In his book, The Interpretation of Culture, Clifford Geertz propounded a concept of culture that is not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning (1973: 5). Such meanings are sought in the historical developments, social forms, and individual contributions which all contribute to culture.1 Paraphrasing Geertz, Tim Rice has argued that is historically constructed, socially maintained and individually adapted.2 I will use this model to discuss the dynamics of folk music and of folk dance in Toronto's Hungarian community where I conducted field research from November, 1984 to March, 1985. Rather than dealing with Hungarian folk music in general, I will focus on its most recent importation to Toronto, the so-called Tanchaz (or dance-house) tradition of improvised dancing and Gypsy-style string music. By way of introduction, it is important to describe a Tanchaz event, the roles of the dancers and musicians and the extent to which they improvise within the Tanchaz tradition. According to informant Arpad Verseghy, violinist and leader of a Gypsy-style string in Toronto, there are two kinds of Tanchaz, the teaching Tanchaz and the goodtime Tanchaz.3 A Tanchaz atmosphere is quite unlike the atmosphere of a rehearsal of choreographed dancing. It is free and easy; there are no obligations. Even with a teaching Tanchaz, anyone can walk out and leave. A good-time Tanchaz is absolutely a free-for-all, a party situation. You just play and dance and that's it.4 Informant George Tomossy, a dancer with Toronto's Kodaly Dance Ensemble, described the dancer's task in a Tanchaz setting: You're given a motif which fits a certain rhythm in the dance and you have to become accustomed to spotting certain rhythms and sequences of rhythms and applying certain combinations of steps, and that can only be done through practice and listening to the music.5 Thus the freedom of the dancer's improvisation is limited in two ways: specific musical melodies and rhythms give rise to related, similarly specific dance steps, and, in a broader sense, the choice of steps by which the dancers respond to the music is limited by the style boundaries of the locality from which the dance and musical dialect spring.6 The string bands generally consist of three to five players, one or two primas-es or violins, one or two bracsa (viola) players and a bogo (string bass, or at times, violoncello) player. These string players improvise as well in a Tanchaz setting. The violinists' ornamentation and the varying stress patterns of the viola and bass players is limited by two factors: the stylistic boundaries of the village dialects from which the music emanates, and by the needs of the dancers. To render the music clearer and more easily danceable, violinists use ornamentation to emphasize strong beats; stress patterns in bracsa and bogo playing serve similar ends.7 Let us now return to the historical construction of Toronto's Hungarian traditions, which occurred through three periods of immigration. The first of these periods was through the 1920s and 1930s, the second in the years immediately after the Second World War, and the third, after the Revolution of 1956.8 It is the wave of immigration of 1956 which led to a proliferation of cultural and musical organizations in Toronto.9 Several organizations related to folk culture are housed in the Hungarian Canadian Cultural Centre, founded in 1974. The Kodaly Dance Ensemble rehearses there weekly and has a total membership of 50 to 60 dancers. Another large performing group is the Kodaly Chorus, with about 45 adult voices. Both of these groups were founded in 1963. In addition a citera (zither) orchestra, called the Szivarvany Egyuttes (Rainbow Ensemble) was begun in 1982 by Istvan Erdelyi. Further, there are two string bands which rehearse in the basement recreation rooms of various members. One group, Eletfa (Tree of Life) was begun two years ago as the house band of the Kodaly Dance Ensemble, and is comprised of three, sometimes four players: it has one primas, one or two bracsa players and a bogo player. …