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Aratás Ensemble |
We're all from the greater Portland (Oregon) area. The group started, as I recall, in 1983. Larry Morandi, Cindy (my wife) and I were charter members. Kathy Kerr, a dance teacher at OSU, attended symposium in New Jersey and brought back the dances from Szék. We wanted to "keep them alive" by getting together regularly to practice. Performing them evolved naturally from there.
We are a small group, currently four men and eight women. We are always looking for new members, so twice a month, on first and third Saturdays, we have tanchaz (recorded music, except for live tanchaz about twice a year), where we do teaching in the early evening, then dance until late evening. We also periodically hold a one-day workshop at the Chalet (see details below).
The group is run democratically, which sometimes means chaotically. We developed our own choreographies in the earlier years, and later bought professional choreographies from Sandor Timar, Sandor Roman, Zoli Nagy, and Erika Bakonyi. We currently have two "real" Hungarians in the group (Eszter and Judit), but everyone in the group is highly interested in Hungarian culture, dance, culture, and song. Some of us are able to speak enough Hungarian to sometimes let the Hungarians know what we're thinking, and mangle the language enough to amuse them.
We have a very good relationship with the local Hungarian society, who are our very best audience, and who have been generous in supporting our group. Steve and Agnes Kovacs and Lajos Elteto have been especially kind.
We often attend summer camps taught by dance professionals from Hungary, including Aranykapu Tábor and TiTi Tábor, and Cindy and I and Larry and Karen have been to Hungary for vacation and the Táncháztalálkozó.
Jómóka táncház band from Salt Lake City has performed with us for may years; if you'd like a great tanchaz, invite them to your city; make sure you say "Hi" for me to Brian (primás), Bonnie (kontrás), Craig (cimbalomos and bögös), and Tom (bögös).
Here's a map to the Chalet, where we hold táncház on the first and third Saturdays of the month (with some exceptions due to performances, festivals, etc), starting at 8:30 pm. On the first Saturday of each month starting in September and ending in June, we also hold children's táncház from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. The cost is $3 per adult and $1 per child.
The Chalet is a private house with a very long driveway (with room for about 15 cars) in front. The owner of the house very generously lets us use the studio at the back of the house for dancing. Walk to the front of the house (at ground level), then follow the deck around the left side and to the back.
Contact us at these addresses (remove the obvious anti-spamming word):
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Aranykapu | Golden Gate Camp Hungarian Dance and Music Camp |
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Forrás | Forrás Népi Együttes (Folk Ensemble) Vancouver, Canada |
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Jómóka | Brian Salisbury, Primás (violin), Bonnie Baty, Kontrás (bracsa), and Craig Forster, Bõgõs, (bass) Salt Lake City, Utah |
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Magyar Baráti Közösseg | Hungarian Communion of Friends Portland, Oregon |
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Ti Ti Tábor | Hungarian Music and Dance Camp |
