Dear Friends, Dancers, Musicians!

It is our honour to receive your enrolment to the National Dance House Meeting program, Minden Magyarok Tánca (Dance of Every Hungarians). We have received enrolments from different part of the word. It will be a special performance. In spite of the fact that the participants will see each other at first time, they will present an attractive and magnificent show as a dance group.

Now I am sharing you some information on the program

At the day of the program the 3^rd of April, Sunday you can enter to the Arena with a half-price ticket costs 800 HUF. (Sorry, but we can not ensure free tickets. This ticket is cold ‘accompany ticket’.) 

To get the reduced price tickets I am obliged to present the list of participants. Therefore I am asking you to confirm your participation in an e-mail to Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát. or Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát..

Please, indicate every participants name, and notice the functions of the participants e.g. musicans, dancer.

The show will be present in the Arena, the big stage from 2 to 2.30 PM . (The time also includes leaping onstage and leaving the stage and short presentation!)

There will be two dance shows; between them I will be announcing in order to ensure time to change clothes.

We are starting with dance from ‘Mezőség’ region and, after announcing, there will be dances from ‘Szatmár’ region. The Tükrös group will play to the dancers. 

You can find the music on the website of National Dance House Meeting and on the website of www.hidakforum.hu . Please read the texts of the songs, attached below.  Please, don’t fear from the music, everyone is welcomed to dance according to he’s or her’s capacity.

From 10.45 to 12.00 we will organise a rehearsal, at Vásárhelyi room. Please, come to the rehearsal, too. There we can discuss on every important details. No common choreographies, but we would like to show some common steps.

Please, wear national costumes! If it is not possible, try to wear costumes close to the traditions; black pantaloon and white shirt for men, chemise and long skirt for women. (I can assure some costume but impossible to give them everybody. So, if someone cannot assure relevant clothes, please indicate in his or her answer!)

Thanks for enrolment again

Waiting for the meeting

                                                                                              Kovács Norbert Cimbi

American Hungarian Folklore Centrum- Magyar folklórközpont

The American Hungarian Folklore Centrum (AHFC) was established in 1978 as a non profit organization dedicated to the dissemination of Hungarian folklore through the private and scholarly life of North America. The AHFC is a division of the American Hungarian Educators Association.

Dear Hungarian Folkdancers and Musicians Throughout The World,

No doubt you are familiar with the Táncháztalálkozó, the National Táncház Festival and Fair, which has been the premiere annual event of the Táncház movement since 1982. Year after year it brings together dancers, musicians and authentic practitioners from villages throughout the Carpathian Basin. The two day event draws tens of thousand of visitors and participants to the Papp László Sports Complex in Budapest.

We are happy to see that Hungarians from abroad have been coming home for this event in ever greater numbers in the past few years. We hope that this is a reflection on the quality and drawing power of Táncháztalálkozó. More significantly, it is an indication of your dedication in maintaining our traditions, establishing or nourishing the local organisations that help preserve our culture in Hungarian communities around the world. We’d like to acknowledge your work with this invitation to dance and play music together.

The organizers of the 30th Anniversary Táncháztalálkozó and the Táncház Egyesület (Dance-house Guild) cordially invite dancers and musicians from abroad to take part in a stage event. We’d like to have you participate in a special tribute on Sunday afternoon, April 3, as part of the Táncháztalálkozó main stage program. Our plans call for a 10-15 minute performance, which would feature dancers and musicians from aboard who have signaled their intent to participate. Naturally we welcome non-Hungarians dancers and musicians who are proficient in our traditional arts.

The material to be presented will be from Szatmár and Mezöség. Participating dancers will not have to learn a choreography but should be familiar with improvising in these two dialects. There is no age limitation and there’s no need to have a partner, though that would be ideal. Musicians will need to be able to play in the style of the two dialects. Once we’ve received your intent to participate we will send you the required tunes so you can prepare. We will hold one practice only, on the morning of the performance.

We trust that this initiative will be successful and hope that many of you will be inspired to take part. We ask you to signal your intent to participate at your earliest convenience, so that we can keep you updated. Send emails to Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát. in Hungarian or to Ildiko Erdös, Ez az e-mail-cím a szpemrobotok elleni védelem alatt áll. Megtekintéséhez engedélyeznie kell a JavaScript használatát. in English.

Please let us know your country and dance group or if you are a musician, which instrument you play.

The deadline for the intent to participate is March 10, 2011.

Best Regards,

Élö Forrás Hagyományőrző Egyesület (Living Source Heritage Preservation Association),

Táncház Egyesület (Dance-house Guild)

Gyöngyösbokréta Néptáncegyüttes, Montreál, Québec

Details from Kálmán Dreisziger's introduction

The Bokréta Ensemble is certainly one of North America's largest and strongest Hungarian folkdance groups. What gives the group its character is its relationship to the folklore it presents on stage.

Bokréta always tries to mirror folklore as authentically as a stage presentation will allow. For example, because the essence of Hungarian folkdance is improvisation, our choreographies seldom present uniform, regimented movement. We take care to let the individuality of the original peasant dancers shine through. Hungarian folkdances tend not to be set-pattern dances, so you will seldom find arbitrary geometric forms - lines, squares - in our stage choreographies. Most importantly we try to stay away form "folk fantasy"; from inventing tradition; from presenting symbolic dances. Our repertoire is free of the artificial bravado so loved by "show" tradition (whether Broadway or ballet - whether Riverdance or Moisoyev). Our costumes tend to be somewhat simple and always as close to local/regional

Kálmán Dreisziger
President

More:  www.bokreta.ca

Csárdás Dance Ensemble of Edmonton

Established in 1975, they are celebrating over three decades of presenting performances of Hungarian folkdance to Edmonton and Alberta audiences. The group performs an average of 30 times each year, throughout Edmonton and Alberta, and in the major cities of western Canada. Csárdás appears annually at Canada Day and Heritage Festivals in Edmonton, and has performed for Universiade ’83, Vancouver’s EXPO ’86, the Calgary Winter Olympics cultural festival in ’88, and Victoria’s Folkfest in ’81 and ’94. Internationally, the group has performed for the Anyanyelvi Konferencia (’79, ’81, ’85) and Minden Magyarok festivals (’89, ’93, ‘99) in Hungary. 

     Csárdás performances feature the distinctive Hungarian folk culture, including the folk dances, songs, poetry/chanting, decorative arts such as embroidery and weaving, and customs connected to seasons, holidays, superstitions, and legend. In addition to the rich layers of folk art found within the present-day borders of Hungary, Csárdás also studies the folk cultures of Hungarian minority groups living in Romania, Slovakia, and Croatia; in particular, Hungarian enclaves in Transylvania are repositories of some of the oldest surviving layers of Hungarian folk culture. These dances, songs, and costumes have retained ancient characteristics, which fascinate scholars and artists alike.  

More: www.csardasedmonton.webs.com