Articles by Initial Letters

Ratkó Lujza: Woman’s Roles in Hungarian Folk Dance Tradition – Part 1. This is part one of a lengthy, academic style Hungarian dance ethnography study which originally published in a professional journal. It begins: “Hungarian folk dance holds a special place amongst the folk dance traditions of Europe… with the mixture of ethnic groups in the Carpathian Basin, the characteristic development of the folk culture there, the unique blending of older and newer layers of dance…. an unusually rich dance and music culture has flourished in the Hungarian language area where line and circle dances originating in the Middle Ages live alongside turning couple dances from the Renaissance, and the [so-called] ‘new style’ csárdás of the 18th, 19th centuries….”…..“Amongst the dances that survive, most have been preserved as social dances, or dances with an entertainment function (both couple and solo forms exist); but there are also a number of dances which had a role in ritual such as the circle dances (the women’s karikázó done during lent) and other dances connected to the wedding, May tree/May pole and fire at Saint Ivan’s Day, etc. So, there are secular dances and those once related to ritual, cult, magic or had some other sacred connection.” Following a brief discussion of how couple dances are not necessarily included in the sacred, cult layer of dances because the poles of the male-female relationship represent a more profane level in Hungarian traditional dance, she goes on to give a brief overview of the areas to be discussed at greater length later on within the article: women’s role in Hungarian dance tradition – in the solo dances, the couple dances, and in the women’s circle dance – the karikázó. Published first in: Studies in Dance Research Tánctudományi Tanulmányok 2002–2003 pp 157-177 (2005).