Sándor Timár is a member of the Magyar Művészeti Akadémia (Hungarian Academy of Arts) and has received numerous state and professional awards. His career as Nemzet Művésze (Artist of the Nation) has enriched Hungarian and international folk dance with a huge oeuvre. Born in Szolnok on 2 October 1930, his dancing career began in 1946 in the “regös” scout folk group [the folk traditions division of Hungarian scouting] of the Verseghy Ferenc Secondary School, which was founded in 1946. His talent as a performer was evident at an early age, and at the Centenary Festival in Gyula in 1948 [commemorating the Hungarian Revolution of 1848] his name appears in the list of individual finalists in two categories: he participated in the competition with a solo verbunkos [a Hungarian recruiting dance] and – together with his dancing partner Sándor Sajti – with the choreography Juhásztánc (Shepherd’s Dance). After finishing high school, he wanted to study medicine at university, but his parents' background as large-scale farmers meant that he was not allowed to go to university because of the political doctrines of the time.
He auditioned for the SZOT Ensemble dance group, founded in 1951 and led by István Molnár. The choreographer István Molnár, who is considered a first-generation master of Hungarian folk dance, knew of Timár's performance skills from previous competitions and signed the young man. After the dissolution of the ensemble in 1955, Timár and his former dance partner György Martin started their first folk dance collecting work along the river Galga, in the village of Bag, internationally known for its folk traditions. At the same time, he joined the Bihari János Dance Ensemble led by Ferenc Novák as a collaborator. Here he taught folk dance techniques developed by his master, István Molnár, and based on his collection from Bag, he created his first choreography, the Bagi leánytánc (Girls' Dance of Bag). This choreography of his is interesting for its dance materials: it follows the tradition of Molnár's structure in its form, but in its dance matrix it almost anticipates the so-called authentic dance style, which is later associated with Sándor Timár. In the girls' dance, there is not a single motif borrowed from any other dance branch or technique.
With the support of the Vegyipari Szakszervezet (Trade Union of Chemical Workers), the Béla Bartók Dance Ensemble was founded, which is still in existence today. "We welcome the newly funded ‘Béla Bartók’ Dance Ensemble, newly organised by the support of three chemical plants. The leaders of the ensemble are Zsuzsa Simay and Sándor Timár.” Less than a year after its formation, the two leaders organised a professional performance, which was described as follows: “The Bartók Béla Dance Ensemble of the Trade Union of Chemical Workers presented a public dress rehearsal for professionals from Budapest.
During the rehearsal, Sándor Timár presented his own technical preparation. It is based on the technique of István Molnár, and he supplements it with various gymnastic and yoga exercises. This demonstration is suitable for further discussions on this issue... In the second half of the rehearsal, they performed their previous numbers in the rehearsal hall, but with costumes.
Sándor Timár: Fehér liliomszál (White Lily), Girls’s Dance of Bag, and Hazai délszláv táncok (South Slavic Dances of Hungary), István Molnár: Huszárverbung (Hussar’s Verbunkos), some movements of the Magyar Képeskönyv (Hungarian Picture Book) and Zsuzsa Simay’s Német tánc (German Dance) were performed.
The deliberate work of the ensemble, their exemplary self-discipline and the precise, elaborate, but at the same time lively nature of their presentation captivated the audience.
We consider this kind of home rehearsals, training and repertoire presentations very useful, and it would be good if more ensembles organised similar events and thus other instructors could get an idea of how these workshops work.” – reads the periodical.
It should be noted that the work done in barely a year and the choreographies presented, not only proved that the young choreographer is a promising creator, but also that these early works can become an example for the whole folk-dance movement. Very soon, these publications were followed by prints of choreographies: the girls' dance from the Bag collection and choreography White Lily. The compilation of Serbian traditions from the Pomáz area was also included in the core material of the training courses for dance instructors organised by the Népművelési Intézet (Hungarian Institute for Popular Culture). Even though the early works of the dance composer already showed the stylistic traits of his long career, the compositional method of his master was still noticeable, a fact that does not detract from the value of his work. The White Lily, which still lives on in the repertoire of the ‘Csillagszemű’ dance ensemble, is a prime example of how a genuine artist engages with the legacy of their mentors. The lyrical opening, reminiscent of the fresh atmosphere of a children's play, evokes images of the opening of Molnár’s Dobozi Csárdás, elements of his technique and the choreographic mood shifts that characterise him.
In the 1960s a new generation emerges who experiment with Hungarian folk dance. Parallel with the so-called ‘Hatok’ (The Six): Tibor Galambos, Katalin Györgyfalvay, Ferenc Novák, Károly Szigeti, Sándor Timár, László Vásárhelyi, worked Antal Kricskovics, who choreographed independently of them but with the same intellectual intuition. They were looking for new compositional opportunities and wanted to use dance folklore on the dance stage in a different way. A significant number of choreographers, who watched some dance films and were influenced by the new approach of Maurice Béjart, were looking for folk music inspired compositions which allowed them to express more about their era than what could be expressed via a dance suit composed from dance pieces. A thorough study of Bartók's work offered the perfect opportunity to explore the form. The stage appearance was inevitably influenced by the ‘tricot look’ that was fashionable in the dance world at the time. It should be noted that the national and international success of the Pécs Ballet (Ballet Pécs) played a major role in this phenomenon.
Experimentation, of course, also played an important role in Timár's work, and this is how his choreography for Bartók's Hegedűduók (44 Duos for Two Violins) was born. This work, however, remained an experiment in his career, and he very soon returned to the path he had embarked on as a young man with the collection on the Galga area. The choreographies based on the collections of the Rumanian folk dances from Hungary, such as Eleki Romanian Dances and Kezdődik a zsok (Sunday Dance [jok] Begins) had a revolting effect.
The national choreographic competitions, the Szolnok Folk Dance Festival and the Zala Chamber Dance Festival mostly brought victories for the above mentioned ‘Hatok’. Among other things, this is what we can read in the report of a competition in Zala: the competition inspired the creators, and this is how the ‘Hungarian School’ was born. In the report on the presentation of the Festival Prize-winning choreographies in Táncművészeti Értesítő 1996/1, László Vásárhelyi wrote, for example: "...Sári and Timár’s ‘Hungarian couples dances’ by the Béla Bartók Dance Ensemble delighted the audience with their beautiful dancing style...." This comment is not only about the choreography, but also about the fact that Sándor Timár has done a significant job as a dance teacher with the ensemble. It should be noted that in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, with his then wife Katalin Heksch, he did a similarly great job with the Gyöngyös ensemble, as they had done with the Bartók ensemble. The first prize for the choreography Lakodalmas (Wedding Dances) in Szolnok is proof of this. This choreography is unique because the dance troupe mixes the dance material from both Transdanubia and Eastern Hungary, only the ‘mátka’ couple (i.e. bride and groom) dance in a single style, with the motifs of the Northern Hungarian region. This phenomenon could even be the starting point of the authentic dance style later named after Sándor Timár. It should also be noted that the "mixed material" in this choreography is dance material drawn from earlier dance collections.
The 1970s saw great changes. In May 1972, the first dance festival was born with the participation of four ensembles (HVDSZ Bihari, Építők, Vasas and Bartók). Sándor Tímár became a key figure in the history of dance and popular culture who took upon himself the task of expanding the Táncház into a movement (dance house movement) conquering the capital and later the whole country. This movement did not want to train dancers and still does not want to do so today. Its aim is to introduce and teach Hungarian folk dance, as well as to introduce village traditions and community customs. As a form of community entertainment, it is both a way of experiencing authentic dance material on a broad scale and a way of learning the ‘mother tongue’ of the dancers. Sándor Timár's ‘Bartók Ensemble students’ were given a particularly important role in the dance workshops, teaching the original dances together with their master and thus becoming ‘registered dancers’ alongside him, who are well known nationwide. The young dancers also had the opportunity to start their choreographic careers with the mother company, and their first works proved to be a success. Their success was based on their group teaching method, their knowledge of the material and their master's creative method. His second wife, Böske Timár (neé Erzsébet Nagy), who was to play a prominent role among his students, was his permanent assistant and the continuer of his work and the guardian of his oeuvre. Together with Böske Timár, his wife, he founded the company Timár Folklór Kft. in 1997, where he was artistic director and director of the ‘Csillagszemű’ Children's Dance Ensemble. His leadership of the ensemble was influenced by the fact that he could experiment and test his method of children’s dance instruction with his much-loved children as they were growing up, adapting the methods to the children’s physical and mental abilities. It is no coincidence that the dancers raised under his tutelage from infancy are now adult members of the ensemble, and it is almost a matter of course that many of his children are now professional instructors and collaborators in the folk-dance movement. His wife and children have created https://www.timararchivum.hu to make a record of his creative work available, which may be expanded as further research is undertaken. The archive not only gives an insight into the choreographies from different periods of his artistic journey but also features a multi-part documentary film compilation with the voices of former data providers, folklorists, critics and former dance partners. The documentaries, made over a period of several years, thus trace the work of the collector – primarily a dance folklorist – and the changes in the focus of his research that led the choreographer from in-depth study to the creation of the works of art. Among others, we can hear the recollections of a former professional member of the SZOT Ensemble who used to share a room with Timár and witnessed his colleague's daily ‘determined’ dance practice, which enabled him to make use of and reinterpret the use of body and stage space by his master choreographer István Molnár in his later pedagogical work. The same determination characterised the way he enriched his musical knowledge: it was not limited to a careful selection of folk music or peasant’s music, but also included compositional methods familiar to him in art music, in order to approach choreography of the original dance material and to make it accessible to the audience (it should be noted, however, that in many cases stage size can be an obstacle to the actual recognition of this particular compositional method, which is an intermediary of musical structure).
As a testament to his work as a teacher, we can also appreciate the fact that several foreign-language speaking dancers came to Hungary to become professional folk dancers, following their master. In their performances, we do not for a moment feel that their dancing mother tongue is not related to Hungarian folklore.
The year 1971 was also significant in Timár's career as a creative artist and dance instructor, because it was the first year that professional folk dance training started at the Állami Balett Intézet (State Ballet Institute). Sándor Timár was appointed the director of the new department. Katalin Györgyfalvay was his fellow teacher, so the students could receive professional training from two opposite poles of stage folk dance styles. Timár focused on authentic style, while his fellow choreographer is one of the most prominent representatives of experimental innovation. Their students have become prominent artists and performers in the art of dance by now. The ‘Mesti’ (‘Master’), as he is called by his students, often took hir pupils on collecting trips. He believed that it was necessary to learn about living folklore traditions in their own context to make their presentation on stage authentic. The aim was not only to master the performance style, but also to get to know folklore in depth and to establish closer links with the Hungarian research community. This dual educational goal, together with the achievements of the State Ballet Institute, resulted in him becoming artistic director of the Magyar Állami Népi Együttes (Hungarian State Folk Ensemble) in 1981, which he continued being until 1997. Under his leadership, the structure of the ensemble was transformed: the triple unit of the dance choir, the chorus and the gypsy orchestra–previously representing a specific performance style, also suitable to a certain extent for the performance of symphonic works–ceased to exist. It was replaced by a musician's ensemble representing a peasant band line-up serving as accompaniment of the authentic style. At the same time, it should be noted that Timár had always considered musicality in his stage works. The ballet training he used earlier was pushed into the background, but instead great emphasis was placed on practising of the various regional styles and on the acquisition of the vocal-musical traditions of peasants. This does not mean that Sándor Timár would have abandoned his work with his former amateur company, as emblematic works such as the Öt legény tánca (Dance of Five Young Men), the Szlavóniai karikázó (Slavonian Women’s Circle Dance) and the Táncbéli táncszók (Dance-Words Within Dances), based on a poem by László Nagy, were originally performed by dancers of the Bartók Ensemble. Of course, the professional stage presentation brought about some changes, but the creative concept has not fundamentally changed. The staging of Két Sárkoz táncai (Dances of the Two Sárköz) is of particular importance, which drew analogies and differences with large-scale choreography between regions that were close to each other.
His theoretical competence was greatly aided by his graduation from the choreography programme of the Színművészeti Főiskola (now: University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest) in 1970. His continuous collaboration with his folklorist colleagues, especially with György Martin and Jolán Borbély, and his regular collecting trips to Szatmár, Transylvania, Slavonia and Upper Hungary. In addition to his work as an ensemble leader, he also shared his experience gained in the Táncház (dance house) movement during his workshops he held from Japan to South America including the Hungarian diaspora. He also developed a unique method of dance instruction of international significance. Together with his wife, he founded the ‘Csillagszemű Táncegyüttes’ (‘Csillagszemű Dance Ensemble’), in the last phase of his creative period. It is an ensemble for young children who receive ‘native tongue-like’ dance education from an early age. He has taught his pedagogical method at choreography programme of the Magyar Táncművészeti Főiskola (today: Hungarian Dance University), where he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of Choreography; and at Dance and Drama Pedagogy programme of the Apor Vilmos Catholic College. There are awardees of the Kossuth Prize and recipients of numerous state awards among his former students who became the first professionally trained folk dancers. They continue to preserve the spirit of their master – without slavishly following him – by staging folk dances and promoting dance heritage.
[2024]