The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble performed twice in Beijing and twice in Hebei, northern China.Continue reading
The American Footworks Dance Company from the Rocky Mountain region is organizing free dance lessons and a dance party at the Museum of Ethnography on Wednesday, July 30. As part of the program, those interested can learn about traditional American dances accompanied by live bluegrass music, announced the City Park institution.
American Footworks is a youth folk dance group from the Rocky Mountain region of Idaho, United States. Their repertoire reflects the diversity of American dance traditions, including hula, the Charleston, hoedown, hip hop, southern waltz, and several other exciting genres.
The dance group will hold a performance and dance house at the Museum of Ethnography on Wednesday at 4 p.m., during which participants can learn about traditional dances from the United States.
With the help of the group members, people of all ages can try themselves at American dances such as square dance, swing, country-western dance, and the Charleston, accompanied by live bluegrass music.
Prior to the museum performance, those interested can also meet the company at the House of Music Hungary’s Tuesday event at 11:00 a.m. The American Footworks Dance Company and the American Footworks Bluegrass Band held a free clogging dance performance on the outdoor stage.
The American Footworks’ approximately twenty dancers are selected annually from among approximately one hundred students from the Idaho clogging dance group based on their skills, commitment, attitude, and performance abilities. Each of them must be an experienced clogger and demonstrate proficiency in other dance styles.
American clogging has its roots in the intersection of the dance forms of various early European immigrants, Native Americans, and African slaves, primarily in the southern Appalachian region.
The dance was an improvisational, percussive solo, or individual dance form performed at community celebrations, harvest festivals, baptisms, church gatherings, and dance parties.
Towards the end of the 19th century, communities began to incorporate this improvisational footwork into social, formation, and square dance figures. The social event known today as “hoedown” or “freestyle” clogging took on many regional forms and remained a folk community activity.
Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Magyar Zene Háza