VOLKSTANZ ODER FOLKLORE-DARBIETUNG? DIE FORTFÜHRUNG DES SIEBENBÜRGISCH-SÄCHSISCHEN VOLKSTANZES DURCH JUGENDLICHE IN SIEBENBÜRGEN
Folk Dance or Folklore Performance? The Continuation of the Transylvanian Saxon Folk Dance Tradition by Youth in Transylvania

Summary/Abstract: The population census of 2011 in Romania counted almost 40,000 members of the German minority, one third of which living in the area formerly inhabited by the Transylvanian Saxons. However, we encounter youth dance groups wearing the traditional national costumes at various cultural events or folk festivals. At the beginning of 2022 there were nine youth folk dance groups with regular activity in eight Transylvanian towns, alongside many groups with temporary activity on various occasions in German language nursery schools or schools. The specialist literature on the registration and preservation of the Transylvanian Saxon immaterial heritage or reports on cultural life has devoted less attention to folk dances than to other elements of the Saxon cultural heritage such as folk songs, linguistic varieties and peculiarities, fairy tales and legends, respectively choirs, brass bands and theatre groups. This study is an approach to the issue of the preservation of the traditional Transylvanian-Saxon folk dances by the youth groups in Transylvania. The aim of our research was to find out who the members of such youth folk dance groups are (their ethnic and cultural background), their perception of this tradition and their motivation to learn, practise and hand down this tradition.

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