Plans underway to bring Nepalese dance troupe to Eisteddfod

The idea is the brainchild of Todd Lochhead, whose wife, Lisa, used to run a shop in Llangollen.

Now he wants to fly the 34 members of the Rising Culture Group almost 5,000 miles from their base in the ancient city of Bhaktapur, less than 100 miles from Mount Everest,1,400 metres above sea level, to the Eisteddfod in July.

But he says raising the £40,000 will be a tall order.

Mr Lochhead, originally from New Zealand, first came across the dancers when he journeyed to Nepal in 1995 to work as a teacher.

He said: "When I went over to Nepal from New Zealand 19 years ago I noticed that everyone there seemed happy and I wanted to find out why.

"I heard about a school which had been started in Bhaktapur 10 miles from the capital, Katmandu, and decided to pay a visit there.

"Called the Rising English School, it was founded by a man named Kapil Banebepali and his wife Chandika, who is now the principal, and offers lessons to children aged three to 13, many of whom would otherwise have ended up having to go out to work if they had not found some way to get into the school.

"The average wage in the area is just 300 to 400 US dollars a year and Kapil's work with the school opened my eyes about how much can be achieved with so little.

"I took a job with him as a teacher and it was during this time that I first saw the Rising Culture Group performing their traditional and very colourful Nepalese dance routines, the main one of which is the stunning masked dance that has its roots in Hindu culture, and thought they were just fantastic.

"The dance group was started by Kapil and is based at the school. He knew the children needed to learn about their own culture as well as getting an education and broke through lots of red tape to make it happen."

"I remembered the Eisteddfod from the time my wife Lisa ran a small shop in Llangollen in the 1990s and thought it would be marvellous if the dancers had the chance to come over to Wales and perform in 2015.

"They are now hoping to compete in three sections, Children's Folk Dance, Traditional Dance and Cultural Showcase.

"We are aiming to bring over a group of 34 people, including 20 dancers aged eight to 16, plus musicians – one of whom is a drum master in his eighties – plus a small number of people to look after the children.

"Raising the necessary funds to make the trip will obviously be difficult for them as I estimate the whole trip could cost at least £40,000 but I believe that if you don't shoot for the stars you'll never know. Their `can do' attitude is exceptional and somehow we'll make things happen.

"They'll do their own fundraising over in Nepal and I will be asking my business contacts and friends in Bristol and around the world if they are willing to help. In my time I've worked in New Zealand, Australia and Amsterdam apart from in the UK.

"To get to the Eisteddfod the group will need a hand-up and not a handout and I'm sure we can do it because they have such an inspirational story. "

Eilir Owen Griffiths, Musical Director of the Eisteddfod, said: "This is what the Eisteddfod is all about, bringing together people from all over the world, from different cultures and backgrounds.

"It is a very inclusive and international event and what gives it its unique Welsh flavour is our tradition of friendly competition and it is wonderful that we will have dancers from Nepal competing alongside English clog-dancers, Scottish sword-dancers and others from Africa, Europe and China."