The dance event as a political ritual - the kolo round dance salvonia at war

Analyzing a specific dance event during the 1992 war in Croatia, the author recognizes it as a political ritual. The main point of the dance event, the round dance which was performed by a Slavonian folk-dance group at the International Folklore Festival in Zagreb, together with the results of the enquiry carried out among the performers of that dance event, show how important the role of the traditional dance can be in the Croatian community. According to critical ethnological/anthropological research, having in mind the complex political situation in Croatia, the author provides some answers about the dance as a symbol of regional and national identity, and about symbolic ways of presentation of regional and national unity or diversity.