The Culture and Performance of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian Dance

A dance performance and discussion by the Tarara Folklore Ensemble of the Dalmatian Cultural Society, Auckland, New Zealand. Organized by the UCLA Department of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Languages and Cultures. Cosponsored by UCLA CERS.

The Culture and Performance of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian Dance

Wednesday, January 27, 2016
4:00 PM

Jan Popper Theater, UCLA Schoenberg Music Building





The Tarara Folklore Ensemble is the senior performing dance group from the Dalmatian Cultural Society in Auckland, New Zealand. The group's strong folklore offering combines traditional dances from the region of the former Yugoslavia with a uniquely New Zealand heritage and immigrant experience, fostering the cultures of all those countries. The ensemble will perform a suite of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian dances followed by discussion of the cultural and historical significance of each dance.

THE PERFORMANCES
Međimurje (Croatia)
The Ensemble’s first dance is from the alpine region of Međimurje, which is in the north of Croatia, bordering Slovenia in the north-west and Hungary in the east. It’ is is a couples dance, with lively and upbeat music. The influence of nearby Austria (and the former Austro Hungarian empire) is evident in the more Germanic style of costume.

Glamoć (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The dance “Glamoć” which the Tarara Folklore Ensemble will showcase dates from the time of Ottoman occupation. It is performed without musical accompaniment, with the dancers creating their own music through the beat of their feet on the floor.

New Zealand Dalmatian kolo
This dance is unique to our people in New Zealand, and is one we see very much as our own. It was put together and first danced in 1935 by a group of Dalmatian immigrants, who made it up from the steps and the music they knew back home. Since then, it’s been performed in slightlly different versions at Dalmatian clubs around the north of New Zealand, where most of the Dalmatian migrants settled. It’s a lively, fun and happy danced, performed in couples.

Šumadija (Serbia)
Šumadija is a region in Central Serbia, and is representative of the dance style from that area. It, too, is danced in couples, with quite intricate and fast footwork. Like most other dances from the Balkan region, it was danced as a way of bringing young people together in a social situation.


Cost : Free and open to the public.

Related Document: TararaUCLA_27Jan2016-52-pch.pdf

Sponsor(s): Center for European and Russian Studies, Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures