Ethno-fitness – the new Hungarian Zumba based on folkloric elements

The government accepted a project working to develop a new way to exercise while getting to know a bit more about Hungarian culture, music and dance. 

A Hungarian association won 12 million forints (33 thousand euros) on a tender for the development of a so-called “ethno-fitness” project. Népszava.hu asked for the application document individually awarded by Miklós Kásler, Minister of Human Resources.

But what does ethno-fitness mean exactly? Finding out was quite the work since the phone number on the association’s website was not valid, and their address in Nagykanizsa led to an empty apartment. When the association’s president was finally reached on Facebook, she could not explain the project’s exact concept, so she redirected Népszava to his husband, the vice-president. He then explained that

ethno-fitness is their “development, a range of fitness exercises to Hungarian folkloric music. The objective is to reach out to youngsters. It is a way to show them the huge and rich heritage of Hungarian folkloric music and dance.”

Apart from his description, the two page-long application document does not share a lot of further information. The association will work with a dance group, a choreographer and a fitness-instructor to make “the music and dance of the Hungarian farmer nation” popular.

The choreographer will work on a series of moves that he will teach to a dance group. They will create a 40 minute-long educational video. Based on the association’s hopes, this video could be sent to schools and other folk dance groups.

Regarding the 12 million forints for the project, the project manager, Csaba Kása, will get 2 million forints (over 5 thousand euros). He is an expert at the Hungarian Research Institute. This is the same institute that, not so long ago, fired two of their archaeologists who criticised the historical accuracy of an animated film made by the institute. (The animated film is available here.) According to their website, Kása’s field of study involves “those politicians or public figures and their works who have been partly, or not at all studied with the necessary objectivity.”

The choreographer, who took part in a folk dance competition two years ago in the kids and youth category, will receive a quarter of the previously mentioned amount. A Transylvanian choreographer will help him online for a further 1 million forints. Pál Törőcsik, the president of the association, will receive 2 million forints as the organiser. Recording the educational video is planned to take up another half a million forints. A further sum of 450 thousand forints will be set aside for other tasks, such as “administrational fees, private vehicle use, public transportation and train tickets”.  

Even though we did not find out much about the project and its details, the Ministry stated that, of course, all applicants have to provide detailed background documentation and that every phase of the application and the decision-making process went according to the law.

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Source: Népszava.hu