Category: Folk Dance & Music Groups (USA)

Csárdás Dance Company is a 501(3) nonprofit professional dance company located in northeast Ohio presenting traditional and contemporary works stemming from Hungarian heritage. Founded in 1994 by Richard Graber, Csárdás strives to promote and further ethnic dance as an art form as it embodies the infectious exuberance celebrated in Hungarian villages. The richness of the Hungarian culture is revealed through performances featuring a broad range of dance dialects and styles. Csárdás Dance Company offers classes and workshops in Hungarian dance for the general public and occasionally auditions for its Youth Ensemble.

The Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble is a performing group based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ensemble’s mission is to promote and present traditional Hungarian folk dances and to preserve the history of Hungarian folk culture in all its forms. The Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble has been celebrating and showcasing Hungarian folk culture in the Bay Area since 1977 through presentations to the Hungarian community and the general public. The Ensemble consists of twelve to twenty young adults ranging from age 16 and up. Most are of Hungarian heritage, although membership has never been limited to those with Hungarian backgrounds.

The group presents Eastern European and Balkan music to San Francisco Bay Area audiences ranging from restaurant patrons to folk dancers. The traditional forms of the music are preserved, and at the same time given new life with the arrangements and interpretation. This isn’t “world music”, some mish-mosh poured out of a blender. A Danubius performance combines hard-driving Southern Romanian tunes, Hungarian Gypsy restaurant favorites, Bulgarian dances and Macedonian melodies, juxtaposed to make a tapestry of sound while preserving the character of each distinct musical style.

The CSŰRDÖNGÖLŐ FOLK DANCE ENSEMBLE is rooted in the NY-NJ Hungarian American community, primarily in New Brunswick a hotbed, as they call it, for Hungarian-Americans. Primarily made of sons and daughters of emmigrated Hungarians, Csurdöngölo has evolved into one of America’s leading ethnic dance ensembles. The group’s name comes from Hungarian for barn stomper and the custom which called upon villagers to stamp down the earthen floor of a newly built barn. What better way to have some fun while working as a community. Don’t stomp on it. Dance on it! The energetic style of that stomping is symbolic of the vigor with which these artists carry on the joyful celebrations of their heritage.

The Ti Ti Tábor Hungarian Music and Dance Camp is held every August in Washington state, giving North American residents and others the opportunity to learn Hungarian music and dance from native Hungarian experts who are invited to join to teach each year.