Fonó Wednesday

Dances of Visa (Mezőség region, Transylvania)

The Fonó’s Wednesday dance events are for beginning and advanced dancers that want to learn the dances of a particular village or region on a deeper level. The dances are taught with live music in two groups (beginners and advanced) running simultaneously. The evening concludes when the two groups come together for singing and dancing. Everyone is welcome - come with or without a partner!

The village of Visa is found in Transylvania’s Mezőség (Câmpia Transilvaniei, Transylvanian Plain) region; and to be even more precise – in the so-called ‘Inner Mezőség’ sub-region (in Romania). Visa is one of those communities where until the end of the 1960s the local youth regularly organized their own weekend dance events with music played by the Gypsy musicians from the nearby village of Magyarpalatka/ Pălatca. The musicians from Magyarpalatka served the traditional music needs of the following villages: Visa, Magyarpalatka, Vajdakamarás, Mezőkeszü, Báré, Mócs, Gyulatelke, Mezőgyéres, etc (Hungarian names of the villages provided here). The dances from these villages are known collectively in the Hungarian dance house movement as the popular “Mezőség dances”. It’s no surprise that these dances became so popular, they have an incredibly rich and virtuoso vocabulary of motifs, and the kind of harmonious cooperation needed in the couple dances could open up endless ‘poetical’ discussion of body language between man and woman.

The teachers are professional Hungarian folk dancers that have for decades been immersing themselves in and studying Visa’s dance traditions. Their long standing friendships and connections with the people there is their pledge toward authentic transmission of the dances.

“The dances of Visa are especially rich and exciting. The people of Visa love to dance and have fun. There is an exceptional variety of motifs in the couple dances including the man passing the woman back and forth in front of him, turning in couples, the man ‘throwing’ the woman around behind him, and turning her under his arm - which are liberally spiced up with men’s boot slapping and other creative flourishes. The Visa dances are the crème, the essence of the Mezőség dances . Come and join us!” (Szappanos Tamás)

Teachers:
Deffend Irén "Inci" and Szappanos Tamás "Szapi" – advanced group
Vatai Barbi and Galát Péter - beginners

Tickets: 1000 Ft