FolkTalk 05 – Judy Kropf

“I find Hungarian dancing and music, especially dancing to Transylvanian melodies, absolutely magical.  Something transcendent happens when you hear the music and connect with your partner, almost like a meditative state. Your mind goes to this very calm place, and your body just follows.  Your world shrinks to the sound of the instruments and your partner’s hand, like falling in love.  Sometimes the musicians will play a tune that everyone knows, and then everyone will burst into song together, and you are suddenly part of this community experiencing this same magical connection.” –  Judy Kropf has been a folk dancer since she was a little girl, but she only discovered Hungarian dance in the 1980s after meeting Sallai Sandor and some Hungarian dancers who were visiting Israel.  Later, while living in Maryland, she danced and sang with Tisza Egyuttes and attended the Magyar Family’s Symposium of Hungarian Music and Dance.  Now she lives in New York State, is married to a fellow folk dancer, Noel Kropf, and has two beautiful adult daughters, Sophie and Dalia.  When NOT in lockdown, Judy and her family attend Csipke Tabor in Michigan and East Coast Balkan Camp in NY.  During the pandemic, she and her family have been keeping busy by dancing and singing in online classes and workshops.