Vibrant Folk Dance Festival to Showcase Traditions in Szolnok

The 27th Szolnok National Folk Dance Festival will be attended by folk dancers, musicians, choreographers, as well as a professional jury, between May 30 and June 1, reads the event’s website. The aim of the three-day festival, following the traditions of previous events, is to provide an artistic forum for folk dance groups and creators and to encourage the creation of new works, according to the organizers.

Fourteen groups will perform in this year’s competition program, with Gábor Mihályi as the jury president and Rita Furik, Miklós Both, Dusán Hégli, and Csaba Kutszegi as members of the judging committee. Rehearsals will take place on Friday, May 30, at the Szigligeti Theater in Szolnok. On this day, there will be a flea market and folk fair on Hild Square,

from where a spectacular costume parade will start in the afternoon.

Here, a dance house with the participation of the Sodrás Folk Music Ensemble and the Tisza Dance Ensemble will also welcome visitors who want to try out their dancing skill.

As part of the opening ceremony, the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble will perform their show Táncos Magyarok (Dancing Hungarians) at the Aba-Novák Agóra Cultural Center in the late afternoon.

In the evening, the Magyar Banda will give a concert at Hild Square.

On Saturday, May 31, the competition program will take place at the Szolnok Szigligeti Theater, and in the evening, a dance house will be held with the Naszály Band at the Aba-Novák Agora Cultural Center. On Sunday afternoon, June 1, the award ceremony will be held at the Szolnok Szigligeti Theater, followed by a gala performance.

The first folk dance festival in Szolnok was held in 1964. Initially, it was held annually, then every two years in Szolnok’s representative art centers. The biennial national competition is one of the main meeting points for amateur folk dance groups. After a ten-year hiatus, the festival was revived in 2009. The aim of the festival has remained unchanged since its inception: to encourage the creation of new works, to showcase the innovative works of already known artists, and to provide a platform for younger generations, write the organizers on the website. “The history of the festival and the history of stage folk dance are inseparable, as the inspiring environment of the venue became the generator of the choreographic approach that later became famous throughout Europe as the ‘Hungarian school’,” they quote Gábor Mihályi, director of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, as saying.