William Penn Life, 1987 (22. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-07-01 / 7. szám
July 1987, William Penn Life, Page 3 The importance of Pontozó Participation, dedication and financial support can make all the difference ..Kultúrát nem lehet örökölni. Az elődök kultúrája egykettőre elpárolog, ha minden nemzedék újra meg újra meg nem szerzi magának." By Kalman Dreisziger Zoltán Kodaly’s warning cuts close to the bone for American Hungarians. Its meaning is simple and clear: it’s not enough to have Hungarian roots. Those roots must be cultivated, otherwise they will wither and die. What’s more, this work of cultivation is not easy. Nor does it come naturally. There is no provision in our mainstream consumer culture for learning about our Hungarian roots. Bert and Ernie don’t speak Hungarian. You can’t order "McDebreceni” at the Golden Arches. The Muzsikás Ensemble never makes the top ten. The sense of Hungarian identity, the language and the acculturation process has to start in the family. But as children grow their horizons widen, and the broader community becomes more important. Here is where the child’s Hungarian identity faces its crucial test. If there is a supportive desirable micro community for the child to grow into, then the acculturation process can continue. If not, then Hungarian identity will melt in the great American pot or peer pressure, unilingual schooling and mainstream consumer culture. I’ve said it before: cultivating Hungarian roots is an uphill battle. That’s why I was delighted by Pontozo ’87, the recent Hungarian folk dance festival organized in Pittsburgh by the Magyar Folk Dancers of McKeesport, Pa. with the financial backing of the William Penn. The festival was a living testimony to the hard work of the participating American Hungarian communities in keeping their folk culture alive. In more than three hours of continuous performance with more than 20 stage numbers, close to 100 young people enthralled the audience with dances, songs and music. With their spirited delivery and colorful costumes, they wove a bouquet of Hungarian folk art that spanned the Hungarian speaking region of central Europe from Rabakoz near the Austrian border all the way to Gimes on the eastern margin of Transylvania. This is not the place for a detailed description of the day’s events. The forum for that was provided on the day of the festival when Zoltán Zsurafszky and Zsuzsanna Vince, eminent young folk dancers from Hungary, gave a thorough evaluation to the participating groups. What I want to emphasize here is the vital importance of the festival itself. The Pontozo festival is the brain child of Kalman and Jutka Magyar of Teaneck, N.J., who organized the first such event in Garfield, N.J. in 1974. Since then, Pontozo regional festivals have been held bi-yearly in New Jersey, annually in southern Ontario and occasionally in Montreal, Cleveland and California. In my estimation, well over 2,000 young people have participated in these festivals and they have provided meaningful entertainment for thousands and thousands of spectators. But the real importance of Pontozo is this: it provides a forum for young American Hungarians not only to perform but also to make contacts, to watch others dance and to dance with each other at Táncház after the festival. In short, it allows them to build their own instant community. The proof of this could be seen at Pittsburgh in the tears and embraces as boys and girls said good-by to each other and boarded buses and car caravans that would take them back to Niagra Falls, Toronto, New York or Toledo. Pontozo is a joyful experience built on sweat. Only the participating groups know how many hours of practice, costume preparation, bake sales and fund raising drives stand behind a 10-minute festival performance. Only host groups, like the Magyar Folk dancers of McKeesport, know what additional superhuman efforts are required to organize and run a festival. And, yet, communities and individuals have been working tirelessly for more than a decade and have made Pontozo a leading Hungarian cultural movement in America. The curious thing is, up to this time, Dancers practice for their Pontozo routine in the shadows of the University of Pittsburgh’s famous Cathedral of Learning. not one leading American Hungarian organization had given support to Pontozo. That’s why the help offered by the William Penn Association for this year’s festival is so significant. The William Penn’s financial support enable Pontozo to become a more professionally staged event and made it possible for us to import the finest folk dance experts from Hungary and provide them to participating groups free of charge for workshops and detailed evaluation. More importantly, the William Penn Association gave Pontozo — for the first time — the sanction of official recognition by the largest Hungarian organization in America. In the battle to maintain Hungarian identity and to cultivate Hungarian roots, that’s great news! (A native of Hungary, Kalman Dreisziger has organized successful Pontozo festivals in Canada since 1976 and has served as the artistic director of the Kodály Dance Ensemble of Toronto since 1981. He has performed field research in Hungary and Transylvania and has taught numerous performing groups in the U.S. and Canada. He served as a consultant to Pontozo ’87.) Centenniol Rememberonces Herend Plates (includes shipping).. .........$30.00 Pen & Pencil Sets........................$5.00 WPA T-Shirts...............................$3.50 Send check or money order to: William Penn Association 709 Brighton Road, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15233 Stage performances like this one represent only one aspect of Pontozo. The táncház offers an informal means of preserving the Hungarian heritage.
