Elsie Ivancich Dunin
Status: Active
Specialty: Dance Ethnologist
Range: Croatia, Macedonia, and Romani (Gypsy) in Macedonia
Elsie Ivancich Dunin 1962
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Elsie Ivancich Dunin was born in the United States of Yugoslav and Hungarian parents. Her parents taught her kolos of their native Yugoslavia, but her introduction to organized folk dancing came when whe was a freshmen at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA, Elsie majored in Theater Arts with Dance as a minor subject then received her M.A. in Dance Ethnology.

Elsie has been Professor Emerita (Dance Ethnology), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), since 1994. She is currently associated as a dance research adivsor with the Institute of Ethnology and Folkore Research in Zagreb, Croatia. As a Dance Ethnologist (in Europe, the term is Ethnochoreologist), Elsie specializes in Croatia, Macedonia, and Romani (Gypsy) in Macedonia. Her current field research is reported in Cross-Cultural Dance Resources at www.ccdr.org (see Elsie Ivancich Dunin in "Notes From the Field"). Elsie was active with the Folk Dance Federation of California (South), including chairperson of their Archives Committee. For several years, Elsie directed Betyarok, a performing group dedicated to Hungarian Dance.

She has presented papers at international and national folklore meetings on her research on South-Eastern European Gypsy dance, Yugoslav dance forms, and South Slavic immigrant dances. She has also published varied articles on dance and co-authored a book on Macedonian dances with Dimoski and Višinski (text in Croatian and English, with Labanotation scores), published in Yugoslavia in 1973. She also prepared Labanotation scores for a book on Serbian dances and songs authored by Robert Leibman, published in California in 1973.

In 1957 Elsie traveled to Yugoslavia to collect dances and folklore material and was a performing member with "Tanec," a Yugoslav-Macedonian professional folk dance ensemble.

For two years, 1959 to 1961, Elsie presented a half-hour radio program, bi-weekly, on folk dance music for radio station KPFK-FM in Los Angeles. From 1958 to the present, she has been invited to teach workshops and institutes on Yugoslav dance at several colleges, universities, and recreational folk dance organizations on the West Coast.

Elsie delivered her Master of Arts thesis, Department of Dance, UCLA, in 1966. The title: "Silent dances of Dinaric Mountain area: analysis of purpose, form, and style of selected dances." In 1966, doctoral studies in the field of dance did not exist. This title was the earliest "dance ethnology" thesis in the Department of Dance that was established in the College of Fine Arts at UCLA in 1962.

Since 1967 she has also made frequent trips to Yugoslavia, primarily to conduct research on Gypsy dances. She took a full year (sabbatical leave) from 1976 to 1977, which was spent in Yugoslavia in order to prepare a comparative study of dance change among California South Slavs with their emigrant source areas in Yugoslavia.

Elsie presented dance research papers at several professional societies, such as the Congress on Research in Dance, the American Folklore Society, the Society for Ethnomusiciology, the Gypsy Lore Society, and the International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on Ethnochoreology. She also was an organizer of several dance and Gypsy studies conferences in the United States. 1970s-1990s.

From 1992 to 1993, Elsie was co-chair of the UCLA Department of Dance. She retired from UCLA in 1994. Retirement for Elsie, however, has not meant inactivity! For example, she was the organizer of an international symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology, held in Korčula, July 2-9, 2000. Themes were Sword dances in ritual complex and Revival of dance culture (the proceedings were published in 2001 -- see below). Elsie was also the organizer of the international meeting "Moreska: Past and Present" held in Korčula on July 3-7, 2001 (the symposium proceedings are to be published 2002).

Major research interests include: Social dance changes related to cultural changes. Special studies include: Cross cultural comparative study of dance change among three generations of Croatian/Americans in the United States (California), in South America (Chile), and three generations of communities in Croatian source areas. On-going, long-term research includes: Spontaneous participatory and organized performance dance in Macedonia (1988-1989); Dance of the Roma (Gypsies) in Macedonia, United States, and Chile; and Sword dance survivals of Croatia and Mexico, 21st to 16th centuries.

She was director of the UCLA Dance Department's Yugoslav Performance Group and a member of the Society of Ethnomusicology, American Folklore Society, Dance Notation Bureau, Gypsy Lore Society, and the California Dance Educators Association.

Elsie is married to Stanley Dunin, president of a computerized title service company. They have two daughters.

Among Professor Dunin's more than sixty publications and articles are

  • "Adriatic dance"; "Macedonia." Selma Jeanne Cohen (founding editor), International encyclopedia of dance 6:428-431. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • "Čoček as a ritual dance among Gypsy women." Makedonski folklor 6(12):193-198. Skopje, Yugoslavia: Institut za Folklor, 1973.
  • "Dance occasions and festive dress in Yugoslavia." UCLA monograph series 23. University of California at Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, 1984.
  • Dance research: published or publicly presented by members of the Study Group on Ethnochoreology. (Editor.) Los Angeles: International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on Ethnochoreology, 1991.
  • Dance research: published or publicly presented by members of the Study Group on Ethnochoreology. Zagreb, Croatia: International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on Ethnochoreology; Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, 1995. (Third volume.)
  • Dances in Macedonia: performance genre. Tanec [Orata vo Makedonija: scenski dela Tanec]. Skopje, Macedonia: Tanec Ensemble, 1995. (In Macedonian and English; Labanotation.)
  • DdA reference format for dance. Dunin, Elsie Ivancich; deAlaiza, Candi Harrington. Los Angeles: by authors, 1988.
  • "First festival of sword dances on Korčula Island,: a retrospective." Folk dance scene 34(2):8. Los Angeles: Folk Dance Federation of California, South, 1998.
  • "Folklor ('dance and dancing') representing Macedonian cultural identity." Proceedings 30th annual conference Congress on Research in Dance: Dance, culture and art-making behavior: 145-158. Tucson, Arizona: Dance Division, School of Music and Dance, University of Arizona; Congress on Research in Dance, 1997.
  • "Gypsy dance." Selma Jeanne Cohen (founding editor), International encyclopedia of dance 3:330-331. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • "Gypsy wedding: dance and customs." Makedonski folklor 4(7-8):317-326. Skopje, Yugoslavia: Institut za Folklor, 1971.
  • "Influence of Folk Dance 'Ensembles' Upon 'Folk Dance'." Dunin, Elsie. Viltis, 28(1):9-10. (1969).
  • "Lindjo in the context of village life in the Dubrovnik area of Yugoslavia." Wallen, Lynn Ager; Acocella, Joan (editors), A spectrum of world dance. Dance research annual 16:1-4. New York: Congress on Research in Dance, 1987.
  • Makedonski narodni plesovi. Dunin, Elsie; Dimoski, Mihailo; Višinski, Stanimir. 153pp, softcover, Muzička Biblioteka, Zagreb, 1973.
  • "Migrations and cultural identity expressed through dance: a study of dance among South Slavs in California." Nikola Tasic; Dusica Stosic (editors), Migrations in Balkan history: 161-170. Beograd: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Balkan Studies, 1989.
  • "Mis Roma of 1997 is 15 year old Tirana, Albanian high school student Eriona Gjonaj." Homer Cates (editor), Newsletter of the Gypsy Lore Society 20(3, August):1, 3-4. Londonderry, NH: Gypsy Lore Society, 1997.
  • "Personal computers and dance ethnology research." 1991 yearbook for traditional music 23:113-124. New York: International Council for Traditional Music, 1991.
  • Proceedings: 21st symposium of ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology. (Editor.) Zagreb: Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, 2001.
  • "'Salonsko Kolo' as cultural identity in a Chilean Yugoslav community (1917-1986)." Narodna Umjetnost. Special issue 2:109-122. Zagreb, Yugoslavia: Institute of Folklore Research, 1988. (Summary in Croatian.)
  • Silent dances of the Dinaric Mountain area: analysis of purpose, form, and style of selected dances. 146pp. M.A. Thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1966.
  • South Slavic dances in California: a compendium for the years 1924-1977. Dunin, Elsie Ivancich. 204pp, softcover. Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979. (A pioneer computer-generated project in dance studies.)
  • St. George's Day: coming of summer 1967-1997. Skopje, Republic of Macedonia: Association of Admirers of Rom Folklore Art "Romano Ilo" [Gypsy Heart], Skopje, 1998. (Monograph and catalog in three languages: English, Macedonian, and Romani; 60 colored photographs; bibliography.)
  • "Tanec performers as cultural exchange pawns." Folk dance scene 33(6):8-9. Los Angeles: Folk Dance Federation of California, South, 1998.
  • "Transmission and diffusion: Macedonian dances 1938-1988." Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 33:203-213. Budapest, Hungary: Akademié Kiadó.
  • "Winter dance events among South Slavic immigrants in California." Makedonski folklor 8(15-16):165-175. Skopje, Yugoslavia: Institut za Folklor, 1975.
  • "Yugoslav and Bulgarian dances in the California folk dance movement." Folk dance scene 18(10):6-8. Los Angeles, California: Folk Dance Federation of California, South, 1984.
  • Yugoslav Dance: an introduction and list of sources available in United States libraries. Dunin, Elsie Ivancich; Ruyter, Nancy Lee Chalfa. 108pp, softcover. Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1981.
  • "Yugoslav dance research project: a survey of organized dance groups in Macedonia, 1988-1990" (report). Dance research journal 22(1):52-54. New York: Congress on Research in Dance, 1990.

Dances Professor Dunin has taught include Alexandrovska, At the Inn, Balon, Berovka, Biserka, Bitola Moj Roden Kraj, Bufčansko, Caballito Blanco, Četveronjak, Cigančica, Corrido, Crnagorka, Čuješ Mala, Ćuperlika, Doudlebská Polka, Ersko Kolo, Glamoć, Gružanka, Igrale se Delije, Imperial Beseda, Jabučica, Jansko Kolo, Kačerac, Kalvelis, Koja Koja, Kolo from Ripanj, Kolo Najstarije, Koso Moja, Kutre šivat, Lesnoto Oro, Lindjo, Marko Skače, Metva, Mista Kolo, Moravsko Kolo, Niševljanka, Oslo Waltz, Osman Aga, Potam Povam, Potrčano, Ratevka, Red Boots (Piros Csizma), Sadilo Mome, Sarajevka, Scandinavian Polka, Seljančica, Siamsa Bierte, Širočko Kolo, Slavonsko Kolo, Šroteš, Stara Makedonka, Staro Sito, Starobosansko Kolo from Glamoć, Ta Pleskočna, Tandrčak, Tropnalo Oro Golemo, Trusa, Vo Sadu, Žakle Šivajo, Žensko Krsteno, and Zillertaller Laendler.

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