MUSIC AND DANCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE MYTH RITUAL POST-1989 AUDIOVISUAL ETHNOGRAPHIESFifth Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe 2016 South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria 8 Music and Dance in Southeastern Europe: Myth, Ritual, Post-1989, Audiovisual Ethnographies Blagoevgrad + 2016 University Publishing House “Neofit Rilski”IcTatSrupy Grou? o¥ Music axD DANCIN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: 2016 SYMFOSIUM-BLAGOEVGRAD, BULGARIA Filip Petkovski (Macedonia/USA) UNESCO AND THE NOTION OF “STAGED RITUALS”: THE CASE WITH THE NATIONAL FOLK DANCE ENSEMBLE OF CROATIA LADO Interpretation of ritual is seen differently in different countries in the world dependent of its understanding. UNESCO caries a specific definition of what they see as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. This paper looks at the Croatian ritual of Kraljice ‘which is on the representative list of UNESCO and LADO's staged interpretation of the ritual, On 26th November 2013, LADO held a concert devoted to the intangible ‘cultural heritage (ICH), where the ritual was presented, Coming from the definition of Fntangible cultural heritage and definitions and understandings of ritual, why are these performances refused as rituals by UNESCO, just because they do not fit the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage? To understand the nature of the staged ritual, [ will analyse the staged version of the Kratfice ritual and present it as a modern day staged ritual. Later, will argue the notion of “participants” find “community” through ertieism of the UNESCO convention as well as the notion (of staged ituals through the ideas of researchers on this topic. I conclude that even though diferent scholars argue diverse definitions of ritual and even though respected jnstitutions such as UNESCO rely on documents such as the Convention, this example is proof that rituals in today's age are far more complex than being framed and defined, Keywords: staged rituals; LADO Croatia; Kraljice; UNESCO; ICH. Introduction ‘On 26th November, 2013, the National Ensemble ‘of Folk Dances and Songs of Croatia LADO held a concert at the Croatian National Theatre in Varazdin, Croatia, devoted to the intangible cultural heritage inscribed on UNESCO's representative list. The concert was part of a bigger state-supported project devoted to the intangible cultural heritage of Croatia, accompanied by an exhibit at the Ethnographical Museum in Zagreb, the country’s capital city [Dalje.com 2013]. Amongst the inscribed examples of intang! cultural heritage on UNESCO’ list, Croatia holds the Ist place in Europe and the 4th place in the world. The ensemble presented 19 stage adaptations and musical numbers that present different examples from the representative list. Out of the 19 presented examples, 6 of the dance pieces present a staged form of a ritual: Kastavski Zvoni¢ari by Zvonimir Ljevakovié—a male ritual procession from the Kastav area of Dalmatia; Slavonske Kraljice by Zvonimir Ljevakovié-afemale ritual processions from the Gorjani area of Slavonia; Lastovski Poklad by Ivan Ivanéan ~ a ritual procession from the island of Lastovo; Procesija za Krifen directed by Ljubo Stipsié — a male catholic procession from the island of Hvar; Prutoljaki Hodiju by Ivica Ivankovié — a ritual celebration of the St. George in Northwestern Croatia; Koréulanska Moreska directed by Miroslav ‘Vukovojac ~ a male procession from the island of Kortula. Even though these stage adaptations were not specially created for this occasion, Lado takes great pride on this relationship between the ensemble and UNESCO that is advertised on their official website, even though UNESCO had never acknowledged it Coming from the definition of intangible cultural heritage and various definition of ritual, why are these performances refused as rituals by UNESCO, just because they do not fit the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage? To understand the nature of the staged ritual, I will proceed to analyse one of the six examples by consulting