The Szombathely Ungaresca Dance Group was established in 1955 on the initiative of the students of the Kőszeg Jurisich Secondary Grammar school and that of Árpád Nagy, one of the teachers.
First they became a success during the famous Keszthely Helikon Festival, cultural festival secondary school students. They became a significant group in Hungary at that time. This out –standing professional success was the result of Ernő Pesovár’s activity, who was the art director of the dance group from 1959 to 1979.
In 1963 Ungaresca became the leading group of the county with a centre in Szombathely.
In its activity the group has three main goals which endow them with an artistic character:
- to show the folk dance culture of Hungarian speaking people;
- to show the range of emotions of modern people using the folk dance treasure in performance for dance theatre;
- to cultivate folk dancing traditions represented by the name they chose as well.
The group has participated in numerous Hungarian festivals and competitions and has got group, soloist and choreographer’s awards in the past few years.
Besides European countries they were in Asia as well. They have represented Hungarian culture with great success abroad forty times.
The members of the group are students and working adults who devote their leisure to dancing for their own pleasure. Children can join children’s groups from the age of six to supply dancers for the group. They join the adult dancers after 10-12 years’ preliminary training.
Those dancers who have stopped active dancing can join the senior group as supporting members.
The orchestra of the group is called Boglya Ensemble and also belongs to the best orchestras of the country. They play the folk music of every area where Hungarian is spoken.
The leader of the orchestra is Mrs. János Földesi. The art director of the group is Győző Horváth.
