Writer’s Choice

UW–Madison Folk Ball Festival

Dancing a rousing hora or kolo is unparalleled for piercing the midwinter cocoon of melancholy. Michael Kuharski says to trust him on this. He’s been the UW–Madison Folk Ball Festival’s director — “in other words, chief architect, diplomat and worrier,” he says — for most of its 18-year history. This year the annual event, put on by the student-run Madison Folk Dance Club, is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, March 3-5.

Kuharski, now artistic director of Madison’s Eastern European folk dance troupe Narodno (pan-Slavic for “of the people”), made his initial acquaintance with folk dancing as a freshman at UW–Madison.

“My passion for the variety and intensity of Balkan dancing has driven me to at least a dozen journeys through the region,” which includes Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Turkey, he says.

Last summer, for example, Kuharski and folkdance comrade Richard Miller visited Albania in search of long-lost relatives.

“Richard’s grandfather had come to America in 1910, and in the half-century since his death, no communication with the old country had been possible,” Kuharski says. “Richard had only a name, a city, the clan’s traditional trade (they were butchers) and a family photo of a great-uncle. Albania is a small country, though, and we found his people, still living in the same neighborhood, even the very house of his grandfather. They were overjoyed to be reunited with American cousins! Richard will share this adventure at the festival in a multimedia travelogue.”

In addition to his work with Narodno, Kuharski also teaches informally on campus on Sunday and Wednesday nights. His involvement with the Madison folk dance community spans some 36 years, so he is well-equipped to act as informal historian of Madison’s folk dance scene.

In the beginning, for example, the Folk Ball and its related workshops occupied one hectic day, usually in January, he says.

“We have grown the festival from a one-shot evening party for Madison dancers to a major regional festival bringing hundreds of enthusiasts from all over the Midwest and beyond. We get regulars now from Ohio, Nebraska and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula,” he says.

Kuharski says the 2006 festival will explore the dance, music and culture of Romania, Lithuania, Serbia, Finland, Argentina, the Romanies (Gypsies), the American West (yodeling) and more.

In recent years the festival has drawn upwards of 750 participants, Kuharski says.

“It’s hard to keep an exact count, though, because the festival is free, open to the public, and we don’t require tickets or registration,” he says. Many are repeaters: “Participants have a strong sense of camaraderie and belonging. When they all get together it’s a festive reunion!” he says.

Kuharski has reserved Great Hall for next year’s festival on Friday-Sunday, Jan. 26-28, 2007. “Personally, I’d like to feature South Indian dances at that festival,” he says. “There are some outstanding teachers and performers active in Madison now, and I’d love to share them with a wider audience.”

All activities this year will take place in Memorial Union’s Great Hall, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3. For a complete schedule, visit http://plantpath.wisc.edu/~tdd/folkball.htm.