The Hungarian state folk ensemble as a dynamic institution in Hungarian ethnography

Overholser, Lisa (2008) The Hungarian state folk ensemble as a dynamic institution in Hungarian ethnography. Hungarian Studies, 22 (1-2). pp. 31-42. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

Every year thousands of individuals come to know Hungarian folk culture through staged performance. From children’s ensembles to amateur ensembles to the most professionally organized groups, audiences in Hungary are treated to a wide variety of creatively reinterpreted Hungarian folk dance and folk music traditions. Staged folk dance has become a unique and powerful mode of cultural expression. This article attempts to illuminate staged folk dance’s potential for commentary, focusing on the choreographies and work of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble (Magyar Állami Népi Együttes, or MÁNE as it is commonly referred to). Established in 1951, it is one of the oldest folk ensembles on the European continent and is the only professional ensemble in Hungary that is referenced as a State ensemble. Much more than a static or isolated organization that provides a pleasant evening’s entertainment, the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble is integrally woven into the fabric of social life, qualitatively shaping and contributing to an ongoing socio-cultural dialogue. It accomplishes this through its dependence on source folk genres presented in the amplified artistic frame of the stage.

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