Would you folk-dance?

Last updated on: May 9, 2016 at 9:26 am by Jane the Actuary

Would you folk-dance? 2016-05-09T09:26:58-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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Remember this scene from The Sound of Music?

During a ball to welcome the Baroness, Maria teaches one of the von Trapp boys to dance the “Ländler,” a folk dance, on the terrace; then the Captain comes and dances with Maria to show how it’s done. They lock eyes, realize they’re falling in love, and the Baroness, seeing the scene and mindful of her plans to marry the Captain, talks to Maria, who flees to the convent.

Now, here’s the scene at the Donauschwaben Mother’s Day program:

These videos are all short clips of the Jugendgruppe and the Kindergruppe at the Donauschwaben club, performing at the Mother’s Day program which we attended as German Saturday school families. (If you’re in the near northwest suburbs of Chicago, they have an open house next Saturday for prospective students/families.) These two groups, for teens/young adults and children, respectively, aim to pass on Donauschwaben traditions, and specifically the traditional folk dances. The Jugendgruppe performs at various venues during the year, and there are a number of youtube videos of their performances, if you google “donauschwaben chicago” — when they perform more formally, they have matching traditional outfits.

And, look, I don’t know about you, but when I watch these dances, it looks like fun. You can almost picture a village celebration in the Old Country, in which children and adults alike dance out of enjoyment, not just as a carefully-choreographed performance for others.

But in the meantime, well, the only families I know involved in dance around here are those whose kids take Irish dance lessons, and for whom March is a whirlwind of performances. I suppose the majority of kids who dance are girls who start with preschool ballet lessons and, if they continue, take a progression of dance classes until they reach the orchesis program at high school, all aimed, again, at performing for audiences. Perhaps there are other kids who just “go dancing” for fun but I suspect that’s rare, except for the various middle school or high school dances, at which the kids may or may not even dance.

I’ve periodically thought it would be interesting, as a social event at church, to have a folk-dance group come in and lead us in these sorts of traditional folk dances. It seems like it would be fun, at least, though perhaps we would all then turn back into awkward middle-schoolers.

Perhaps this is all just gone, just as much as square dancing is — and I’m told that folk dancing is just as much relegated to tradition-preserving community groups in Germany as it is here.

But wouldn’t it be nice if it wasn’t?

(Further Monday Morning comments: I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that “folk dancing” has disappeared in the U.S., and is probably non-revivable. After all, German traditions couldn’t make it past the World Wars except hidden away. And everything else is too wrapped up in the question of what culture any given individual “belongs” too. Pick the folk dance traditions of a minority culture? That’s cultural appropriation. Pick the fok dance traditions of a majority culture? That’s wrongful imposition by the majority upon the minority. And while Irish dancing seems to be safe, that’s more of a spectator activity.)

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