In the realm of intangible phenomena in traditional culture, thoughts about autochthony can be directed towards dance, even though the study of this subject in historic periods is a complicated problem in ethnochoreology. There are very few historic documents about dance, and the ones that do exist provide only partial information, which does not enable many concrete conclusions about this comprehensive cultural phenomenon. In the oldest reports about dance, which appear across European cultures in different historical eras, there are not descriptions of particular dances, but rather philosophical contemplations about what the dance was, what it expressed, and what its role was.108 The medieval perception of people’s sinful nature and the transience of human life framed the critique of dance in terms of its debauchery, naughtiness, and sensuality, which the critics also understood as a means of distinguishing folk dances from the dances of noble society. The differentiation within a quite unified dance culture began to appear in the 15th and 16th centuries.109 The rural folk dance, unlike the dances enjoyed by the nobility or higher classes in the towns, remained a spontaneous emotional expression of its bearers; often in syncretical interconnection with the ceremonial system of folk tradition and supervised by the critical eye of church representatives.110 The late 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries did not fully accept the moralistic views developing from the Middle Ages. These were overlaid by the first ideas of Romanticism, but the suitability or unsuitability of a studied dance and the related musical expression was still under assessment. If a clergy member wrote when referencing František Sušil, a collector of folk songs that “he had never tolerated singing of a less decent song”111, the moral and aesthetic point of view were undoubtedly at the forefront.112 Due to the developing tendencies of the period of Romanticism, the criterion of originality was added as well: “He collected, as he said, the original songs of the nation, not the artificial ones, and therefore he did not leave out, add, or change a note.”113 However, this selectivity does not provide an objective view of the period’s traditions, because they were not captured as a whole. For this reason, different official and random reports unwittingly give more accurate information about
folk dance and music, because their authors – in accordance with the practices of that period – did not weigh whether it was suitable to capture the observed steps, as their educated fellows did. The complexity of folk dance recording was one of the basic hindrances to the knowledge of folk dance. Even though the first ethnographers took note of folk dances, nearly all of them put off the collection and study of folk dances due to this difficulty. Some later records of dances, such as collections from the late 19th century, make it possible to trace older mentions of the dances that were recorded, which serves as a testament to their continuity, but such instances are exceptions. One example of such an exception are the sword dances from the Moravia-Slovakian borderland. Carl Rudczinski (1751–1819) mentioned the dances in literature for the first time, in his essay Die Straniaken in 1808: “In a village situated at the very border between Moravia and Hungary, and for this reasons appropriately called Strání, we can find a small nation that is worth introducing to my compatriots. This small nation came from Wallachia in ancient times, probably after having been expelled due to a now-unknown trouble, and settled here; to date, they differ from all the rural inhabitants on the Moravian and Hungarian sides of the border in their folk costumes, customs, and nature. They are called ‘Straňáci’. Twentyfour years ago, I was able to see some of them dance their traditional robbers’ dance in Uherský Ostroh, at the court of their lord. While dancing it, they hold bare sabres and axes with long handles (Schwanzarhacken), having the courage to wave these murderous implements in an effort to injure each other so that – while bleeding – they can
108 Pavlicová, Martina: Cestami lidového tance. Zdenka Jelínková a česká etnochoreologie. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2012, pp. 10–15. 109 Stavělová, Daniela: Kultura lidových slavností. Tajemství tance. In: Rousová, Andrea (ed.): Tance a slavnosti 16.–18. století. Praha: Národní galerie, 2008, p. 81. 110 Ibidem, pp. 81–82. 111 Procházka, Matěj: František Sušil. Životopisný nástin. Praha: Nákladem Dědictví sv. Prokopa, 1871, p. 432. 112 See more about the method of folk song selection, censorship and self-censorship in Uhlíková, Lucie: Pravé perly písňové: Edice českých lidových písní a rakouská cenzura. In: Přibylová, Irena – Uhlíková, Lucie (eds.): Od folkloru k world music: Hudba a bariéry. Náměšť nad Oslavou: Městské kulturní středisko, 2012, pp. 18–27. 113 Procházka, Matěj: František Sušil. Životopisný nástin, p. 432.
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The Oldest Traditions of Dance
Autochthony
demonstrate cold-bloodedly that they scorn pain”114 This was the only report about this dance for many decades. The sword dances from Strání drew more attention only at the turn of the 20th century.115 As is clear, the older reports are mostly random and unsystematic, which makes a reconstruction of the autochthonous dance traditions complicated. Sporadic descriptions
and comments on dances are accompanied by their names or brief characteristics, e.g. in the Gubernial Collection from 1819 and in other folk song collections which gradually came into being and contained dance melodies. The most important collections of Moravian folk songs by František Sušil and František Bartoš rank among these collections.116 Iconographic images that could create a picture in the imagination of the dance culture of the time are even more sporadic and the analysis thereof is difficult. An example
The special atmosphere of a village dance party drew the attention of many artists in the 19th century. The painter František Kalivoda included this motif in his cycle Z lidového života na Moravě a ve Slezsku [Folk Life in Moravia and Silesia] in the mid-19th century.
114 Rudczinski, C[arl]: Die Straniaken. In: Taschenbuch für Mähren und Schlesien. Brünn: J. G. Gastlschen Buchhandlung [1808], pp. 138–144. See in Jeřábek, Richard (ed.): Počátky národopisu na Moravě. Antologie prací z let 1786–1884, p. 59. In another translation published by Ludvík Kunz in his contribution Zbrojné atributy šavlového tance (1990), weapons dance is used instead of robbers dance. Kunz also adheres to the translation – a dance with “sabres and švancaras” (švancara is a folk term for an axe with a long handle). Kunz, Ludvík: Zbrojné atributy šavlového tance. Slovácko 31, 1990, pp. 91–93. 115 Pavlicová, Martina: Lidová kultura volně k použití – zamyšlení nad její ochranou a využíváním. In.: Přibylová, Irena – Uhlíková, Lucie (eds.): Od folkloru k world music, pp. 29–30. 116 See in Vetterl, Karel – Hrabalová, Olga (eds.): Guberniální sbírka písní a instrumentální hudby z Moravy a Slezska z roku 1819. Strážnice: Ústav lidové kultury, 1994; Sušil, František: Moravské národní písně s nápěvy do textu vřaděnými. Brno: Karel Winiker, 1860; Bartoš, František: Nové národní písně moravské s nápěvy do textu vřaděnými. Brno: Karel Winiker, 1882; Bartoš, František: Národní písně moravské, v nově nasbírané. Brno: Nákladem Matice moravské, 1889; Bartoš, František: Národní písně moravské v nově nasbírané. Po stránce hudební pořádal Leoš Janáček. Praha: Nákladem České akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění, 1899–1901. See Laudová, Hannah: Nevyužité rukopisné sběratelské záznamy Františka Sušila. Český lid 55, 1968, pp. 325–351 and Jelínková, Zdenka: Zprávy o lidovém tanci a hudbě na Moravě a ve Slezsku v Bartošově pozůstalosti (Z nepublikovaných archivních pramenů ve Státním archivu v Brně). Slovácko 29, 1987, pp. 89–106.
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Autochthony
is the dance steps that are depicted in a wall painting from the 1780s at the chateau in Velké Meziříčí.117 Zdenka Jelínková (1920–2005) attempted to classify these steps as being from the Horácko region, which was later formed on this territory, but this was inconclusive and the classification remained hypothetical.118 Actually, that depiction of folk dance expressions relates to the iconographic theme of the farmer. Characteristics of this theme were already fixed throughout Europe in the 15th century. The theme often features a connection with dissoluteness, exaggerated gestures in dance, and social satire, which is noticeable in the painting in Velké Meziříčí.119 Sources exist that, despite coming from different contexts, describe the local dance traditions. They also illustrate the circumstances and situations of the study of folk culture in Moravia. One source is of a purely official nature and related to the enthronement ceremony for Ferdinand V in Prague in September 1836.120 The Moravian estates organized a feast in tribute to the monarch in Brno in August.121 Selected expressions of traditional folk culture were given a representative function. The event was preceded by an appeal to collect and describe music and dance expressions which could be performed at the feast.122 Regional commissioners in Moravia were given instructions to send out the serfs who would show “more exquisite rural folk costumes differing from each other” and, if “special musical instruments and dances” occurred in particular places, “to supply data about and to describe thoroughly the peculiarities of the folk dance (as well as of the usual musical instruments), mentioning the number of persons necessary to perform this dance…”123 Such reports bear witness to a prepared show of rural inhabitants in front of the monarch and also serve as a source of information about folk dance traditions in Moravia. Originality in particular was a criterion for the selection of rural inhabitants and their performances for the monarch. The first third of the 19th century was not a typical period in the Moravian countryside. Traditional folk culture was changing under the influence of the towns and industrialization; yet in many aspects, the onlookers were aware of the autochthony of the traditions and the basic features resulting from them. They also were aware of the inexorable development of traditions. In regions inhabited by various ethnic groups, the differences between different cultures became apparent. A report
A bagpipe-player from the domain of Břeclav and a fiddler from the domain of Jihlava in iconographic documents by Wilhelm Horn. The iconographies were drawn upon the coronation ceremony in 1836.
from the seigniorial authority in Židlochovice contained the question of whether a married couple from a German village or an unmarried Czech couple should be dispatched to Brno: “The music the local inhabitants use is an imitation of the town music and consists predominantly of brass instruments and a big drum; the locals also use valve trumpets and play waltzes, gallops, and marches. Even the local dance the serfs do is borrowed from the town – it is usually a waltz or a gallop.”124 The seigniorial authority in Ivančice, where German inhabitants also lived at that time, reported: “… local serfs of either nationality, who could be supposed to be of Schwabian origin, have neither own dances nor musical instruments; according to previous interviews with the eldest inhabitants, there were
117 Křížová, Alena – Šimša, Martin: Lidový oděv na Moravě a ve Slezsku I. Ikonografické prameny do roku 1850, pp. 92–93. 118 Jelínková, Zdenka: Zpráva o nejstarším zjištěném vyobrazení horáckých tanců. Český lid 48, 1961, pp. 35–36. 119 Stavělová, Daniela: Kultura lidových slavností. Tajemství tance. In: Rousová, Andrea (ed.): Tance a slavnosti 16.–18. století, pp. 82–83. 120 Laudová, Hannah: Dokumenty o lidové slavnosti roku 1836, konané při příležitosti poslední korunovace v Praze. In: Robek, Antonín – Vařeka, Josef (eds): Etnografie národního obrození I. Praha: ČSAV, Ústav pro etnografii a folkloristiku, 1975, pp. 37–229. 121 Laudová, Hannah: Lidový oděv, tanec a hudba na Moravě podle archivního materiálu z roku 1836. Český lid 45, 1958, pp. 159–162. 122 In 1833, on the occasion of Emperor Frantisek I visit to Brno, rural inhabitants wearing folk costumes were chosen and introduced in a similar way. Comp. Laudová, Hannah: Lidový oděv, tanec a hudba na Moravě podle archivního materiálu z roku 1836, p. 159. 123 Laudová, Hannah: Dokumenty o lidové slavnosti uspořádané 20. srpna 1836 v Brně při příležitosti poslední korunovace na českého krále. In: Robek, Antonín (ed.): Etnografie národního obrození III. Praha: ČSAV, Ústav pro etnografii a folkloristiku, 1978, p. 131. 124 Ibidem, pp. 132–133.
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peculiar dances and musical instruments in the past here, but the descendants did so much wander from their peculiarities that the contemporary generation knows nothing but German dances accompanied by brass or string instruments.”125 Among the various ethnic groups, the Croatians who mostly inhabited the Domain of Drnholec drew considerable attention.126 A unique dance document from that period offers a comprehensive description of their jumping dance, which differed from the common dance repertoire. The official document reported: “This dance is something completely distinctive, as is The dance was a natural part of tradition for centuries. The photo from 1902 shows the kermesse dance in Lanžhot in the ethnographic area of Podluží.
the music; the Croatians often dance the German waltz in quite a different manner.”127 “The music band consists of two violins and one bagpipe; it is not necessary to have a certain number of people to perform the Croatian dance, although this should be danced by at least four couples to show the peculiarities of the dance and make them more pleasing for the eyes and ears of the audience.”128 The unusual style of the Croatians, which became apparent among the German and Czech inhabitants of Southern Moravia and Lower Austria, had been a target of attention twenty-five years earlier, when Josef Alois Zeman, an economic officer in Lednice, described their dance expression in 1808 and 1811. Compared to the dance expression featured in other sources from the first half of the 19th century (especially the records made within the Gubernial collection), Zeman’s descriptions captured a special dance form129 which included dancers’ jumps accompanied by slaps on the legs, a small cifra, and a whirling rotation of a boy and a girl around their common axis.130 Zdenka Jelínková classified the above dance forms as a dance archetype, which later research revealed had parallels in other regions of Southern and Southeastern Moravia.131 Other materials related to the Brno enthronement ceremony mentioned above contained a dance described as an original dance of Slovaks from the village of Šardice: “The music band consists of one bagpipe and two violins – the dancing men surround the musicians in a circle or they make up a line, the women stand nearby to maintain a kind of order. Now, the first dancer goes nearer to the musicians and begins jumping; he remains on the spot so long he can stand the pace while the others clap to the beat; after that he steps back, he grips his dance partner and rotates with her, and then he makes for his original place; during their last rotations, another dancer steps out of the line and begins with his jumps in front of the musicians, as the first one did, and this goes on to the last dancer.”132 Even here one can see a conformity with the dance steps described above, which – as confirmed by the sources – survived as a common form of the solo men’s jumping dance and the whirling rotation in pairs, all accompanied by a bagpipe and two violins, in the areas of Southern Moravia and Lower Austria.133
125 Ibidem, pp. 132–133. 126 About ethnic settlement in Southern Moravia see in Pavlicová, Martina: Die Volkskultur in Südmähren aus Sicht der ethnischen Problematik. In: Liechtenstein-Tschechische Historikerkommission (Hrsg): Die Liechtenstein: Kontinuitäten – Diskontinuitäten: Vaduz: Verlag des Historischen Vereins für das Fürstentum Liechnstein, 2013, pp. 187–200. 127 Laudová, Hannah: Dokumenty o lidové slavnosti uspořádané 20. srpna 1836 v Brně při příležitosti poslední korunovace na českého krále. In: Robek, Antonín (ed.): Etnografie národního obrození III, p. 134. 128 Ibidem, p. 134. 129 Jelínková, Zdenka: Lidový tanec Moravských Chorvatů na Mikulovsku ve vztahu k sousedním oblastem. Slovácko 38, 1996, p. 41. 130 Ibidem, p. 41. Zdenka Jelínková referes to the conclusion by Karel Vetterl to which he came when he analyzed documents from 1819. In records made by priest Josef Bohuňovský from Hausbrunn, dances and songs are mentioned that are termed Croatian dances and songs; in Vetterl´s opinion, it is the dance of Lower-Austrian Slovaks. Vetterl, Karel: Písně a tance Slováků z Ranšpurku před 150 lety. Národopisné aktuality 9, 1972, pp. 271–284. 131 Ibidem, p. 41. 132 Laudová, Hannah: Dokumenty o lidové slavnosti uspořádané 20. srpna 1836 v Brně při příležitosti poslední korunovace na českého krále. In: Robek, Antonín (ed.): Etnografie národního obrození III, p. 136. 133 Jelínková, Zdenka: Lidový tanec Moravských Chorvatů na Mikulovsku ve vztahu k sousedním oblastem, p. 47.
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The ceremonial girls’ dance královničky (little queens) is depicted in the book Die österreichisch-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild – volume Mähren und Schlesien 1897 as a representative expression of the traditional folk culture in Moravia in the 1890s. At that time, this dance was fully connected with the ethnographic wave at the end of the 19th century as well as with the efforts to discover and revitalize the rural dance culture.
The form divided into two separate dances with their own song repertoire around 1850.134 Dance sources from a single area, dating back to the 19th century, and subsequent recordings of the same dance expressions in the same area over several decades, as happened in the borderland between Moravia and Lower Austria, are exceptional in heuristic research into Moravian dances. However, they show that the jumps and the rotating dances, i.e. pair dances with whirling rotation around their own axis,135 were among the oldest dance styles in Moravia. Different varieties of rotating dances were recorded in this area throughout the 19th century. At that time, more educated researchers differentiated the dance features that were shared in the developing ethnographic area from those relating to particular locations.136 An exception to this was the ethnographic area of Haná, where rotating dances were never observed in the known traditions and their place in the dance repertoire was taken by “walking dances”.137 Many dances that are based on similar or identical motions, such as jumping and whirling, might have had different functions, especially the ceremonial ones. Documents about other
134 Ibidem, p. 48. 135 Recently, researchers term the rotating dances as dances with a loose internal bound. 136 Zdenka Jelínková summarized the issue in her study Točivé tance. Gottwaldov: Krajské nakladatelství, 1959. 137 Pavlicová, Martina: Cestami lidového tance. Zdenka Jelínková a česká etnochoreologie, p. 85.
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movements indicate that these forms could be remnants of dances with ceremonial functions. The chain dance is an example of this. This form was noticed as a wedding dance, although only at an entertainment level by the 19th century in Moravia, as were round dances, such as the girls’ dance Královničky (Little Queens). This particular ceremonial dance is fully connected with the ethnographical wave at the end of the 19th century as well as with the efforts to discover and revitalize the dance culture. The issue of dance autochthony was given a completely new dimension in the second half of the 19th century. Transformations in joint instrument playing, influences of different social settings, the efforts of revivalists and researchers, the complete changes in society, and the constant and more frequent penetration of different cultural spheres extended the dance repertoire with more varied elements. The originality of dance culture within a closed rural setting changed into an originality in a much more open area. This area no longer featured the immanent development (despite some exceptions, such as the ethnographic area of Haná, where a high degree of interconnection between the high and the local culture is presumed), but the local influences which began to form the dance and musical expressions. As a result of this, it is possible to identify an older autochthonous layer in Moravian dances, despite the fragmentary source basis. If attention was paid to the originality and survival of some forms, our argumentation avoided other aspects of the dance which could be observed in connection with the theme. Besides the interconnection between dances and ceremonies, it would be possible to mention various roles that the dance plays in rural communities as well as for individuals in those communities and that concern human universals in common.
