The 2018 New Year Post

There is something special when creative people get together.
Joy Mangano

Today's post features creative ideas used with the music to Diko Iliev's Dunavsko Horo.  It is a dance traditionally done at midnight to welcome in the New Year.

Video #1 is a flash mob of dancers in front of National Theater Ivan Vazov (Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright who lived from 1850-1921.)  It is a work of art by Rashev Photography: the dancers wear bright colors and arrange themselves in different formations.



Video #2 is an original arrangement of Dunavsko Horo. It uses the composer's music with some interesting variations. It is a blend of techno and traditional.



Happy New Year 2018!

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Variations on a Theme by Diko Iliev

Happy New Year 2014, Same Dance: Different Music
http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2013/12/happy-new-year-2014-same-dance.html


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Variations on the Romanian Folk Dance Florecica

In the range of music that we play - roughly 300 years' worth-there really are more similarities than differences.
Esa-Pekka Salonen

Today's post features two Florecica dances with different music and different choreography performed by a group of dancers from Boulder, Colorado.

Video #1 is the version familiar to most folk dancers, Florecica Olteneasca. The best description of it is a Sârba on steroids.  A Sârba is a Romanian folk dance related to the Bulgarian Pravo Horo and the Serbian Čačak. The dance is from the region of Oltenia in southern Romania.

The first part of the dance, which is relatively easy, consists of Sârba choreography (the spelling Sirba is also used).

This video took place at a Romanian festival in Boulder, Colorado, and the dancers are from the Hora Romaneasca dance group  The musical accompaniment for this dance is known by the politically incorrect name of Jew's Harp (drîmba is the name in Romanian). The other instrument is a kobza.



Video #2 is the same group performing Florecica #2.  Like the previous video you can hear the "chatter" in the background.  This is also a fast dance done in Sârba  rhythm, punctuated by shouts from the leader. The opposing lines at 0:52 remind me of a Bulgarian dance, Sitna Zborernka.

This version of Florecica is played on violins, cimbalom and panpipes.



If you enjoyed this you may also like The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba

For more on Hora Romaneasca read: Romanian Folk Dance in the United States

To see an example of a dance with opposing lines:How To Stamp Out Your Frustrations and Relieve Stress


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.