Once Again: On the Concept of “Folk Dance”

The greatest problem in any talk on folk dance—whether it be during the meetings of the International Folk Music Council or in any national or international meeting of this kind—is this, namely, that the single term “folk dance” is used to mean different things . More than once I have tried to call attention to this inconsistency and even to remove it—unfortunately with only very little success. If once more I am speaking about this problem today, I am doing so with no real hope of bringing the matter to a conclusion, or even of being understood by everyone. My purpose is rather once more to bring the problem home to you and to stimulate thinking about the nature of this problem.