Karikázó, 1986. július - 1987. április (12. évfolyam, 1-4. szám, 13. évfolyam, 1. szám)

1986-07-01 / 1-2. szám

The task of holding the 1986 P0NT0Z0 Hungarian Folk Dance Festival befell the "Szittya” Dancers of St.Catharines and more closely was the responsibility of their director, Pál Kovács. Dancers arrived from near and far. To be exact, the following is a list of the groups which participated in all or in part of the three days event between June 27-30. Boston Sárkány Instrumental................................................................... Beth Cohen Brantford Csárdás Dancers................................................................... Mrs. A. Mayer Petőfi Dancers........................................................... Mrs. T. Zakár Detroit Dancers Hungária (iuniorsl..................................L. Enyedi & V. Misángyi Hamilton Hungarian Scouts...................................................................... M. Seregélyes Kitchener Kossuth Dancers (children].................................................. Elizabeth Fábri London Hungarian Folk Troupe................................... Mr. St Mrs. A. Tóthfalussy Arany Páva Együttes..........................................................................L. Dobos New York Hungária Folkdance Ensemble................................ Mr. öt Mrs. K. Magyar Guszaly Ensemble...................................................Mr. & Mrs. S. Kotansky Niagara Falls, Ontario , Bartók Dancers........................................... MrsEvaTarnoy Oshawa Palotás Dancers ............................................................... Mr. loseph Scrflek Pittsburgh Hungarian Ethnic Croup of Western Pa.......................... Rose Gerzsényi Magyar Folkdancers ......................................... Betty Király St. Catharines Szittya Dancers (iunior)................................................................ (udy Speck Szittya Dancers (senior]......................................... Mr & Mrs. Pál Kovács Toronto klet fa Instrumental ........................................Margaret Bajnóczi Fekete Föld Instrumental ........................................................... A.Verseghy Kodály Ensemble (Beginners! ........................................ Kálmán Dreisziger Kodály Ensemble (Childrens) .................... Csaba Pál &. Xgi Fekete Kodály Ensemble (Seniors)....................................... Vali Fekete Welland Hunor Dancers...................................................................... Mrs. K. Angyal This year's PONTOZÓ was a special one in that it also hosted some very special guest performers from our homeland. ZOLTÁN ZSURÁFSZKY, leading dancer and one of the most promising young choreographers in Hungary. Former dance director of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, presently he is the artistic director of the Kodály Chamber Ensemble in Budapest. ZSUZSA VINCZE, former dancer in the State Folk Ensemble, now also a dancer in the Kodály Chamber Ensemble. BELA HALMOS is one of the founding members of the SEB0-HALM0S Band, the first major Táncház style orchestras in Hungary. Presently, he is a full time member of the Academy of. Sciences' Folk Music Research Group. ERIKA RIGÓ - former member of the jászság Ensemble)- now in charge of children's cultural programming in Debrecen's Educational Center, GÁBOR MIHA'lYI, member of the State Folk Esemble) and the Új DÉLIBÁB ENSEMBLE from Debrecen, members VIOLA SZABÓ violin, BELA MÉSZÁROS second violin, BELA R0SK0 bass and SÁNDOR SALLAI cimbalom and hurdy gurdy. June 27 - June 30, 1986 St, Catharines, Ontario M——WWPMPBg"» ■ S& l BBBEg——B1 Hi :■ 1B— "*■ n BBMHSWWBWMHBi Even though the competitiveness has been consciously taken out of the Festival - there are no categorizations made or prizes given out in the end - there is still an exciting ambition evident to do well, to measure up to the expected level of dancing at the festival. PONTOZÓ is now in its 11th year of existence. It started back in 1975, first held at the Garden State Arts Center'as part of the New Jersey, Hungarian Heritage Festival. Although P0NT0Z0 still does not reflect the total picture of Hungarian folk dancing in America - some groups are unable to attend due to distance, lack jf funds for travel, others are conspicuously jbsent for several other reasons - the festival, »specially the summit events, typically attract 2-300 dancers at a time, who show up enthusiastically, filled with the spirit of congeniality and respect towards their fellow dancers and groups. "Szittya" Dancers, Pal Kovács and the entire team from the Hungarian community in St.Catharines are to be thanked for the hopsitality they extended and for the smooth organization and running of the event, including the lodging, feeding the performers and their escorts, setting up dressing rooms and coordinating the stage programs, the evening táncház-es, workshops - just to name the major aspects. The essence of the festival is in the accomplishment of each of the participating groups, which, traditionally - since the first Pontozó - has been evaluated by a committee, always membered by knowledgeable experts in Hungarian folklore. This year we have been particularly fortunate to have had some truly prestigious specialists from Hungary: Zoltán Zsuráfszky, Zsuzsi Vincze, Béla Halmos and from the United States Andor Czompó. The evaluation takes place in an open forum, attended by group leaders. The session after the St.Catharines festival not only offered an especially valuable set of advices for the groups, but also contained general principles of folk dance performing to be heeeded by all. The following then is a rearranged presentation of the evaluation session at the 1986 Pontozó Festival in St.Catharines. The session was tape recorded by Stephen Kotansky and was transcribed into written form by Victoria Veress. First, here is Andor Czompó’s summary: "I was especially very pleased at the smoothness of running the program. That shows a lot of routine and great experience. I have some categories here: 1. Children's groups; 2.Beginners; 3. intermediate and 4. large, established groups. I think the main goal of children's groups is to teach them involvement in dancing and dance-like activities. I was very pleased to see - I believe it was by the Szittya group - an Continued on p.5. PONTOZÓ '86

Next