MUSIC AND DANCE : Folk Dance Troupe to Demonstrate Ethnic Diversity of Yugoslavia

Not long after Allied and Yugoslav Resistance and partisan troops swept Nazi-occupying forces from Belgrade in 1944, the city began to dance.

A folk dance troupe was formed and named Ivo Lola Ribar in memory of a young Yugoslav hero.

“Three weeks after Belgrade was free, the troupe was entertaining troops on the front lines, fighting the (Nazis),” said George Milutinovik, artistic director of the company.

Milutinovik was speaking by phone interview from Victoria, Tex., one stop in a current 56-city coast-to-coast tour that also includes a performance at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center today at 8 p.m.

The company, which tours the United States under the name Belgrade Folk Ensemble, became a rallying point after the war for the country’s cultural and artistic renaissance. In 44 years, Ivo Lola Ribar has grown to more than 1,000 members nationwide.

The current touring ensemble is made up of 33 dancers, 36 singers and seven musicians. They have been chosen from the ranks of the Ivo Lola Ribar membership after auditions held annually throughout the Communist-ruled country.

“The company members are very young--the average age is between 20 and 26,” Milutinovik said. “But they have a lot of experience. They have been dancing or singing for at least four or five years and have at least 500 concerts behind them.”

Their UCI program will include social and competition dances drawn from all of the country’s principal regions as well as music dating back to medieval times that has been reconstructed from historical documents.

The dancers will wear authentic national costumes with finely embroidered geometric designs and bright colors.

The folk chorus also was founded in 1944. “The interesting thing about the choir is that we sing all the numbers without a conductor,” Milutinovik said.

A small instrumental contingent--two accordions, a string bass, a guitar, a clarinet, a flute and an oboe--will provide musical accompaniment. “There are not many instrumental solos,” Milutinovik said. “They play always as a group.”

It is not surprising that the folk troupe has become a national rallying point. Yugoslavia was created by fiat in 1918 to unite Slavic nations in South Central Europe and the western Balkan peninsula. The new state was first called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to reflect the diversity of its ethnic, cultural and political makeup.

But the newly associated groups did not unify easily. There were bitter disputes, and in an effort to curb partisan allegiances and create a broader sense of patriotism, King Alexander I changed the name of the kingdom to Yugoslavia in 1929.

Even today, there are three major religious groups (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Muslims), three official languages and two alphabets.

The folk troupe is one way the many national groups can retain their identities while appearing under a common umbrella.

“Each area has its specific culture,” Milutinovik said. “Each has different costumes, rhythms, steps and music. It is like 120 countries.

“In two hours (on stage), we will not be able to show you all the cultures of Yugoslavia. We have a cappella composers who are famous worldwide, but we don’t bring them on this tour.”

Milutinovik said the dancers make such quick costume changes between numbers “that the audience doesn’t really have time to applaud us.”

“They ask us, ‘How many of you are there? We can’t count you, you change so quickly,’ ” he said.

Milutinovik said the troupe was concerned about issues of authentically representing the national groups.

“We try as much as possible to be authentic,” he said. “We stay with traditional dances instead of choreographing new ones, but we try to make them look good or suitable on the stage.”

Unlike other European countries in which folk traditions are dying out, folk art is a living tradition in Yugoslavia, Milutinovik said.

“In Belgrade alone, there are more than 1,000 folk groups. Of course, not all of them are on the very highest level. But all around the country people gather together because a lot of people like country music.

“We have rock music and opera, too. But in Yugoslavia, when young people have a party, they listen half (of the time) to rock music--and we have the latest albums and singles from England and the United States. But (the other) half is listening to folk music.

“Many famous rock groups in Yugoslavia find their inspiration for new albums in folk music. In the past two or three years, you can’t say where rock music ends and folk music begins.”

THE BELGRADE STATE FOLK ENSEMBLE

Bren Events Center, UC Irvine

8 p.m.

$15

Information: (714) 856-8000.