A 5-day 19th-century social dance workshop; A FOLK SINGING: 5-day folk singing vocal workshop
Dear Participants,
You are warmly invited to attend a 5-day educational programme entitled Dance and Vocal Tradition of Past Centuries, organized for the second time (after the successfully carried out Sarabanda programme in 2007) by KUD Cortesía and co-funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia as part of a professional training programme. The training will take place during the autumn holidays, between 25 and 29 October 2010, at the Vija vaja Institute for Dance Arts in Ljubljana.
We have invited renowned pedagogues who will use their excellent knowledge and experience to prepare for us two workshops: a dance one on the topic of the waltz, mazurka and quadrille according to the preserved European and also Slovenian 19th-century records and a folk singing vocal workshop on the topic of a comprehensive approach to the establishment of a singing organism. With the aim of complementing practical work with theoretical reflection, we will prepare various lectures on 19th-century costumes, dance records and dance instructors working in Ljubljana for the Carniolian States, which will be given in the framework of the afternoon workshop. Especially interesting will be the presentation of new discoveries regarding the work of dance instructor Georg Link, who published his social dance manual at the end of the 18th century in Celje.
The select educational (dance and singing) content as well as a thought-out approach to acquiring new skills and knowledge offer the participants of our intense training programme more than only an excellent experience and a new insight into original dance records and field musical recordings. The mentioned approach will enable the participants to pass on the acquired knowledge and use it in pedagogical work; this is why the participation in the seminar is an extraordinary opportunity for every individual, but especially for all pedagogues, since such trainings in Slovenia are and will probably remain rare. The professional training is intended for all teachers who want to perfect their dance and vocal communication in public, particularly primary teachers, teachers of musical and physical education; dance, ballet and other pedagogues; professors of music, musical instruments and musical disciplines; musicologists; dancers of contemporary dance, ballet dancers, dancers of social dances, choreographers, theatrical actors, directors and therapists; students of music and acting; as well as all enthusiasts for folk singing, old and contemporary social dances.
The expert committee at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia supported the programme, saying that “it qualitatively preserves and popularises the dance and vocal tradition of past centuries which is even the more significant since the ‘period dance’ class at the Music and Ballet Secondary School has been cancelled”. We will apply for the verification of the programme to the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia and we hope that we are as successful as we were with the Sarabanda programme, for we wish to provide the pedagogues also with the possibility of acquiring points for their advancement.
We will conclude the training with an event at the Španski borci Culture Centre in Ljubljana entitled The Beginnings of European Social Dances. The main stage will feature the members of the Ensemble for Renaissance Music and Dance Cortesía (Ljubljana) with the following guests: Celestina Group for Early Dances (Brežice), KUD Sredina Dance Group (Ljubljana), Ensemble for Historical Dance Tantz-Art (Vienna); while later in the dance evening, the seminar participants will also be able to dance under the guidance of a dance pedagogue.
Warmly invited by Lidija PODLESNIK TOMÁŠIKOVÁ,
Professional Training Programme Leader and Coordinator
Programme of the workshop on 19th-century social dances (1800-1850)
WALTZ
Early waltz technique and its later variants: Sauteuse, Valse à 3 temps, Valse à 5 temps, Triolet Waltz, German Waltz, Cotillion Waltz, Waltz Country Dances.
MAZURKA
Mazurka as an Eastern European dance delight and Mazurka Quadrille based on 1847 records
(H. Cellarius, La danse des salons, 2nd edition, Paris, 1849).
QUADRILLE
1. French Quadrille with five standard figures: le Pantalon, l’Eté, la Poule, Trénitz, Pastourelle and Finale
2. Lancer Quadrille with five figures: la Dorset, Ladoiska, la Native, les Graces, les Lanciers (Duval, Lancers quadrilles or Duval of Dublin's second set, 1817)
3. Contredanses (E. F. Helmke, Neue Tanz und Bildungsschule, Leipzig, 1829)
4. Dance steps and their sequence in quadrille, that is, the technique and practice on the basis of two dance sources: Mr. Paul, L'art de danser en sociéte, Enseigné en 12 leçons, MONS (Belgique), 1827 and E. F. Helmke, Neue Tanz und Bildungsschule, Leipzig, 1829.
5. French Quadrille and the Slavic Quadrille as an attempt of a “Slavic” quadrille in a circle based on Ivan Umek’s notes, a Slovene dance instructor from Trieste and a member of the International Academy of Dance Professors and Teachers based in Paris (Slovenski plesalec, Trieste, 1893 and Moderni plesalec, Trieste, 1904).
Lieven Baert
DANCE IN THE 19TH CENTURY: FROM MINUET TO MAZURKA
The French Revolution was the historical turning point that swept away the old feudal order. Permeated with Enlightenment ideas and the parole of freedom, equality and brotherhood, it had an important influence on the whole of Europe. In the new social order, there was no place for dances reflecting the old aristocratic order, so in accordance with the new order the bourgeois society rejected the court couple dances, such as the minuet and rigaudon. What remained in the dance halls was only the contredanse and both formations – a l'Anglaise or longways and à la Française in the form of a quadrille.
With the rise of classical ballet, the social dances in the 19th century also acquired more demanding steps and sequences of steps, which were rehearsed and danced especially in the higher circles of the bourgeoisie. In the 1820s, the quadrille consisted of five figures – le Pantalon, l’Eté, la Poule, Trénitz, Pastourelle and Finale. In this form, it spread across Europe, while different steps and sequences of steps provided a variety in its performance. The quadrille performed only with steps of walking became uninteresting and monotonous which is why it was enriched with easy ballet jumps. Luckily, some dance masters did not remain faithful to the standardized form of the quadrille and the established dance steps and kept choreographing the contredanse for 8, 10 and 12 or more dancers. One of such instructors was, for example, F. E. Helmke, who in 1829 published his choreographies, which bring joy to dancers and spectators even today.
The greatest excitement and opposition in the 19th century was caused by a dance novelty – the waltz. There were various styles of it, among which the most beautiful was valse à trois temps, while sauteuse and the German Waltz were also popular. But this was not the only new thing; in the 1840s dance halls, the waltz was joined by the polka and the mazurka, the Eastern European delights that entranced the dancers.
The programme of the folk singing vocal workshop
Ljoba Jenče's vocal workshop is intended for beginners as well as advanced singers since it will focus on moulding the speech and voice. By playing field recordings, the workshop leader will acquaint us with the characteristics of Slovene folk singing and its regional diversity. An important part of the workshop will be dedicated to warming up and opening the voice for singing as well as to moulding the vowels and consonants and including movement as support in developing the voice. We will get to know her sublime relation to songs when we “search for the paths to the songs from within or without and develop a sense of the rhythm, harmony and melody of folk songs”. The method of teaching folk songs will be conducted on the basis of the following relations: voice – voice, recording – voice, staff notation – voice, which will provide the opportunity to compare various bases for singing as a result of a direct influence of the voice, recording or staff notation. In her selection of songs, the author focused especially on the tradition of dance songs or songs sung in movement, for example, in group games, at Midsummer Eve celebrations, weddings and in circle dances.
Ljoba Jenče
COMPREHENSIVE METHOD OF DEVELOPING A SINGING ORGANISM
The comprehensive method of developing a singing organism enables the opening of the senses to the inner movement of the tone and the sensitive response of our organism to it, when the entire body responds and becomes an instrument. As if the world turned upside down and you can feel life singing you, a song singing through you, and you build the confidence that it is enough to consciously open your instrument and the life of the song you want to pass on comes rushing through it. For a moment, it seems that the song sang you. And if we think that one Slovenian folk song is several centuries old, then we must admit that this persistent, obstinate being of beauty has outlived many a building, numerous storms, that it was an accompaniment of many generations before us and that it still addresses us from within, teaches us and opens a path to higher, better worlds. It reminds us of an archetypal world containing hidden powers, the messages of human development, and connects us with it.
Lectures
Dr. Marko Motnik
GEORG LINK’S DANCE SCHOOL PRINTED IN CELJE
A lecture on the first known printed social dance textbook in Slovenia
In 1796, Franc Josef Jenko, a printing master from Celje, published Georg Link’s dance school entitled Vollkommene Tanzschule aller in Kompagnien und Bällen vorkommenden Tänzen. This first dance source to be printed in Slovenia, although written in German, raises a number of questions: Who was the author of this dance treatise? Where does Georg Link come from and where did he work? What bearing does his dance school have on the understanding of social dance culture at the end of the 18th century? Which dances does Link describe and how were they performed? Last but not least, there is the question of whether and how Georg Link influenced social dance in Slovenia.
Lidija Podlesnik Tomášiková
DANCE INSTRUCTORS FOR THE CARNIOLIAN STATES
A lecture on the social dance in Slovenia in the 19th century
In 1909, the provincial government in Ljubljana issued a concession to a Slovene dance teacher for the first time. Prior to this, a series of dance teachers from abroad had come to Ljubljana to compete for the position of provincial dance teacher; they opened their own dance schools, gained concessions and remained in the city for extended periods. In addition to these teachers, guest dance teachers regularly came to Ljubljana for individual dance courses or dance seasons. Advertisements in the daily newspaper announcing dance lessons reveal the occasional competing offer, the teaching methods of the individual teachers, dance forms, instructional novelties such as the six-step waltz, as well as the offer of dance teachers for teaching national dances and, indirectly, the increased interest in learning such dances. The rare extant dance schedules provide concrete evidence of the execution of specific social dances at public events, while the first dance handbooks printed in the Slovene language demonstrate the large interest of dancers in learning dance rules, as well as the efforts of individuals to proliferate the appropriate knowledge of dance gained abroad.
Tutors
LIEVEN BAERT is the founder of the Institute for Historical Dance Practice (IHDP) in Gent (Belgium). He performs in dance productions and teaches historical dance throughout Europe and the USA. In the course of his twenty-year career he specialized in the dances of the period between 15th and 19th centuries. He performed at numerous early music festivals throughout the world: in Utrecht, Glasgow, Darmstadt, Halle, Malmö, Madrid, Tokyo, London, Urbino and elsewhere. He is a guest teacher at the University College of Dance in Stockholm and the choreographer of the Landshuter Hochzeitsfest 1475, which reconstructs the wedding of a Polish princess with a nobleman from Landshut and is one of the most authentic and prestigious reconstructions of historical events in Europe. He teaches every year Historical dance at the Alicia Alonso Institute University Carlos III in Madrid. He choreographed for the Classical National Theatre in Madrid and worked for the Spanish Cultural Government. With his dance performances and educational programme he collaborates with the Antwerp Royal Ballet School, the Flemish Opera and several museums in Brussels. In 1990 he is nominated "Lauréat de Vocation" for his work on historical dance. In 2000 he organized in collaboration with the University of Ghent the first international colloquium on early dance. Since 2000 he is stage director for the Brussels Operetta Theatre.
LJOBA JENČE is a singer, storyteller and collector of Slovene oral folk tradition, who lives and works as a free-lance artist on the shores of the intermittent Cerknica Lake. She sings and tells stories to children and adults, conducts workshops on folk singing and the art of story-telling in Slovenia and abroad, explores new dimensions of the etheric tone and healing with the voice. She has recorded several CDs, among which two self-financed releases stand out: A Folk Song is Singing in Me (1992) and The Springs of Heart, Slovene Folk Songs to Celebrate Festivities of the Year (2001). The Lepote modrosti CD is dedicated to Dalai Lama’s first visit to Slovenia in 2002 on which the prayer of the Gyuto Tibetan monks and Ljoba’s singing of old Slovenian prayer songs intertwine. She sang her authorial songs for a film on Cerknica Lake. She sang at the opening of the exhibition of the millennium – The Birth Certificate of Slovene Culture, the presentation of Freising manuscripts at the National and University Library in Ljubljana. In a TV recital entitled Pojoči kamenčki directed by Jasna Hribernik, she presented her relation to folk songs in the region. In December 2009, she celebrated the 20th anniversary of her first public concert in the role of artistic director of a concert by KD Folk Slovenija entitled Ljubljanca, Ljubljanca, oh kaj se godi.
MARKO MOTNIK is a Slovene musician and musicologist working in Vienna. He graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, majoring in organ and harpsichord. There, he also obtained his MA in Instrumental Music Education and, in 2010, also his PhD degree with his thesis on Jacob Handl – Gallus. He works as an associate at the Saxonian Academy of Sciences in Leipzig (Bach-Archive) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences where he is doing research on 18th-century dance culture. He also cooperates with the archives in Eisenstadt in Burgenland, helping to catalogue musical manuscripts. Since 2006, he has been a member of Tantz-Art, an early dance ensemble based in Vienna.
LIDIJA PODLESNIK TOMÁŠIKOVÁ holds a bachelor’s degree in music pedagogy and musicology. Since 1997, she has been employed as librarian at the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. In the last ten years, she has focused intensely on perfecting her early dance techniques. She is currently completing a specialist study programme in the framework of the Institute for Historical Dance Practice in Gent under the mentorship of dancer and choreographer Lieven Baert. She organizes music and dance projects and workshops in the framework of KUD Cortesía, she teaches period dances at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana and regularly cooperates at the seminars of the permanent education programme for teachers at the Faculty of Sports and the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.
Daily schedules from Monday to Friday
9.30–13.30 Morning dance workshop conducted by Lieven Baert
15.00–17.00 Afternoon dance workshop with lectures
conducted by Lieven Baert and Lidija Podlesnik Tomášiková,
lectures will be given by the two workshop leaders or dr. Marko Motnik
17.00–19.00 Folk singing vocal workshop by Ljoba Jenče
Closing event: (to be announced at the seminar)
Tuition Fees: Payment at the latest by 10 October 2010
Entire seminar: 190 EUR, 160 EUR (students and pupils)
Dance workshop: 170 EUR, 140 EUR (students and pupils)
Vocal workshop: 90 EUR, 60 EUR (students and pupils)
Tuition Fees: Payment after 10 October 2010
Entire seminar: 290 EUR, 260 EUR (students and pupils)
Dance workshop: 270 EUR, 240 EUR (students and pupils)
Vocal workshop: 190 EUR, 160 EUR (students and pupils)
Information
KUD Cortesía
Ulica bratov Rozmanov 4
SI - 1000 Ljubljna
Tel.: +386 41 520 369
E-mail: info@cortesia-kud.si
www.cortesia-kud.si
Registration
Monday 25 October 2010, 9.00
Institute for Dance Arts Vija Vaja
Dolenjska cesta 43 (Rakovnik)
1000 Ljubljana
www.vija-vaja.org
Accommodation:
Please locate and book your accommodation by visiting www.hostelbookers.com , which lists the least expensive hostels, pensions or hotels in the centre Ljubljana. Dormitory (shared) rooms and private rooms: Alibi Hostel, Cankarjevo nabrežje 27 (15, 20 EUR), Hostel Simbol Castle, Petkovškovo nabrežje 47 (15 EUR), Penzijon Pod lipo, Borštnikov trg 3, www.penzion-podlipo.com (65 EUR double room for 2 people, 100 EUR for 4 people), Hotel Emonec, Wolfova 12, www.hotel-emonec.com (64 EUR, with breakfast).
