Most Popular Balkan Folk Dances on Zoom: Part Three

If confusion is the first step to knowledge, I must be a genius.
Larry Leissner

Tsigansko Horo is a dance popular in Bulgaria as well as North America.  It bears a slight resemblance to Chichovo Horo, another Bulgarian dance.  Video #1 shows a dance group from Bulgaria. The song is actually Serbian. by Sanja Ilich and Balkanika. You can find the lyrics here.

You can read more about the song Djipaj and its associated dance in the first post link listed below.



Another dance that I have frequently seen on Zoom sessions is De Secerat, from Romania. It is a women's harvest song.  It was introduced by Cristian Florescu and Sonia Dion.

The group is Balkanitsa, from Haifa, in Israel. This is another sing along song!  If anyone can find the lyrics please post them in the "comments" section.



The next dance, originally taught by Yves Moreau, made popular by Murray Spiegel on his bi-weekly Wednesday night Zoom sessions, is Vidinsko Horo. He has a teaching video on Youtube as well, with the faster parts slowed down.

Murray mentioned that Boris Karlov (the musician, not the actor, here we go with that confusion thing) composed the music.  As a matter of fact, many of our dances use the music of Boris Karlov: for example: Bavno Oro, Gankino Horo, and Zizaj Nane (a daichovo dance with calls). You can read about it in post #2 below.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

(Almost) The Same Music, Different Dance: Part Two

Call and Response: Daichovo Horo

The Legacy of Boris Karlov, Bulgarian Folk Accordionist

Here are the links to Part Two and Part One


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

Most Popular Balkan Folk Dances on Zoom: Part Two

Aside from singing, I'm also a dancer. I've been dancing since I was 8.
Billie Eilish

Valle Pogonishte is one of the most popular Albanian dances.  People love the melody and sing along with it. You can find the lyrics here. The translation, in German, describes a festival in the Chameria region of Albania.  Fritz, the teacher in the video, calls out the steps in German.

The group is from a workshop in Austria.  They sing along, too. If you're a trivia buff, the artist for this song is Sami Kallmi.



Siriul is a dance from the Muntenia region of Romania.  There are two versions: one with vocals and one without.  I prefer the one with singing.  Here are the lyrics if you want to sing along. There is also an English translation on the lyrics page. There is a mention of a place called Buzau that is a river in Romania. Siriul Mare is one of the tributaries. (Note: this is not a song about what you eat for breakfast! If you like confusion, there is a post at the bottom of this page for you).

If you listen to the music carefully at about 1:50 and also again 2:47 it evokes the sound of flowing water.



Another Romanian dance popular on Zoom is Hora Banateana. Thanks to Riki Adivi (who does Thursday night Zoom sessions at 8 p.m. Eastern Time) and the video, I'm learning the dance. For those who prefer written instructions I have also included the dance notes.

Banat is a region shared by three counties: Romania, Serbia, and Hungary.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Most Popular Folk Dances on Zoom, Part One:

And for those who enjoy confusion there's a 20 post series:
Balkan Dances that are Often Confused, Part 20 (this post has links to the rest of the series.)


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