Karikázó, 1977. július - 1978. április (3. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1977-07-01 / 1. szám
These cultures have disintegrated for the most part and social scientists all over the world are now trying to fit the pieces together to better understand this aspect of human culture. To achieve this, one must know many facts, recognize underlying relationships and be able to reformulate this knowledge for the use of future generations.Until this has been done, folk dancing as such is only a substitution which temporarily fills a psychological gap in our lives. It is entertainment: noble and worthwhile,different from what we have done before . Now a few words about what we. are doing. Scientific folk dance research in Hungary has been very fortunate to gather firsthand data, especially from the villages of Transylvania. The young dancers of the 1950s were the first generation to.receive this data. They esteemed its value and were motivated by it to the point of continuing the search for a richer, more real knowledge of it themselves. The dancer generation of the 50's had very little chance to experience folk dancing in its original environment. There were some silent movies of the dances cf small villages in Mezőség and Kalotaszeg, of Szek to be seen, but to learn from these without the understanding of their intricate structural composition was impossible without music. On a silent movie the inherarce of music and rhythm, which in essence gives the savour of a dance, is not perceivable. This can only be learned in the "flesh" or from sound movies, but the chance to do so are still slender today and did not come until the past decade. Yet the combination of these various sources created a basis on which the renaissance of Hungarian folk dancing could be built.Now,not only the creators, researchers and choreographers are involved in this movement, but a wider strata of society as well. By way of train, hitchhiking or on foot they set forth to search out living traditions: the "táncház"-s of Szék, as the rented halls for the purpose of dancing are called there, or events such as weddings,baptisms where among the four-five hundred guests a few extra visitors do not count or are even welcomed because they bring news from faraway places. This is how within a few years the dance treasure of villagers was transformed into the hands of the young generation. This happened non too soon as this fascinating art is probably living its last years in its original form. The "pontozó" was a prevalent dance in Lorincréve in 19563 when I made my first film footage of it. Ten years later a connecting road was built to the village, the young commuted to work elsewhere and dance events ceased to, exist. In 19663 the people of Lorincréve remembered 1956 as the last year they really danced. Today's youth is in a comparable position to the leading noblemen of the last century. Nobility, even though a leading stratum,once upon a time has coexisted with the masses and shared a common culture and human relationships. Due to the infiltrating foreign influences, degeneration and changing life-style, this relationship broke off and aristocracy had to rediscover later its own nationalistic traits. This was the time when the "csárdás"took over the dance floors of noblemen's salons where long forgotten dances and songs were relearned.Unfortunately, this intellectual upswinging was not a lasting one because it was founded not on learning and Understanding the context of cultural tradition , but rather on the superficiality of this alluring, new style of self-entertainment. The generation of 19^0's and 50b chose the performing stage as ameans of retaining the resurrected folk dances.They believed that they can survive only as a. presented art form and made enormous efforts to this cause. In this respect, this was a fortunate era. The appearance of Igor Moiseyev and his ensemble granted the right to some financial support and to the realization of these ambitions all over the country. There have been of course,symptoms of imitation, but this is of secondary importance, because it can can be outgrown as has been proven by Hungarian dancers and choreographers alike who "outgrew" and surpassed many excellent Soviet groups-, even at their local contests. Now, let us return to the debate of these two excellent choreographers, Kálmán Dreisziger and Kálmán Magyar. In its own time and place each concept played an important role in the conservation of Hungarian folk dance for the benefit of high standard universal art. The preconditions of a stage performance differ from the circumstances of an informal dance event. Naturally, as a consequence, the demands set upon them also vary. However, both can and do mirror identical ambitions. Today, this ambition is to show the diversity and versatility of authentic folk dancing in stage presentations.This lays the extra burden of reflecting spontaneity, or rather its illusion on the choreographer. (As János Aran^ a great 19th century poet wrote: "Not reality,but its heavenly image...") This,in essence, is the concept of stage folk dancing and the concise answer to the above debate-and it could only be further elaborated upon. Insufficient knowledge has always necessitated the use of substitutes in place of missing ingredients in order to attain the desired success. In our case, we have monstrous orchestras with 25-30 members, large choruses of 60-100 and of course a sizable line cfdancers, dressed in fine costumes, their discipline being of the highest order.The best example to the above points is the Moiseyev Ensemble. The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, although formed along similar lines, owes the splendid success of its premiere to the fact that its artists relied on the fundamentals of Hungarian ethnic dance and not on the slavish imitation of the Soviet group. Nevertheless, the problem still continued to exist in both cases. Interestingly, the Hungarian experts recognized the problem as early as the late 50's and made extraordinary efforts during the sixties not to reach a dead-end. As a direct result of these efforts and choreographic achievements, Hungarian folk dancing is now in the forefront of international folk dance art. The effort itself is non other than reaching for a deeper understanding, reappraising the relationships and seek out the particular possibilities that exist within the folk culture. ( the purposecf dancing has already been discussed at the beginning of this article) .Also, efforts are made to conform closely to the inner rhythm and accent of speech and music and altogether to get as close as possible to the original, total culture. Evidently, this ambition goes against stereotype stage productions but it does not contradict efforts to create a realistic, not just "heigh-ho" atmosphere . My feeling is that there is really no debate between the two opponents. The discipline demanded by K.Dreisziger is obligatory on stage. Its required presence is directly proportional to the choreographic task to be resolved. Today, stage performances of folk dances must recreate the experience of the original for the audience but in a way that results in a "poetic" creation. Only through deep understanding, knowledge and artful methods can this be arrived at- a creative work that requires more than stereotype discipline. This theory of folk dance presentations outdates costly, showy productions and even though they will continue to exist,the future is that of small size groups who demonstrate a deeper and richer human element in their presentations. K.Magyar made reference to the efforts of the latter. Both efforts exist and have a particular role- The majority of the audience is satisfied with the mere spectacle of what they see. On the other hand, there are those who are not appeased by it- and it is this group we must must enlarge. Interestingly, it was through efforts in stage presentations that the movement in "off-stage" dancing, known as the "táncház" movement became established. The time has come when the young viewers of stage performances declared: "We want to do it too! Not on stage, just enjoy it in our own way..." Of course, one does it better than the other and this puts the whole matter: discipline and knowledge in a different light. Somewhere though,they share a common cause: the delivery of dances should be genuine, true to the original, true to tradition. This goal has a veritable psychological content in Hungary and worldwide as well: to foster and strengthen community spirit which lends itself to the sense of continuity as a nation and as a human being, so important to the sense of one's security. On the other hand, there exists within this goal that ancient, biological need for rhythm. It is part of our genes, where we