The local folklore ensembles in southern Dolj county, which operate with the support of the town halls and local councils, are trying to bring back to the community both the costumes and forgotten popular dances.

The choreographer of the Hora Desnatuiului Ensemble, which belongs to the Adrian Paunescu House of Culture in Barca commune, Marga Chiurtu, says that there are few traditions and dances left in the life of the community, which is why the amateur ensemble, made up of over 40 members, counting for three generations, tries to bring them back to the collective memory from the folklore collections, because Dolj County is one of the richest folklore hearths in the country.

Photo source: Marga Chiurtu / Personal Archive

"The ensemble founded in 2015 consists of three groups of dancers: the small group, with children from 6-7 years old up to 12 years old; the group of teenagers and young people, made up of students from the Adrian Paunescu High School in Barca and other children from the commune who have finished high school and who are currently students or working; and the third group made up of adults, mostly the parents of the children in the ensemble who, coming with them to the rehearsal, eventually grew to love it and asked if they could not dance as well, thus moulding this group with three generations of dancers. And this became our characteristic as an ensemble in the area: the only ensemble with three generations of dancers, some of which are all members of a family: both children and both parents," Marga Chiurtu told AGERPRES.

The costumes are hand made, according to a model from the area, at the Acul si Ata (Needle and Thread) Cooperative in Ponoare, Gorj County, because in the locality there is only one woman who still works at home, just for her joy and not for commercialization.

"The dances are the ones from the area, but, because the repertoire needs to be enriched, we also learn the dances left in the folklore collections, because there are very few dances left in the life of the community that are used at various events, such as weddings, baptisms, the village choir, etc.," says the choreographer Marga Chiurtu.

Photo source: Marga Chiurtu / Personal Archive

The coordinator of the Bordeiasul Ensemble from Bechet, Marinela Sfetcu, says that in the last period the children's interest in this activity has decreased, because in fact the parents' interest has decreased.

"They are children from the theoretical high school, starting from kindergarten, i.e. 4 years old, up to a maximum of 15 years old, because the adults are less attracted to traditions and don't want to come anymore. As such, the children in the group are a maximum of 15 years and we have about 25 children who dance very well and we have another group of 12-13 children that we are trying to train. During school they rehearse on Saturdays and Sundays, and during the holidays they rehearse almost daily, especially when it gets closer a festival or a contest, at the House of Culture or in the central park, on the stage, to get used to the stage," Marinela Sfetcu tells AGERPRES.

Photo: (c) Marinela Sfetcu / Personal Archive

The costumes were purchased from the local elders, and some of them were made in 2019 in Antoneta Nadu's workshop, Arta la sat, where the two-piece wool skirts were woven exactly as they were done in the old days, and the traditional blouse ia and hems were made in the workshop from Dabuleni, Altita.

"As a model, we have the 'ear of wheat', specific to our southern area. So they are made in the workshop as they used to be. We have 12 pairs of suits and they are all the same, including the boys' trousers were also made in the lady's workshop Antoneta Nadu, Arta la sat, exactly how the costume is in Oltenia, in the Bechet area. The number of boys is smaller than the number of girls, and this is a problem for all ensembles, because the boys don't really want to dance anymore. The dances on which we learn are Galaonul, Rustemul, Alunelul, Ciuleandra, Bordeiasul, which is specific to the southern area, and Brauletul and Galaonul seem to them the most difficult," says the coordinator of the Ensemble from Bechet.

Photo: Marinela Sfetcu / Personal Archive

Marinela Sfetcu believes that at the national level, more should be done on the side of traditions, consistent things to support local initiatives.

The artistic ensemble Marin Chisar from Goicea commune, which bears the name of the well-known whistle, piper and Kaval performer, virtuoso who was from here, is one of the well-known ensembles in the country, which has won numerous prizes at festivals and competitions, but also stopped working after the pandemic. The coordinator Marin Starcu says that there are promises from the mayor of the locality regarding the resumption of the activity.
"But let's see, because the people are in the village, they are not gone, and the children can't wait".

"We had 22 pairs of dancers, plus about 13 musicians. I understand that the costumes would have already been purchased. The former mayor Petria Ion helped us a lot. We founded this ensemble in 2000 from scratch, from primary classes, and I went with them to Greece, Turkey, to festivals all over the country, to television shows. The children can't wait for us to start again, because here they don't really have other possibilities for fun and spending their free time," reveals Marin Starcu, who also contributed to the establishment of the Maria Tanase Ensemble of Craiova.

Goicea, a locality with many families of talented violinists, is also famous for its folk dances.

"Our dances are from Goicea and are famous throughout the country and beyond. They also came from Japan to my home to learn the games from Goicea. They stayed for 4-5 days, I couldn't get rid of the Japanese. Americans also came, because we have special dances and they wanted to see if they can dance like we dance. We have authentic dances, which we learned from the elders and staged. We have more than 100 popular dances: Galaonul, Poloxia , Brauletul, Joiana, Bobocica, Alunelul batranesc, Alunelul miscat. There are many. We are not so good at folk costumes, because we don't have much," says Marin Starcu, the one who over time also founded the Electroputere Mugurelul Ensemble, The Intreprinderea de Utilaj Greu ensemble, with which he won the grand prize at the Sibiu Festival in one year.

The director of the Dolj County Center for the Conservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, Amelia Etegan, states that, in Dolj County, the last 20 years have meant a revival of artistic activity from a different perspective than the one that valorized the artistic element until 1989.

Director of the County Centre for the Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture Dolj Amelia Etegan

Photo: (c) Amelia Etegan/Personal Archive

She claims that only on the part of the folk costume must be intervened, in order to stop this trend, any syncope bringing with it the loss of real traditional values.AGERPRES(RO - author: Maria Mitrica, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - editor: Maria Voican)