The Vocal-Instrumental Dance Form Gara: Vital Manifestation of Dance Genre Kolo u Tri within the Wedding Ritual in Serbia

Year 2023, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 14 - 27, 30.11.2023

Katarina Nikolić

https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2023-1245756

Abstract

Kolo u tri is a dance genre characterized by a lateral symmetric eight-measure dance pattern movement and its four-measure phrase in the dichotomous organization. The appearance of this genre is recognized through numerous names, melodies, and sometimes specific kinetic contents (the most famous are moravac, užičko kolo, Žikino kolo). One of the manifestations of the dance genre kolo u tri is also a vocal-instrumental dance form – gara (pl.: gare). Gara includes simultaneous singing of improvisatory lyrics by the singer, instrumental accompaniment by an orchestra, and kinetic performance of an eight-measure dance pattern which are standard features that belong to the genre kolo u tri. Based on empirical information documented at the wedding ritual in the village Stajićevo (Banat area, North Serbia) in 2016, this paper will illustrate and define the essential structural-formal features from a dance perspective. Moreover, the paper will do a poetic and musical analysis to show all characteristics of this syncretic form composed of words, music, and movements.

Keywords

Gara, kolo u tri, Banat area

References

• Bakka, E., & Karoblis, G. (2010). Writing a Dance: Epistemology for Dance Research. Yearbook of Traditional Music, 42, Cambridge University Press, 167-193. google scholar
• Fügedi, J. (2016). Basics of Laban Kinetography for Traditional Dancers. Budapest: Institute for Musicology. google scholar
• Dubic, D. (2016). The Interview with Durad Cubic done during the Wedding in Stajicevo by Katarina Nikolic, March 2016. (private author’s archive) google scholar
• Golemovic, D. (1984). Narodnimuzicar Krstivoje Subotic [Traditional Musician Krstivoje Subotic]. IstraHvanja 1. Valjevska Kolubara. Valjevo: Narodni muzej, 29-153 /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Guja, Z. (2017). Narodna muzicka tradicija Pala i okoline [Traditional Music Tradition ofPale and Its Surroundings]. Pale: Narodna biblioteka /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Giurchescu, A., & Kröschlova, E. (2007). Theory and Method of Dance Form Analysis. In: Kaeppler, A. L. and Dunin, E. I. (Eds.), Dance Structures. Perspectives on the Analysis of Human Movement (pp. 21-53). Budapest: Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. google scholar
• Kaeppler, A.L., & Dunin, E.I. (Eds.). (2007). Dance Structures. Perspectives on the Analysis of Human Movement. Budapest: Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. google scholar
• Knust, A. (1979). Dictionary of Kinetography Laban (Labanotation). Estover, Plymouth: MacDonald and Evans. google scholar
• Nikolic, K. (2016). Osnovne karakteristike kineticke komponente vokalno-instrumentalne plesne forme gara [The Fundamental Characteristic of the Kinetic Component of Vocal-Instrumental Dance Form Gara]. Seminar paper presented at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade within the mentorship ofSelena Rakocevic. Belgrade: Faculty of Music (manuscript) /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Nikolic, K. (2023). 04 Gare YouTube_Wedding_Stajicevo_March_2016. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/OJ2dvFjWKwE. google scholar
• Pandurevic, J. (2017). Erotske metafore i poetika postfolklora [Erotic Metaphors and Poetics of Post-Folklore]. Naucni sastanak slavista u Vukove dane, 47(2), 107-119 /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Panic, D.K. (2012). Arhaicno i savremeno u tradicionalnoj muzici danas na primjeru izvornjaka vokalno-instrumentalnih sastava sjeveroistocne Bosne i Posavine [Archaic and Contemporary in Traditional Music Today on the Example of the ‘Original’ Vocal-Instrumental Ensembles of Northeastern Bosnia andPosavina] (Doctoral dissertation, Academy of Arts in Banja Luka). Banja Luka: Akademija umjetnosti (manuscript) /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Panic, D.K. (2016). The Conversation with Dragica Panic Kasanski through online platform (gmail) in March and May 2016. (Transcript in the private archive of author) google scholar
• Radinovic, S. (2011). Oblik i rec: zakonomernosti melopoetskog oblikovanja srpskih narodnih pesama kao osnova za metodologiju formalne analize [he Form and Word: Regularity of the Melopoetic Shaping of Serbian Folk Songs as the Basis for the Methodology of Formal Analysis]. Beograd: Fakultet muzicke umetnosti /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Rakocevic, S. (2011). Igre plesnih struktura: tradicionalna igra i muzika za igru Srba u Banatu u svetlu uzajamnih uticaja [Interweaving Dance Structures: Traditional Dance and Music of Banat Serbs in the Light of Mutual Influences]. Beograd: Fakultet muzicke umetnosti /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Rakocevic, S. (2012). Interweaving Dance and Music Structures: Labanotation as a Tool for Comparative Analysis of Traditional Dance and Dance Music Structures. In Proceedings of the 27th Biennial ICKL Conference held at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Institutefor Musicology, Budapest, Hungary, July 31 -August 7, 2011 (pp.34-44). International Council of Kinetography Laban. google scholar
• Rakocevic, S. (2015a) Teorjski aspekti etnokoreoloskih/etnomuzikoloskih interpretacja svadbenog rituala u Srbji [Theoretical Aspects of Ethnochoreological/Ethnomusicological Interpretation of Wedding Ritual in Serbia]. In Zbornik radova 1. naucni i umetnicki simpozjum „Muzika izmedu teorje iprakse” (pp. 78-90). Novi Sad: Akademija umetnosti Univerziteta u Novom Sadu/in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Rakocevic, S. (2015b). Ethnochoreology as an Interdiscipline in a Postdisciplinary Era: A Historiography of Dance Scholarship in Serbia. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 47(2), ICTM. google scholar
• Rakocevic, S., & Ranisavljevic, Z. (2018). Challenges of Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Nomination File Kolo Traditional Folk Dance. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Music and Dance Studies Symposium (pp. 121-134). Trabzon: Trabzon University State Conservatory. google scholar
• Ranisavljevic, Z. (2014) Osnovni principi formalnog oblikovanja igracke komponente plesnog zanra kolo u tri [The Basic Principles of Formal Shaping of the Kinetic Component Dance Genre Kolo u Tri]. In Vlado Milosevic: etnomuzikolog, kompozitor i pedagog: Tradicija kao inspiracja (pp. 426-442). Banja Luka: Akademja umjetnosti Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci i Muzikolosko drustvo Republike Srbje /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• Ranisavljevic, Z. (2022). Kolo: tradicionalni ples u Srbji - kontekstualni i formalni aspekti [Kolo: Traditional Dance in Serbia - Contextual and Formal Aspects]. (Doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Department of Ethnomusicology). Beograd: Fakultet muzicke umetnosti (manuscript) /in Cyrillic/. google scholar
• UNESCO (2017). Kolo, Traditional Dance. Retrieved from https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/kolo-traditional-folk-dance-01270. google scholar
• Vasic, O. (1984). Kolo u tri Krstivoja Subotica [Kolo u tri of Krstivoje Subotic]. Istrazivanja 1. Valjevska Kolubara. Valjevo: Narodni muzej, 155182. google scholar
• Vasic, O. (2002). Osnovni igracki obrasci Srbije [The Main Dance Patterns in Serbia]. In Muzika kroz misao. Beograd: Fakultet muzicke umetnosti, 266274. google scholar
• Vucicevic, S. (2016). Analiticki postupci u sagledavanju plesno-vokalno-instrumentalne forme gara [Analytical Procedures in Interpretation of the Dance-Vocal-Instrumental Form Gara]. In STES. Studenti u susret nauci “Nauka danasnjice je tehonologija buducnosti” (pp. 432-441). Banja Luka: Univerzitet u Banjoj Luci. google scholar
• Zeljko HD. (2020). Goci bend - JACA GARA OD KORONE EXIT U JOVANJI 2020 (UZIVO). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-kwiu52cww. google scholar