Folk Dance and Music Festival

The Folk Dance and Music Festival took place for the 34th time on 8-9 November 2024 in Sfântu Gheorghe, organised by the Háromszék Dance Theatre and the László Lajtha Foundation.

The venue of the two-day meeting on Saturday, 9 November was again the Sepsi Arena, where a rich and varied programme awaited all ages.

In recent years the event has grown into one of the most important folklore events in Transylvania, providing an outstanding stage for the cultural programme of Sfântu Gheorghe.

This year the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble was the guest of honour of our event, they brought two performances to the festival. We had a folk dance gala for the little ones and young people, we invited Paár Julcsi, Tímár Sára and her orchestra, Szalonna and her Band, Kálmán Balogh cimbalom player, István Papp Gázsa, one of the founders of the Transylvanian dance house movement, but also children's activities, professional lectures, photo exhibition, film screening and dance houses were waiting for the interested visitors.

The Folk Dance and Music Festival was held for the 33rd time between 10-11 November 2023 in Sfântu Gheorghe, organized by Háromszék Dance Ensemble and the László Lajtha Foundation.

In recent years, the event has become one of the most important folklore events in Szeklerland, providing an outstanding stage for the cultural programme of Sfântu Gheorghe. Year after year, the visiting dancers and musicians offer the audience a valuable folklore experience. This time, the wonderful dance and music world of Mezőség took centre stage, with traditional dancers and musicians from Visa and Magyarpalatka.

The venue of the meeting on Saturday 11 November was again the Sepsi Arena, where the organisers welcomed all ages with a rich and varied programme.

This year, the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble was the special guest of the event, with two performances - The Dawn Moon and On the Market Square in Cluj. The 9th Székelyföld Legényesverseny was held, András Berecz, István Pál Szalonna and his Band performed, and there were several exhibitions, film screenings, book presentations and exciting folk dance houses.

The main programme of the festival in 2022 was again hosted in the Sepsi Arena on the 12th of November, where we were waiting all ages with rich and interesting programmes. Several generations of folk dancers and folk musicians performed in a gala programme. The 8th Lad's Dance Competition from Szeklerland was held, as well as the Aurora Folkglamour costume show, dance and singing lessons, film screenings, instrumental demonstrations, a photo corner and a photo exhibition. There were exciting concerts, including a folk music concert, and a concert by Julcsi Paár and her band. In the morning, 14 children's folk dance groups and nearly 400 young people performed on the main stage of the Arena. The Danube Art Ensemble was the special guest of the event. The company presented two performances to the audience of Sfântu Gheorghe: on Friday they presented the production "Seven Towers" at the Tamási Áron Theatre and on Saturday they performed "Our Love, Kalotaszeg" on the main stage of the Arena. The 2022 edition of the festival attracted nearly 3000 visitors. 

The National Hungarian Dance Ensemble was the special guest of the 31st Folk Dance and Music Festival, presenting the performances of Mezőség, Kalotaszeg and Táncrapszódia to the audience of the city. The programme also included a folk music concert by Gázsa 60, a charity concert in support of elderly musicians, the 7th Lad's Dance Competition from Szeklerland, a costume show by Aurora Folkglamour and a presentation of the folk dance repertoire project of the Hungarian Folk Dance Association in Romania. Young folk dancers of different ages also took part in the event, with at least 300 young people taking part at the Youth Gala and the Young Talents Gala. The children's programme was crowned by a performance of the Oradea Dance Company VANmeSE. 

The main programme of our jubilee event was organised for the first time in the Sepsi Arena, where we welcomed folk music and folk dance lovers of all ages with a rich and high-quality programme. The jubilee edition was much more substantial and complex than previous events, with 806 performers, 137 invited participants and 2014 visitors. The gigantic new venue made it possible to run parallel programmes, reaching a wide range of age groups at the same time. 

The main guest of the festival was the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, who performed Tánckánon - Hommage à Zoltán Kodály and the performance "Megidézett Kárpátalja". The Children's Ball and the Young Talent Show featured performances by the folk dance groups of Covasna County, a children's concert by the Kolompos ensemble, and children were invited to participate in craft activities, dance classes and children's dance workshops. The programme of the festival included the 5th Lad's Dance Competition from Szeklerland as well. The multimedia publication "Forrásvidéken" was presented, made of audio, photo and video recordings of the contributors to the book with the same title by Réka Fekete and Csaba Ferencz (Sfântu Gheorghe, 2013). During the event, a giant exhibition of Gyula Ádám's photographs was on display in the foyer of the Arena. An exciting feature of the festival was the presence of the Virtual House of Traditions, where participants could tour the House of Traditions through VR (virtual reality) glasses, using the latest technology. A charity concert was held to support elderly Transylvanian data-transmitting musicians, organised by the bands Heveder, Folker, Kedves, Tokos, Cickom, Harai, the Association of Transylvanian Hungarian Folk Musicians and the House of Traditions. The main event of the festival was a Gala performance by the invited traditional musicians and dancers from Maros, Küküllő, Gyergyó, Felcsik and Sovia, starting at 6 pm. The Tatrospart Folk Dance Group (Audience Award Winner of the 2017 Peacock Festival), Levente Vaszi (Audience Award Winner of the 2014 Peacock Festival), Gergely Bartha and Jolán Bartha (Masters of Folk Arts), the host Háromszék Dance Ensemble and the Heveder Orchestra also performed. 

The 30th Folk Dance and Music Festival was a great success and attracted visitors from all over Transylvania. A new chapter in the history of our event has begun, which now focuses on living the folklore that has been handed down to us, rather than collecting dance and music material.