![\"Tanac](\"https:\/\/pecs.hu\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Tanac_1.jpg\")
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In 1989 the ensemble produced its first video film and began touring towns and villages across the country. Throughout its history, systematic documentation has been essential: photographs, videos, a website, books, calendars, CDs, and DVDs have all played a significant role. To date, the ensemble has given more than 900 performances, including appearances at the opening of the European Capital of Culture, at the National Theatre of P\u00e9cs, at the Kod\u00e1ly Centre, and at festivals in Croatia and along the Drava River at Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A decisive turning point came in 1990, when Zolt\u00e1n Farkas \u201cBatyu\u201d joined the ensemble. His first Lak\u00f3csa dance classes set the direction for future decades: a strong emphasis on artistic quality, authenticity, and dramaturgy. This collaboration has continued ever since, and choreographies inspired by B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k\u2019s works (Allegro Barbaro, Romanian Folk Dances, 44 Violin Duos) are among the ensemble\u2019s most important achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subsequent teachers\u2014artists of remarkable talent and character\u2014further strengthened the ensemble\u2019s artistic philosophy: that authentic folk dance must be performed with the finest music, musicians, and dancers so that the message of a \u201cgolden age\u201d and cultural origins can speak meaningfully to contemporary audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 1990 onward, the ensemble also began organizing dance camps and training courses in which thousands of participants\u2014children, youth, and adults\u2014learned dances, songs, and ethnographic knowledge. Preservation and transmission also take place through dance houses: since October 1988 the ensemble and its accompanying Vizin band have continuously held dance houses in P\u00e9cs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full evening performances have accompanied the ensemble from its earliest years and remain central to its work. Remarkably, within its first five years (by 1993), the ensemble had already premiered five full-length programs. Their titles reflect both artistic ambition and cultural depth: Those Who Are Still Here, referring to Ady\u2019s poem, The Sky is Dark, a folk song from Kalotaszeg, In Search of Lost Time, echoing Proust, Southern Slavs, Beyond the River, a Croatian folk song and a reference to Hemingway, and From Autumn to Autumn<\/em> (a review of folk customs). In 1993 the ensemble reached the finals of the national talent competition, finishing second. In 1994 it toured the United States for ten days, performing in Washington, D.C., and New York. For the ensemble\u2019s leaders, minority identity and living folk traditions have always been defining experiences. It soon became evident that authenticity was a fundamental expectation, and that the traditions collected from elderly villagers possessed genuine cultural value\u2014not merely material for stage adaptation. This approach requires a choreographer\u2019s humility: stage forms must emerge from the original source material, while personal artistic ambition remains secondary. Interestingly, nearly all guest teachers over the decades have reinforced this ethos. Tanac is one of the few ensembles in Hungary to have created choreographies built on Bart\u00f3k\u2019s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ensemble\u2019s most cherished performances have always been those given in the villages from which its members originate. In some of these communities, Tanac\u2019s program was\u2014and sometimes still is\u2014the only major cultural event of the year. Yet a single performance is never enough to sustain tradition. Regular dance lessons were launched in the villages, folk customs were revived (Carnival in K\u00e1toly and K\u00e1s\u00e1d; Spring traditions along the Drava; Pentecost in Szal\u00e1nta; Midsummer in Fels\u0151szentm\u00e1rton; Nativity plays), and festivals, dance houses, and dance camps were established. Today, dozens of children\u2019s, youth, and preschool groups continue this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Association has published books, calendars, CDs, and DVDs, and its collections have been digitized and made publicly accessible online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A special highlight is the international Croatian festival \u201cWelcome, dear guest!\u201d<\/em>. The numbers are impressive: over 30 years, the festival has been held 24 times in P\u00e9cs, hosting more than 3,500 performers from 6 countries and 120 towns. During its Guinness World Record attempt, 850 people danced around Sz\u00e9chenyi Square in P\u00e9cs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November 2025, the ensemble received a certificate of recognition from the President of the Republic of Croatia in acknowledgement of its outstanding contribution to Croatian culture and heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n
The first anniversary gala was held at the P\u00e9cs National Theatre in 1993, followed by nine additional anniversaries (10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, and special thematic evenings, among which the Bart\u00f3k-dedicated Message<\/em> stands out).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the biennial national qualification festivals were relaunched in 1996 with a maximum score of 150 points, Tanac competed in six rounds and earned six \u201cexcellent\u201d ratings (one score of 144 and five scores of 146), usually placing first or second among all Hungarian folk dance ensembles. After 2006, having received the Martin Gy\u00f6rgy Memorial Plaque for the second time as recognition for three consecutive excellent titles, the ensemble chose to withdraw from competitions in order to pursue new artistic directions and focus on long-term sustainability. It made only two later exceptions, competing in the television show The Peacock Has Risen<\/em> <\/em>in 2012 and 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n