Absztrakt

The re-discovery of Hungarian folk dance and the resurgence of the folk dance movement during the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century continues a trend which had started nearly a century ago and developed in several waves. In the early period, folk culture, which was associated with the peasantry, became a subject of interest typically for the elite. In the past few decades, however, urban youth discovered it for themselves, created their own subculture and identity. In the early period of the folk dance movement, many urban young people chose to wear authentic peasant garments in their everyday life. By now, however, this style seems to have lost its function as an identity marker. What happened to the collections of peasant clothing since the 1970s, how were these items integrated into everyday urban wear and how do the collectors use them now? The author explores this subject by examining the ways in which the story of these objects indicates the story of their collectors, changes in their mentalities and other factors. The research entails interviews with folk dancers and choreographers belonging to three generations. Their backgrounds and professional careers are just as similar as they are different. The study provides a survey and analysis of their wardrobe to find answers to the questions about these collections and their collectors. The personal clothes of folk dancers can be observed and interpreted as a collection of professional equipment. Collecting certain items of clothing is not hinged on personal life and temporal aspects, but instead it depends on the dancers’ repertoire, which results in a regionally, geographically defined collection. Most of these items were used for performances. The proportion of fashion items and folk elements appearing in everyday wear indicate the importance of the clothes as status-markers (e.g. ’folk dancer’, ’folk dance teacher) for the individual. The folk dancers’ understanding of the culture of peasantry, which includes the knowledge of folk garments, as well as their day-to-day dance practice had such a profound impact on their values and beauty ideals, especially in the first generation, that some of them completely broke away from the fashion of their own time and created their very own idiosyncratic style. While in this new context the authentic items of their wardrobe necessarily lost their original function, at the same time they also acquired new, nuanced meanings.

DOI: 10.52656/KORALL.2014.01.005. 📄 Teljes cikk (PDF)