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

1985-07-01 / 1. szám

ISSN NUMBER: 0164-2537 Publication of the American-Hungarian Folklore Centrum P.O.Box 262, Bogota, New Jersey, 07603 (201)836-4869 Appears Quarterly $5.00 in U.S.A. $6.00 in Canada and other countries $1.25 per copy Complimentary to AHFC and HFM members The purpose of Karikazo is to maintain communication and update the knowledge of all interested individuals and groups on the folklore, folk dance,music, art and ethnic life of Hungarians all over the world. Its content does not represent the opinion of any organized group. Articles appearing in the newsletter may be copied only with the permission of the publisher and if the source, publisher's name and address, furthermore the writer's name are cited. **************************************************** The American-Hungarian Folklore Centrum was established for the chief purpose of disseminating Hungarian folk culture within the scholarly and public life of America. **************************************************** Editor: Judith Magyar **************************************************** 1975-1985 A DECADE IN THE LIFE OF KARIKAZO July, 1985 marks the 10th year anniversary of Karikázó Folklore Newsletter and the establishment of the PONTOZÓ Hungarian Folk Dance Festival. It is appropriate at this time to reflect on the past decade and summarize how these two entities have served the cause of Hungarian folk dancing, which during this period has gone through a clearly tremendous qualitative and quantitative development. Let us go back to the year 1975 and reminisce about the events which led to the first issue of Karikázó and the initiation of the Pontozó Festival. Some exciting news from Hungary were traveling westward in those days. Folk dancing in our native country entered a rejuvenated, renaissance phase, in which the idea of the TAUCHA1! acted as main catalyst. TA'NCHA'Z, originally a regularly held village dance with live music, based on the first-hand experiences of a number of dedicated dancers and researchers, was transplanted into the urban setting. Its seed took, sprouted and eventually reshaped folk dancing in Hungary into an irreversible and appealing new form. Thus, folk dance, which in the Post WWII period had become more and more limited to stage presentations, found its way back into the culture of at least a segment of the population. Beginning in the early seventies, folk music and dance became part of the regular activities in a number of cultural homes and clubs in Budapest and larger towns. Thanks to the dedicated work of a host of researchers and dancers, the program was clear and well organized: musicians and dancers conformed to the fact that the music and dance stock of Hungarians, living in different regions of the Carpathian basin, vary along geographic lines, just as language branches out dialectically. The ability to dance these regional variations can be acquired through learning and practice. This chief premise has since then become a standard of measure in both the performing and recreational spheres of Hungarian folk dance and has helped it to bloom into its renaissance. In the process of relaying the "new" knowledge to the interested people, some truly dedicated experts emerged as symbols of the movement. The first of these cannot be left without mention: the Sebó-Halmos folk band and Sándor Tímár, now director of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble. These new developments naturally led to a wave of change in Hungarian folk dancing beyond the borders, as well. It was a matter of course to be drawn to the ingenuous authenticity reflecting from the new folk music recordings that first circulated in the United States in the mid-seventies and be charged up with enthusiasm and zest by the anecdotes of the first couriers, such as the writer Sándor Csoori, folk dance teachers Csaba Palfi, Karoly Falvay, who described in vivid colors the events going on in folk dancing back in Hungary. Consequently, by the mid-nineteen seventies Hungarian folk dancers in America, at least those who laid a claim to utilizing the potentials posed by the "new wave", reached the point of having to redefine the meaning of the study, practice and performance of Hungarian folk dance. In the course of searching for the proper "formula" or at least the right direction, the need for a closer form of communication between dancers emerged. In those days many of the centers of Hungarian ethnic population in America - New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, Los Angeles being the largest - kept at least one, and in cases several Hungarian folk dance performing groups active within their enclaves. These groups, which operated in isolated clusters throughout the North American continent needed, especially in light of the new folk dance developments in Hungary, a fresh channel for exchanging ideas and reinforcing, shaping and feeding their artistic work. continued on p.2 CJ6uti<ja\ian tyo/klcXe tAeieö/eMet Vol.XI. No. 1. July, 1985

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