ballroom, live piano bouncing off bare brick. Nothing else comes close.
The only festival where I learned as much in the kitchen as on the dance floor.
I flew in from the other side of the world knowing nobody. I left with a family.
I've danced all over Europe, and the festival that feels most like magic is an hour from my home.
I didn't know I enjoyed chopping vegetables as much as I do dancing.
Dressing up for the fancy dinner on Saturday and wandering those palace halls — I felt like I'd slipped into another century.
Every festival says "community". This is the first one where I believed it.
Venue
Open Blues takes place at a beautiful and historically rich palace, which fell into disrepair during the Soviet rule over Poland 1945–89. It was bought by a Polish-British couple, Anna and Jim, who are now renovating it with much love. They make it available for visitors and cultural events. This unfinished palace is their home; a home they want to share. The palace has a raw feel that invites experimentation, so feel free to explore. However, remember to respect Anna’s and Jim’s privacy!
Here is what Anna & Jim have to say about their home:
The house dates from around 1300, but with a rebuild every 100 years or so, it’s hard to say which bit was built when. Architectural historians and archaeologists love the questions this building asks, and we don’t yet have all the answers. There are frescoes, glorious Renaissance painted ceilings, and sgraffito (a plaster technique). The working chapel (it’s the village church, Mass twice a week) has an impressive baroque altar-piece, recently restored.
In 2012, our ongoing restoration was short-listed for a prestigious Europa Nostra / European Union Award for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (the only Polish project so honoured). There is still work in progress, so we didn’t win. Nonetheless, we are proud of getting close, and we love to talk about our Big House Project with guests.
The Palace is in Silesia, in south-west Poland. The nearest airports are Wrocław (PL), Ostrava (CZ), Pardubice (CZ), Katowice (PL) and Brno (CZ). The nearest transportation hub is Nysa, a 20-minute drive away.
Impressions
Food
We cook all of our food together. All food is vegan or vegetarian.
There is a small shop but no supermarket in the village; the nearest one is a 15-minute drive away.
Your cost
Open Blues is not something you buy — there is no ticket and nobody makes money here. We simply share the real expenses: you pay for your own bed, your food and drinks, and a slice of the fixed costs like the venue and the bands. The average cost per attendee comes out at around €120 for the whole festival.
Roughly where the money goes:
| Venue | 40% |
| Food | 37% |
| Bands | 15% |
| Misc | 8% |
We try to have a 5–10% buffer, which we reinvest into the next editions.
FAQ
What are the workshops and who are the teachers?
This is a DIY festival and all activities are community-led, so we usually only find out very late and there are many changes — we don’t advertise the exact workshops before the festival. If you’d like to lead a workshop, get in touch! Open Blues attracts top dancers from all over the world.
Can I arrive earlier or stay longer?
Yes, you can. Some of us will be there Monday onwards and some will only leave on Monday. An additional night costs €20–50 depending on your choice and does not include food. Please resolve these directly with Jim or Anna.
Can I bring pets or children?
Yes, as long as they don’t bother the farm animals. There are geese, chickens, turkeys (RIP 🙏), dogs and cats. And people.
I have a pet or dust allergy. Can I come?
The place is a farm, so there are lots of animals and some places are dusty. However, there are rarely any animals in the ballroom and in the upstairs rooms — but sometimes there can be.
What’s the Reservation Payment about?
We need it as a guarantee to cover our fixed costs. It’s non-refundable, but you can find someone to take your spot.
What are the accommodation options like?
Read more in the Info Booklet.
Who runs the event?
This is a private party and camp run by a group of blues dancing enthusiasts.
What are the food options?
We all cook together as a communal activity. All food is made with love, cruelty-free and vegan.
How can I get there?
The best option is by car, or sharing a ride with someone who drives. Join the WhatsApp transport group to find someone. Alternatively, you can travel by train to Nysa and ask to be picked up by someone at the festival, or get a taxi from Nysa (around €30–50).