Studia Choreologica Vol. III

This volume contains three studies on circle dance. All three of them present different analytical approaches. Ernö Pesovár, a senior dance researcher from Hungary, presents “An Epilogue to the Circle Dance Monograph by György Martin”. Pesovár analyses the historical context of European dance culture, and points out that the archaic elements contained in the circle dances were, in fact, endowed with a new meaning and content, according to the symbolic system of the Christian Middle Ages in Western Europe. Anna Ilieva writes about “Ritual Reminiscences in Certain Children’s Games in Bulgaria”. She stresses the syncretism of various cultural strata contained in the game-dances. They incorporate some ritual dances of the past, and preserve their original semantic and symbolic power. The 500 year long Turkish occupation of the Balkan territory effectively isolated this area from direct West European influences. As a result, the historical processes are also very different. Ilieva draws on mythological and semantic analysis of material she collected from over forty years of field work. Magda Zografou presents a study entitled “Towards a Structural Analysis of Folk Dance: Choreotypes and Dance Patterns in Pontic Dance Tradition”. This is based on material collected by the author in field work, among Pontic Greeks who were resettled in Macedonia. She draws on structural analytical attempts by past authors, and brings forward her own proposals. Above all, she substantiates the meaningful cultural values inherent in the dance forms, on hand of evaluations of the people themselves, and not on arbitrary judgements of the analyst.