Folk Dances of Europe
“A continent remembers itself through every shared step.”
History & cultural context
Europe's folk dances keep the memory of villages, seasons and celebrations. In the Balkans people dance in circles and lines — the horo in Bulgaria, the hora in Romania, the kolo in the former Yugoslav lands. Polka spread from Bohemia in the 1830s, the mazurka came from Poland and the csárdás from Hungary. The famous Greek sirtaki was created for the 1964 film Zorba the Greek, based on the hasapiko.
Flamenco from Andalusia, inscribed by UNESCO in 2010, joins song, guitar and dance. Irish step dance became world-famous after Riverdance in 1994, and Scottish Highland dancing lives at the Highland games.
Masters, schools & legacy
Collectors such as Cecil Sharp in England, founder of the English Folk Dance Society in 1911, recorded dances that might have disappeared. In 1937 Igor Moiseyev founded his ensemble in Moscow and brought folk dance to the concert stage. Today folk dance lives in village festivals, community groups and professional ensembles.
Dances of this world
- Flamenco
- Irish step dance
- Scottish Highland dance
- Polka
- Mazurka
- Csárdás
- Kolo
- Bulgarian horo
- Sirtaki
- Morris dance
Further reading
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