The call Isolated tradition – Island of traditions of the Bartók Cultural Dance Association is not their first successful project of adult education. They won their first grant in 2014, when delegates of the association could participate in a month-long Italian course and two extended weekends in the Czech Republic teaching folk dances. The aim of the language course was to establish partnerships with Italians. In 2015, there were successful cooperation projects with Hungarian communities abroad, and then in 2016, the investment of 2014 call seemed to pay of, as the association had managed to establish a living partnership with an Italian or more specifically, a Sardinian dance ensemble.
The primary goal of this year’s call was to acquire Sardinian folk dances, which in turn could be passed on to the young adult groups of the Bartók Dance Ensemble. The secondary goal was to gain insight into the operation, structure and management of a Sardinian dance ensemble.
Four dancers participated in the project consisting a single mobility project; three of whom are or were active officers of the dance ensemble, and two of them were active in the ensemble as dance instructors.
During the project (all together 11 days), the participants had the opportunity to acquire the most typical Sardinian dances (passu torrau, dillaru, ballu del marghine, dansa, logudoresa sera), more particularly, the varieties characteristic of the region of Marghine. Two choreographies of the Macomer dance ensemble was learned alongside with the history and folklore background of the dances. The cooperation with the host institution was constructive; they welcomed the participants with openness and hospitality, the original schedule was enriched with further programmes. In times spent on their own, the participants visited local ethnography museums.
As the result of the project, the participants acquired the basics of Sardinian dances to the extent that they could be conveyed to the members of the home ensemble. Furthermore, it is an important gain that the participants could become more familiar with the Sardinian culture and identity and could therefore develop a more open and positive attitude towards the island and its residents. The project seemed to have yielded a long-time cooperation which would also involve the Bartók Dance Ensemble (also) as the host partner.