Hey Astrid, you're so lucky to have taken classes with Sema! She's great!!

Hi,
I went to Hungary for one summer when I was 19 (now I'm 34) and had classes in Hungarian Gypsy dance by Gusztav Balázs who was the unquestioned king of the scene then. Since he also did a thesis on this form of dance he took some of the participants of the seminary to the villages where he was shooting material so I got to see the dancing there, also enjoyed the hospitality of his folks. I remember washing my face in the little yard with cold water from where the animals drank. The obligatory little field with sunflowers was right behind me. Also I went to the 2 days festival of gypsy dance in a smalltown (Nagykaniza? I'm not sure), very funny and unorganized, and later, "Tzigantysz" in Budapest, a smaller festival.

They play guitar, but that's more modern. It's song, voice-effects, wooden spoons and a tin milk can they close and open with their palms, making hollow sounds. The men get the better part of the dancing, they make more of a show than the women: they jump a lot, hitting their thighs and ankles with their palms, they do skilful turns. There is a game where the man tries to get into the back of the woman, the woman has to avoid this, if she manages, she wins the game.
The women accompany their dancing snapping the fingers. They do a lot of small steps or half turns on their heels and they are cool if they manage to sort of "glide". Generally they dance man and woman together but it isn't obligatory, they'd also do solos.