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Nena Šokčić
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Nena Šokčić was a lead dancer and singer with LADO, the National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia. She was associated with the AMAN Folk Ensemble and the AVAZ International Dance Theatre directed by Dr. Anthony Shay.
In a personal interview with Dr. Shay, Nena recalls "When the peasant women from the villages came for the laundry, my mother would not permit my brother or me to be in the same room, as if those poor people were contaminated."
Nena was married to Misha Šokčić. Misha and Nena spent many long hours in the field finding sets of costumes for Dr. Shay and even sacrificed on a financial level to ensure that the costumes reached him in the United States because, as Misha wrote, of "my love and interpretation of Croatian folklore." The couple defected from the former Yugoslavia when they came to live in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.
Nena died in 2004.
Dances Nena taught include Ajde noga za nogama, Alaj imam curicu, Balun, Baranjski drmeš, Baroš oj barica, Bunjevačko momač kolo, Bunjevačko veliko kolo, Čačak, Ciganăica, Drmeš iz Velika Gorica, Falila se Jagica divojka, Hopa cupa lepa, Igrajte nam mužikaši, Igre iz Valpova, Japa, Kolo iz Valpova, Linđo, Lomsko kolo, Moldovan, Nevestinsko oro, Opšaj diri, Opšaj diri - Pokupski svatovski drmeš, Podravski drmeš, Pokupski plesovi, Pokupski svatovski drmeš, Posavski drmeš, Presjekača, Prigorska Polka, Raca, Seljački drmeš S'onu stranu Ssavice, S'onu stranu savice - Seljački drmeš, Tanac po Lički (Na Tanac). Tandrčak iz Vojvodina, Tropnalo oro, Turopoljski drmeš, Valpovačko kolo, Vrličko Kkolo, Zagorski Ddrmeš, and Žena isla u gosti.