Catholicism, cultural nationalism and traditional dance in the Irish and Croatian communities in Australia

ABSTRACTThis article describes the tripartite relationship between the Catholic Church, nationalism and traditional dance in the Irish and Croatian communities in Australia. Within both homeland and diasporic milieux, dance embodies culturally specific knowledge that binds communities and transmits that knowledge to subsequent generations. In Ireland, the Catholic Church not only exerted political power; it directly influenced many aspects of dance praxis. In Australia, the Church and its ancillary organisations took an active role in fostering dance activities including competitions for several decades, until specific bodies for dance administration were established. Likewise in Croatia, the Catholic Church promoted specific Croatian cultural activities such as dance through several iterations of colonisation. In Australia, the Church provided requisite infrastructure for dance activities to be replicated in the new environment. These two community case studies exemplify the vital role of the Catholic Church in supporting traditional customs to maintain cultural identity in the homeland and to support immigrants as they recontextualise that identity and reconfigure their lives in a novel environment.KEYWORDS: Catholiccultural nationalismdanceimmigrantAustralia Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. This genre is also the most publicly recognised, since it is from step dancing that Riverdance and other stage shows developed.2. There are other associations for Irish step dance, but the IDC is the one formulated by the Gaelic League, and it remains the largest and most globally dominant, including in Australia.3. The Trove database may be found at https://trove.nla.gov.au/.4. Freeman’s Journal, 1 April 1863, 5.5. The Australian, 7 January 1882, 19.6. Freeman’s Journal, 24 March 1883, 16.7. Freeman’s Journal, 10 March 1910, 17.8. National Advocate, 23 March 1915, 2.9. Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, 31 March 1924, 16.10. Catholic Weekly, 18 March 1954, 23.11. Freeman’s Journal, 21 February 1880, 11.12. The Australian Star, 23 May 1893, 6.13. Freeman’s Journal, 8 January 1925, 11.14. The Catholic Press, 3 February, 1916, 37.15. Catholic Weekly, 10 February 1944, 7.16. LADO: National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia. http://www.lado.hr/en/.17. Pronounced koom-pa-nee-ah. The spelling of this word can vary; in Blato, it is usually spelled kumpanjija and because the Sydney troupe performs the dance from Blato, kumpanjija is the spelling that is used in this article.18. Vukovar is an adults’ group operating in Sydney. However, there are numerous children’s groups and the administrators of the group that I visited for fieldwork requested that I apply a pseudonym (Cvijet) to the group itself as well as to individuals associated with the group.