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I have arrived in the village of Dalj. My senses are reeling with impressions of peasant life here. As I walk along the broad Pannonian streets, a herd of white-haired swine cross my path while a flock of sheep and a dozen quacking geese brush against my legs. Horse-drawn sleighs, carrying peasants dressed in warm woolens and black lambs-wool hats, slide through the snow, bells jingling, scattering the pigs and geese in all directions.
I live in a typical village cottage with an earthen floor; the front door is about five feet high. As I am writing, Baba and Mama Ristic are cleaning the intestines of one of their pigs, slaughtered early this morning. They will make excellent sausages. Baba has placed a bowl of dark red goulash filled with steaming meat and vegetables on the table in front of me. The delicious red and green stuffed peppers, fresh-baked wheat bread, and heavy red wine have filled my senses. My host refills my glass with more delicious red wine and I cannot resist. I am no longer in this century...
As a young folklorist, visiting Yugoslavia for the first time in 1963, I wrote the above impressions of Dalj, a Serbian village on the Danube River, where the river borders the regions of Vojvodina and Slavonia. These impressions have remained with me through all my folklore adventures. This enchanting rural way of life has provided the setting for one of the most impressive dance traditions in Europe.
In the village no holiday, Saint’s day, wedding, or other celebration could go without dancing. Almost every Sunday villagers gathered after church to dance, next to the church, in a field just outside the village, or in a central square near the community well. Fall and winter had Saturday evening dances too. Montenegro has stone terraces on the mountain slopes near the village. In South Serbia, in winter and on rainy days, dances were in barn-like structures known as cardak (literally, the enclosed porch on the first floor above the ground in a Turkish-style house). Traditionally, mastery of the dance was important. A man’s standing in the community was often shown by his place in the dance line, and naturally the best dancers led. The best dancers might marry sooner, even if poor.
When I was in the villages south of Belgrade, everyone looked forward to the Saturday night dances called igranka (from igra, "to play" or "to dance"). The young people came to meet their friends and to distinguish themselves with the more difficult dance steps. I first saw this in the village of Pinosava, south of Belgrade not far from the landmark and park-area known as Avala. The local kolo (literally "wheel", the common Serbian word for folk dance) is a form of the nearly universal Serbian dance known as U Šest (literally "in six") or Moravac (after the Morava River). The tempo is slow and delicious, and the dance pattern, instead of going equally to the right and left, changes after two measures to the left, and travels right again.
It was a brisk dark autumn night. Lights strung over the village square added to and reflected the harvest moon. By the time I arrived, a few hundred people had already gathered and were dancing the kolo. I had come forty minutes from Belgrade by the local bus. Imagine my delight to find all the young women of marrying age dressed in full regional costume from head to toe, including necklaces of dukati (large heavy gold coins that are family heirlooms and part of a girl’s dowry). The young men were somewhat drab in West European dress, but an occasional old–timer had on bits and pieces of folk costume.
Then came a moment I’ll never forget. "Crashing the party", a group of young men in old–fashioned Serbian costume burst onto the scene and immediately paid the musicians for the next dance. In their opanci (leather shoes open at the top with curly toes) and šarene carape (multicolored socks), they dazzled everyone with fancy step work, double bounces and a surprise dip. Their version of the Pinosava u šest was a work of art. I later introduced it to American folkdancers under the name "Pinosavka".
An even better time for dancing than Sunday or Saturday was a sabor (church fair), or a vašar (village fair). These events could go on for days, with dancing from sunup to sundown. At a sabor, groups from many different villages, complete with their own musicians, would meet on the dance field in a swirl of sound and color. The best dancers vied with each other to lead the next kolo, and if there was dust, as there often was, it rose to cover the dancers, who in their enthusiasm never seemed to mind.
While the young folks danced, their elders watched and gossiped; now and then they danced too. The very young were eager for the day when they too could join in. While tending the sheep they would ask the older girls to show them the steps, and after much practice, they would build up their courage and try their first dance. It was a moment of pride for everyone, especially for the youngster’s family.
At the dance there might be traveling Rom ("gypsies" in English, cigani in Serbian), or traders, or soldiers coming home. Any new dances they would be eager to share. Names of dances such as Rumunjsko (Romanian), Bugarska (Bulgarian), and Cocek (probably from a Turkish word meaning "a dancing boy or girl") show a lively exchange from all over. Vranjanka, Cacanka and Uzicko kolo are named for home towns with strong dance traditions, Vranje, Cacak and Uzice. Banacansko, Sremsko, and Backo kolo, all versions of the popular Malo kolo (malo means "little") which has long been in the basic repertoire of American kolo dancers, are named for the three parts of Vojvodina. The famous Montenegrin dance Zetsko kolo, which seems like the flight of an eagle, is named for the 13th and 14th century Montenegrin kingdom Zeta. These dances are still done today. Some can be seen in the 1948 folklore film Jugoslavenski Narodni Plesovi ("Yugoslav Folk Dances") which I was able to rescue.
While years pass, timeless things are unchanged. Around 1900, as the new kingdom of Yugoslavia emerged, many a "ballroom kolo" was adopted, creating a legacy of town dances, like Kraljevo kolo ("the King’s dance"), taught to American folkdancers as Srbijanka ("Serbian girl"), and still done today. Radikalka was named after a political party, Sarajevka for the Bosnian capital. After World War II, the Communist government took an interest, and State-sponsored performing troupes arose. Stage choreography came to have a large influence on the U.S. folkdance movement. With all these changes, one thing has remained certain. In country villages, and in emigrant communities from Australia to America, Serbs still love to dance.
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