Bulgarian dance style(s) in migration: fieldwork in Bulgaria and the United States (original) (raw)
2020 (Publication to be announced) Tvrtko Zebec (editor), Sixth Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance in South-Eastern Europe, 2018 Sinj, Croatia.
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This text summarizes more than a decade of fieldwork throughout the States, researching the dynamic development of Bulgarian folk dance outside the homeland. Under investigation is the common ground between: 1) American Bulgarian recreational folk dance repertoire and the folk dance repertoire of the Bulgarian communities living in the States, and 2) American Bulgarian performance repertoire and performance repertoire as observed in 2011-2016 during the Chicago’s Bulgarian Folk Fest, “Verea.” The researcher suggests, and develops her arguments in the analyses, that the “meeting venue” for the Bulgarian and American recreational repertoire is the so called “generic patterns.” Performance repertoires of both Bulgarian and American groups mirror to a great extent the model of the Bulgarian folk ensemble tradition. The nature of the repertoire of Bulgarian groups, on the other hand, could be properly understood only by taking into account the remarkable folk dance club movement inside Bulgaria, facilitated by YouTube and social media. Key words: Bulgarian dance, Bulgarian groups, American Bulgarian folk dance repertoire, performance, USA.
This text is an excerpt from the book BULGARIAN DANCE IN MIGRATION Essays on Bulgarian dance in Bulgaria and in the United States Proofreading/editing: Liz Mellish
Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble Model: Establishment and Development (Updated October 2023)
This essay is a two-fold retrospection. It traces the Bulgarian folk ensemble’s history and dynamics and defines the Bulgarian ensemble model’s peculiarities. Simultaneously, this review of research conducted twenty years ago (and contoured for another decade) exposes the author’s first fascination with the ethnochoreological discipline, offering an opportunity for self-dialogue by adding up-to-date data and approaches. This whole endeavor aims to provide a concise record of the urban folk dance scene in Bulgaria from the 1950s up to the beginning of our century, facilitating at the same time the author’s current research on Bulgarian dance in migration. … Part of Bulgarian dance in migration book project
Folk Dancing Abroad: Bulgarian Folk Dance Activities in the United States Today
Folk dance of the Bulgarian Diaspora in the United States today is related to today's Bulgarian folk dance scene in Bulgaria at many levels. Folk dance activities in the United States (US) are initiated by people who belong to the so-called "mlada emigracia" (recent immigrants). These are Bulgarians who came to the US in the 1990s and later, and to a certain degree are still bound to the homeland. The majority of them are well settled and open to activities beyond their vocations and the expanding recreational folk dance movement in Bulgaria (and its driving forces) acts as a potent stimulus. Where US dance group leaders have choreographic training from Bulgaria one may observe connections to their previous professional experience in terms of repertoire and methodology. Inexperienced enthusiast-leaders, on the other hand, develop repertoire from sources distributed via media; this re-discovered Bulgarian dance repertoire gradually becomes the centrepiece of local community parties and celebrations. Keywords: United States; Bulgaria; diaspora; repertoire; media
Bulgarian Folk Dance (Re)discovered: Examples from Californian Bulgarian Community
This paper discusses recent folk dance activities among the Bulgarian communities in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco/San Jose, California. These activities are viewed in the contexts of the larger Bulgarian folk dance movement in North America and the recent “boom” of recreational folk dance club movement in Bulgaria. The “boom” is interpreted as an “explosive moment” (in the Lotmanian way) that had a significant impact on the establishment of the Bulgarian dance groups in Bulgaria and in the US subsequently. In answering the question, “Why do Bulgarians in California go folk dancing now?” the paper proposes that there are not only “internal” (coming from inside) but also “external” (coming from outside) stimuli that served as a call for action and achievements. The most powerful engine for re-discovery of folk dancing is the desire to reconnect with Bulgaria through the joy of music, movement and social interaction and to introduce children to Bulgarian culture. But there is something else: it is related to the desire to build a dignified image of Bulgaria and Bulgarians living abroad and to establish cultural bridges with others. Keywords: folk dancing, Bulgarians, California, U.S.A.
DANCE AND ECONOMY, DANCE TRANSMISSION, Proceedings of the 31st Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology, 12–18 July, 2021, Klaipėda, Lithuania , 2022
In the United States and Canada, in the past decade, there has been a very dynamic development of the Bulgarian folk dance groups for children and adults. Often, the children's groups were established first, and the instructor/choreographer is the same for both groups. But what models and styles of cultural transmission can be defined in environments that also include the Balkan folk dancing in North America? How does the fieldwork in today's changing world inform such a study? What research approaches would be best? This paper proposes that the mutual involvement of parents and children in folk dance activities invites study of transmission via "legitimate peripheral participation" [Lave and Wenger 1991], in considering a Bulgarian dance community abroad as a "community of practice" [Wenger 1998]. The execution of an interdisciplinary approach reveals a multi-faceted model of cultural transmission. Outcomes resulting from this study are intended to contribute to dance and migration studies. Keywords: Bulgarian dance; Bulgarian communities; North America; cultural transmission; community of practice.
On the Bulgarian Folk Dance Club Movement
This essay is composed of three parts. 1 The first provides a general picture of the Bulgarian folk dance club movement's birth and development. The second elaborates on the club's genre and the national genre spectrum. And the third addresses the club's performances abroad, the Bulgarian national image, and the today's "branding of Bulgaria." The Bulgarian folk dance club movement is a complex 21st-century phenomenon that is dynamic. The observations below only address a few particular aspects of this movement as observed in 2008-2018. - To be included in the Bulgarian Dance in Migration book project, with Liz Mellish as the editor. BULGARIAN DANCE IN MIGRATION Essays on Bulgarian dance in Bulgaria and in the United States Content I. Introduction Why am I writing this book? II. Bulgarian dance: picture at large Introduction to Bulgarian dance: Bulgarian dance in 20 pages III. Bulgarian dance in Bulgaria (Notes from the Socialist and Post-socialist periods) 1. Bulgarian folk dance ensemble model: establishment and development 2. On choreographer. Coming of age as a choreographer in Bulgaria 3. Giving a name – giving a life: Bulgarian folk choreographer speaking 4. Wedding as a stage: examples from the Bulgarian urban wedding scene 5. “Rachenitsa! Try to outdance me!” On Improvisation in Competition Settings 6. “Something exotic from the past”: nestinarstvo and nestinari in present-day Bulgaria 7. On the Bulgarian folk dance club movement IV. Balkan folk dance phenomenon in the United States 1. A Balkan folk dance phenomenon in the United States: a few analytical observations 2. Shopska syuita forever? Bulgarian folk stage repertoire in the U.S.A. 3. The South Slavic Club of the North American Midwest: Živio folk dance group repertoire 4. Bulgarian dance in Seattle. Field studies among the International folk dance community in Greater Seattle 5. “There will not be another Koleda:” (folk dance) narratives and the study of dance 6. No illusions, music matters: the role of Balkan Night NW in bringing communities together 7. Bulgarian dance style(s) in migration: fieldwork in Bulgaria and the United States V. Bulgarian dance re-discovered 1. Folk dancing abroad: Bulgarian folk dance activities in the United States today 2. Performing Bulgarian dance in Minnesota 3. Bulgarian folk dance (re)discovered: examples from Californian Bulgarian community 4. Go folkdance! Folk dancing as vital vs. folk dancing as obsolete 5. Verea – Chicago Bulgarian festival: who are these people and what they are doing there? 6. “What's your name?” Names and cultural representation of Bulgarian folk dance groups in North America 7. “Bravo, Bulgarians!” Observations on performer-audience connection via social media Concluding remarks Notes Bibliography Index
Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble Model: Establishment and Development
This essay is a two-fold retrospection. It traces the Bulgarian folk ensemble history and dynamics and defines the Bulgarian ensemble model’s peculiarities. Simultaneously, this review on research conducted nearly two decades ago (and contoured for another decade) exposes the author’s first fascination with the ethnochoreological discipline, offering an opportunity to dialoguing with oneself by adding up-to-date data and approaches. This exercise aims to provide an overall record of the folk dance urban scene since the 1950s and up to the beginning of our century, facilitating at the same time the author’s current research on Bulgarian dance in migration. ... Proofreading and editing: Liz Mellish. BULGARIAN DANCE IN MIGRATION, Essays on Bulgarian dance in Bulgaria and in the United States, book project.
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Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe. Migrations, Carnival, Sustainable Development. Sixth Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe. Held in Sinj, Croatia, 15 April – 21 April 2018. ISBN 978-953-8089-61-9, 2020
6 th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe, 15 – 21 April, 2018, Sinj, Croatia, Migrations, Carnival, Sustainable Development, Programme and Abstract Booklet, 2018