Kickboxing, Breakdance and Pop Music versus Wrestling, Round Dance and Folk Music? Popular Culture in Buryatia Today

This paper deals with the peculiarities and recent developments ofpopular culture in general and sports competitions, dance and music, particularly in Buryatia and other regions of significant Buryat population. Based mainly on the author’s own observations it is shown how the ongoing societal changes are reflected in the activities of sportspeople, dancers and musicians. All of them are characterised by both traditional and re-traditionalised elements as well as by processes of modernisation. It is shown that these at first sight contradictory features are in fact most often converging. Thus, in Buryatia today, mixing styles can be identified as one of the main and most typical characteristics of sports, dance, and music.