Social dancers in Balkan folk dance performance: communities, traditions and sensory concepts?

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This paper considers perspectives from dancers within a particular genre of recreational dance known as “Balkan folk dance” in the UK. Through asking participants about their understanding of dancing I consider, firstly their preference to Bulgarian dances over Romanian dances, secondly their lack of relationship to Bulgarian dance groups in the UK, and thirdly their ideas and concepts for dancing touching on issues in sensing of movement and connection to music. Dancing communities create their own traditions and values, dances that align to these are adopted and popular, however transporting a dance into a new context does not bring previous traditions, leaving parallel dancing communities separated in participation, but dancing the same dance.

Green, Nick (2017). “Social dancers in Balkan folk dance performance: communities, traditions and sensory concepts?” Kendra Stepputat (editor), Dance, Senses, Urban Contexts : 29th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology July 9-16, 2016 Retzhof Castle, Styria, Austria: pages 238-247. Graz, Austria: ICTM, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. ISBN 978-3-8440-5337-7.