Northern tradition through research, book and digital record

The international research camp "Ethno-camp Dr. Zlata Marjanović - Kolašin" concludes its 12th edition today, during which participants from Montenegro and abroad studied and documented the dance and music heritage of the northern region through field research, lectures and workshops.

This year's program included Žabljak, Pljevlja, Trebaljevo and Kolašin, and particular attention was drawn to the promotion of the monograph "Dance of Memory" about the traditional dances of the Kolašin region, which linked the printed edition with digital content and QR codes for learning dances.

As the organizers explain, since last year the focus has been on the northern region of Montenegro, with a tendency to include other parts of the country in the coming period. The camp mentor was an ethnomusicologist Marta Djacic, which connected field research work, expert lectures, practical workshops and modern methods of documenting cultural heritage.

"The program was based on direct contact with cultural heritage and people who practice it or remember it. During field research in the first part of the camp, from August 1 to 6, the participants stayed in the area of ​​Žabljak and Pljevlja. One of the segments was a study visit to the Pljevlja Homeland Museum, the City Tamburitza Orchestra and the "Hoćevina" singing group, while a gathering modeled after a former dance was organized in the village of Podgora in Žabljak," the organizers announced.

The professional part from August 6 to 12 in Kolašin included lectures that raised questions related to the development, transmission and documentation of traditional culture on various topics, along with field research related to Trebaljevo. Tamara Jankovic she talked about choreography, while Nikola Zekic presented the topic of family audio recordings and their importance as a source for researching musical heritage. Andrija Mujović he talked about the textile industry in Montenegro, and Ivan Pekovic about accordion practice. The history of the Montenegrin cap was presented by Nikolina Jovanovic. Workshops on traditional singing and dancing, or folk games, were led by Marta Djacic, Igor Popov and Davor Sedlarević. Miloš Đačić developed a system that facilitates the documentation and archiving of recordings.

"Namely, he came up with the idea that the so-called cards should no longer be kept in Word, but in an application in which new ones can be entered and old recordings can be searched and imported more easily, with the possibility of printing and locating research sites on online maps. The interdisciplinary approach gives the Ethno-camp the potential to grow beyond the boundaries of a professional gathering and become a model for a broader institutionalized study of the cultural heritage of Montenegro. By expanding the research work to the northern region, the possibility has been opened for the experience gained in Kolašin to be applied in other environments, with the ultimate goal of connecting different local traditions into a unique research network throughout Montenegro," explain the organizers.

"Dance of Memory" combines tradition, research and digital technology

A special place in this year's program was occupied by the promotion of the monograph "Dance of Memory: From Oblivion to Cultural Heritage. Traditional Dances of the Kolašin Region", by the author Davor Sedlarević, with archival materials Branislav Jeknic. The monograph was published in 2026 by the Public Institution Center for Culture Kolašin with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro through the Program for the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage.

This is a comprehensive study of the dance heritage that was granted the status of intangible cultural heritage in Montenegro in 2016, and whose holder is the KUD "Mijat Mašković". The book follows the entire process by which a local dance heritage has gone from research and documentation, through scientific analysis, to revitalization, modern performance and institutional protection. It was created on the basis of field research, archival materials, official documents, professional literature, periodicals and other relevant sources. A special contribution is the critical analysis of the sources and the publication of numerous contributions which, as the author states, are available to the general public for the first time in this way.

One of the most interesting innovations is the connection of the printed publication with digital content. For 14 dances of cultural heritage, QR codes are available in the monograph, which allow the reader to access video instructions for learning them. Each dance is presented through analysis, musical notation, the text of the accompanying song and photographs, going beyond the boundaries of a classic printed publication. It simultaneously becomes a research source, a document, a teaching aid and a kind of digital manual for learning traditional dances.

The publication is divided into 12 thematic sections that follow different aspects of dance heritage, from issues important for understanding the material and history of traditional dances, through the development of the concept in Kolašin and a new approach to research, to chapters dedicated to the dances themselves, the work of the KUD "Mijat Mašković" and the results of the Ethno-camps from 2015 to 2025. Its added value is that it is bilingual and fully translated into English, which opens the content on the dance heritage of the Kolašin region to an international professional and wider audience. Čanović, Bojan Peko Minić and Sedlarević spoke at the promotion.

The organizers express their gratitude to the WBA festival, which has been initiating the exploration of the Žabljak region for the second year in a row, Rajko and Kosa Popović, Rajko Čepić i To Emir Prekić for their help in organizing meetings with informants, and to the Local History Museum in Pljevlja.

"The Ethno-Camp unites several important processes: research, documentation, education, digitalization and revitalization of cultural heritage. Its significance is not only in the fact that it records what once was. The essence is in the attempt to professionally process existing knowledge and transfer it further, from the community to the archive, from the archive to science, from science to education and, finally, back to the community. The monograph "Dance of Memory" symbolically and practically rounds off this process: what could once have been condemned to oblivion receives a document, interpretation, digital record and the possibility of a new life through modern generations and technologies," it was announced after the final Ethno-Camp.

The program was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro through the Competition "Development of Culture in the North", the Public Institution Kolašin Cultural Center, WBA Festival, the Municipality of Kolašin, the Cultural Association "Mijat Mašković" and the NGO CIRTIP.