subotica

Seminar

Subotica, June 22-24

Research: Ball Dances in Subotica at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century – performance with a catalogue
Summer actions: Meetings with travel book writers, Exhibition of historic sources on ball dances, Open call for a travel story for high school students of Subotica

Research & Actions

The group in Subotica realised its Summer programme mainly in the Town Museum, and the guest lecturers and associates were from Subotica with a complicated ethnic backgrounds and interesting biographies of world-trotters (Oskar Vojnić, Mario Liguori, Iso Planić). High school students themselves gave their literary contribution by writing and reading their travel stories. Local newspapers "Subotičke novine" was reporting on summer activities of the project Luggage for the Future.

In September, these actions grew into the exchange of antique books. The group organised a book fair with the emphasis on the books with the multiethnic contents, but textbooks and other books were very much welcomed. This great exchange of books called Boo - suitcase generated attention of many high school students and a number of older citizens of Subotica.

The Museum curators were available to the group, and all the activities contained the issue of ball dances and gatherings – dance and music refracting the multiethnic town story of Subotica. The group also learned how to research the local history balls, parties and gatherings in the multiethnic milieu and how to present it.

Their research findings (based on old Subotica newspapers and other sources) were presented to their peers during the first days of school through an exhibition in the form of wall newspapers and ball scenes – during the break. The group provided appropriate costumes, objects from old balls and dances, posters that announced parties for citizens of Subotica of all ethnic backgrounds – Hungarians, Croats, Serbs, Jews (from the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century).

At the end of September, the team of the Luggage for the Future from Subotica, joined a bicycle tour "Healthy Heart" – wearing t-shirts of the project and styled costumes that had been fashionable in the period between two previous centuries... This was also the way to invite citizens of Subotica to put into their suitcases for the future everything they knew, had, could do in the field of dance and entertainment and what they wished to show to citizens of Vranje, Dimitrovgrad, Bela Crkva and Kragujevac.

The group from Subotica researched fancy dress balls in their towns, as a part of entertainment in their historic past trying to find the correlation with the present moment. What would a ball be nowadays, how would the youth prepare for a ball, was a ball back then really more romantic than a party today? Or, in both cases, young people danced until dawn, using the opportunity to get to say nowadays. Equally, participants of the balls in Subotica were Hungarians, Serbs and Bunjevci, as well as all others who lived in this area then, and also remain residents of Subotica today.

One of the associations that organised balls was the Charity Cooperative "Srpkinja", and the minutes from their meetings were presented to the audience as well as articles about the balls in the newspaper of that time ("Neven"), where we found out that they took care about the poor, students in need as well as "everyone regardless of religion and ethnic background" who had gone through the flood in Segedin.

The group from Subotica decided to organise a ball attended by Serbs, Croats and Jews, they procured props, danced in houses, schools, museum and square. Small suitcases with messages for Serbia and Europe, "buchuri" and other dear and useful gadget were given to citizens of Subotica in October, and in the following month to citizens of Kragujevac, Vranje, Dimimtrovgrad and Bela Crkva.

The number of participants of the July, August, and September activities: 5 – 17. The number of participants who participated in the actions: around 150, and those informed by the media around 300.

Intercultural Caravan

In Subotica, after the Wake up Call which in this town was carried out quieter than in other towns, the project participants went to the top of "Old Lady", the popular name for Town Hall and threw a lot of paper suitcases (looking like a flock of birds) with messages for the future and then in the atrium of the Gallery they carried out their performances, ending with a long traditional dance "Bačko kolo", initiated by the group from Subotica and joined by all the participants.