Archive for keyword: Participatory dance

Balkan folk dance in the UK

Balkan dance performance 1988

The “Balkan dance” scene emerged as a sub-scene of the recreational “international folk dance” scene in the post second world war period in the US, UK, Netherlands and other western European countries, as well as in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. However the history of interest in dances …read more

Crazy week, the disorganised and the organised: Fărșang and “inverted” weddings in the Banat mountains

During crazy week (the week in which lent commences) carnivalesque events, in various manifestations, take place in many villages in Banat. The commonalities between these events are that they focus around local music, dance and customs and only local people are involved. Although each event may be nominally organised by …read more

Presentational folk ensembles on the festival stage: a window into a participatory and social local dance scene in Banat Romania

This chapter discusses the relationship between local dance groups at festivals and sustaining local dancing in the community. Festivals in south east Europe traditionally include food, drink, music and dancing, and in Timișoara this format is used for many events from the village Saint’s day to the large international folk …read more

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

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 …read more

The south east Europeans are (still) dancing: recent dance trends in Romania and among south east Europeans in London

Twenty five years since the changes in regimes in southeastern Europe, local dance is still thriving and has even taken on a new vibrancy both within this area and among southeast European economic migrants. This paper evaluates these trends by focussing on two examples, recreational dance groups for adults in …read more