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The Society of Folk Dance Historians (SFDH)
Afterword
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To you from failing hands we throw

the torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
we shall not sleep ...
~ John McCrae, May 3, 1915
Researching the Problem Solver series for 36 years with its 758 dances and 24 articles, editing this Report for 34 years, compiling the Folk Dance Phone Book & Group Directory for 30 years, answering hundreds of requests for information, carefully evaluating each word because some people can be so darn touchy – I have thought quite a lot about what we have done and what we are doing as recreational international folk dancers. Certain answers have begun to crystalize, answers that some folks will welcome but others may internalize as indicting. If the shoe fits, ....
Here they are.
1 Folk dance is the social dance of other people or other times. If our culture does it, we call it social dance. If someone else's culture does it, they call it social dance, but we call it folk dance. For example, the Van Puyveldes (c. 1979, Some Reflections on Flemish Dances, Moline IL: The Center for Belgian Culture, unpaged) wrote about the dance Streep: "It is remarkable that the Streep has never been worthy to be noted as a folk-dance. May be most of the people knew that dance so well that it wasn't accepted as a folk-dance."
2 We are not alone. Everyone is curious about other peoples. English country dancers of the 19th century named their formations and dances after other places: Ecossaise ("Scottish"), Spanish dance, Circassian circle, Swedish dance, .... The 19th century Russian ballroom saw dances named on themes from America, Armenia, Georgia, Hungary, France, Spain, Ukraine, ... to list some that come to mind. Sweden had Ling aesthetic gymnastics that included international folk dances. Ballet, of course, has its Character dances that represent many ethnic groups. So if folk dance is the dance of other people or other times, we 20th century North Americans were belatedly joining others in our curiosity, our search for truths. Web searches now satisfy that curiosity, making the activity of international folk dancing less important (but not unimportant) in people's lives.
3 Folk dancing as I found it in 1955 began with Mary Wood Hinman of Chicago, who taught social dance in her home in the 1890s and included social dances of other peoples. Then, the physical education people in New York took over and carried the bulk of the movement until social clubs formed in 1931 (Montclair NJ) and 1932 (Chicago). Following a gap in the documentary record, Song Chang in 1937 in San Francisco and Michael and Mary Ann Herman in 1939 in New York City started their clubs, and everything we do today followed from these roots.
4 Until about 1970, folk dancing required a pianist or hundreds of phonograph records. A record in those days cost about as much as a laborer could earn in an hour, so folk dancing required the resources of a social club. In the late 1960s, cheap music via the compact cassette allowed clubs to splinter over differences in philosophy or focus, losing that critical mass needed for continuity.
5 One difference in philosophy actually had crystalized by Oct. 1948, when Song Chang argued for fewer dances (but done "better"), and true folk dances rather than made-up dances (Let's Dance, p. 9). Others recoiled (and still recoil), demanding "fun" over "folk." By definition, folk dancing is the re-creation of artifacts from other cultures. The made-up dances foisted upon us today actually are our social dances, not someone else's, and also have not undergone the winnowing effect of time. If you want to perform the hundreds of cute, made-up "walk-walk-step-lift-1-2-3" dances inundating us today, wonderful! Enjoy! Just don't call it folk dance. Call it social dance, aerobics, line dance, art dance, Sacred Circle, interpretive dance, Creative Anachronisms, or whatever. But not folk dance.
6 Striving for authenticity (re-creating an artifact as carefully as you can) is commendable, especially in folk dance, but I give you three caveats:
6a How much authenticity is enough? Are the movements enough? Are costumes required? Special shoes? Music? Cuisine? Given all these, what about physiognomy? Most American folk dancers who dance Tanko Bushi will never pass for Japanese. The Japanese dancers in their Mexican dance troupe in Japan will never pass for Mexican. The Mexican dancers in their German dance troupe in Mexico City will never pass for German. The German dancers in that Bulgarian dance troupe in Berlin will never pass for Bulgarian. And on and on. (Yes, these are real examples.) We should encourage for everyone the joy of folk dancing, but when does striving for more authenticity become pointless or even ludicrous?
6b Hyperreality: Can we become "more Greek than the Greeks?" And if we do become "more Greek than the Greeks," have we committed cultural appropriation? And is cultural appropriation the sincerest form of flattery – or theft?
6c Folklore is not always kind, especially to marginalized groups such as women and the elderly. In the song to Raatikko, Finns throw old women off a cliff or otherwise hide them from eligible young men. In the story behind Bitte Mand i KnibbeDrei Lederne StrompfEspunyolet, some American men flick up the woman's skirts, negating the very essence of this ritual dance, just for the sight of a woman's – uh – petticoats? In Los Viejitos, elderly Mexican men attempt and fail to regain their youth. In Stara Vlaina, old Serb Vlachs are vital only through dance. So strong is the desire to titillate the imagination that we invent stories where none exist: no, Aino Kchume does not represent Assyrian men showing off women in the slave market. We have tens of thousands of dances to choose from. Do we really need to perpetuate for our amusement those dances that denigrate women and the elderly?
7 Cultural appropriation: how can we possibly know all the nuances of foreign words and songs? For example, the dances to Marching Through Georgia and Dixie (exquisite tunes!) perpetuate memories of, respectively: military campaigns against civilian populations, and slavery. Foreigners cannot know this, just as American teachers cannot know all the nuances of the foreign songs that they appropriate for their made-up dances.
8 We have good teachers today, almost as entertaining as Dick Crum. But "teacher" does not equal "leader." Who today leads on the national level of Lloyd Shaw or Jane Farwell or Sanna Longden? Who today has the vision of Vyts Beliajus or Alura Flores? Who today has the disregard for money that we saw in Jane or Vyts? Who today has fought so hard to keep styling in folk dance as Sanna? Who has done more to embrace local ethnic groups than Floyd Davis or Forrest Johnson? And on and on. The point is: demand more from would-be leaders.
9 Our 30-year survey of the demographics of American recreational international folk dancing demonstrate a dearth of male dancers, a fact you women did not need a study to realize. It wasn't always like this. In the 1970s, guys danced. My group sometimes had too many guys for the women. For whatever reason, groups started dropping couple dances – and guys stopped coming – which led to fewer couple dances – which meant fewer guys .... A self-reinforcing feedback loop. Other factors may be involved, but if you want folk dancing to continue, you ignore the couple dance factor at your peril.
10 What happened to recreation in folk dancing? The best folk dance parties and camps were planned in situ and impromptu with materials at hand. Emerson and Kathy will remember the Viking ship constructed out of found lumber. Henry will remember the Chinese dragon created out of cardboard boxes. Mary and John will remember the bedroll elephant. Everyone helped in the kitchen, or swept the floor, or whatever was needed. Anyone could join the pick-up band. We had sing-alongs and dances, not concerts. In short, people made their own entertainment, which is the essence of the recreation Jane Farwell taught, using folk dance as a means, not as the end. We don't stop doing things because we get old, we get old because we stop doing things – we stop recreating.
11 I accused Rickey Holden (Folkraft Records) of issuing new records for profit. He said no – dancers demanded novelty. Folk dancing started with Scandinavian, expanded through Europe, then Israel and the Balkans, then the wider Middle East, and now worldwide. "Natural" disasters and wars familiarized us with foreign geography, so we sought yet new areas. Not finding new areas, we gravitated to the creators of fake foreign dances. So, I revise Point 2 above: we desire novelty more than answers or truths. Only you, the membership, the top 3% of folk dancers, have demonstrated otherwise over the years.
I thank you.
Used with permission of the author.
Printed in Report to Members, September 30, 2022.
Society of Folk Dance Historians, Austin, Texas
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