Erdély Ensemble

Summary: Ildikó Kalapács and Wayne Kraft founded the Erdély Ensemble in Spokane, Washington, in 1988. The Ensemble has devoted itself to the task of studying and performing dances form regions of Hungary and Transylvania (Romania) where astoundingly rich folk traditions once flourished. Due to the pressures of urbanization and 20th century life–as well as the repression of the former Romanian dictatorship–, many of these folk traditions have vanished or are near vanishing. Some of the dances we are studying have been called back into life from film documents made some decades ago.