Karikázó, 1985. július - 1986. április (11. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1985-07-01 / 1. szám

continued from p.1 The fulfillment of these two needs formed one main thrust behind the establishment of Karikázó Newsletter and the Pontozó Festival. The chief consideration was to increase the awareness and understanding of authenticity in presenting Hungarian folk dance and provide information which serves this end. Another pocket of folk dancers in America were the so called "recreational" dancers, those who did, among other dances, Hungarian folk dance regularly, but had no knowledge at all about the community-based groups or about the art of Hungarian folk dance as it existed in Hungary. The source of knowledge for them were the few Hungarian folk dance teachers, whom they invited to learn from in a workshop setting. Andor Czompó has been known for his teaching since the 1960's, by the middle of the seventies Csaba PáIfi from Hungary has completed his third US teaching tour and in 1974 Judith and Kálmán Magyar, with nearly 10 years of performing and choreographic experience behind them, emerged as instructors at the recreational level. The number of teachers and choreographers, whose names became known beyond local boundaries, grew in time. Kálmán Dreisziger (Kodály Ens .Toronto), István Soltay (Hung. Theater & Dance Co.,Cleveland), first György Kekessy, more recently Tibor Toghia (Kárpátok, Los Angeles) and Éva Kish, to mention a few. Pontozó '75 was a major cornerstone in building a joint foundation for the stratified function of Hungarian folk dance in America. Among the performing participants were Hungarian groups from the East Coast, and an American group from the University of Rochester. This latter came out as winner and as part of the award, performed the same day in the stage gala show of the Hungarian Festival at the Garden State Arts Center. I.e. the first Pontozó event was made possible within the framework of the Hungarian Festival, as part of the "outdoor activities". Pontozó was first established as a competition, with fairly rigid guidelines and standard of evaluation. The Rochester group apparently met all requirements and even though Hungarian participants were discouraged by a non-Hungarian group taking first place, the decision gave a sense of direction and desired level of standard to strive for in Hungarian stage folk dance art. The outcome also stimulated the ethnically based groups to come out of their shells and stop taking for granted the fact that they are Hungarian by ancestry and that as such, their dance presentation is automatically authentic and superior to that of a non-Hungarian. Now, 10 years later especially, it may be said that whether by a Hungarian or anybody else, a lot of conscientious and attentive work has to be put into a good delivery of Hungarian folk dance (or that of any other nationality, for that matter). Alt in all, since 1975, five continent-wide and 16 regional festivals have been held, where thousands of people witnessed performances by about 3660 dancers belonging to about 173 groups. Pontozó Festival has become a widely known and accepted manifestation of the community of Hungarians in America, although through time and along geographic lines it fluctuates in drawing the interest of potential participating groups. In some areas numbers decreased, while elsewhere attendance grew to unusually large proportions. Pontozó also planted the idea of staging large scale demonstrations of Hungarian folk dance culture. The Western Canadian Hungarian Folk Dance Festival, for example, is fashioned after Pontozo and provides similar experiences for its participants and audiences year after year. Here are some statistics about KARIKÁZÓ "then and now": 1975 100 copies, 4 pages, written on an IBM typewriter, 30 subscribers, mailed out from Hungarian Studies Foundation, New Brunswick, dealt only with subject of folk dance. 1985 1000 copies, 16-20 pages, written on computer, 600 subscribers, Newsletter of the Aroerican-Hungarian Folklore Centrum, deals with numerous aspects of Hungarian folk and ethnic culture. The July, 1975 issue may now look like an immature effort, yet it is historic, because it marks an attempt to reach out to all those hitherto isolatedly working individuals and groups. Most responded to the call of Karikázó and joined the circle of readership, which has since grown impressively large. Now, having arrived at the milestone of 10 years of publication, many of the goals set forth and dreamed about in 1975 have become reality, even though divisions in approach and opinion regarding motives and actions had occured along the way. Basically, however, the American-Hungarian Folklore Centrum, which was founded in 1978 to officiate the work started three years earlier, not only carried on the initial functions but also widened and increased the scope of activities, built up and is maintaining constructive relationships with other similarly motivated organizations. The activities of the last 10 years have been fed into the memory of the Centrum's computer and it is proper at this time for the computer to share what it knows, with the readers of Karikázó. continued on p.3

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