Fun and Easy Folk Dances from Serbia

The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, "If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it jumping up and down.
 ~Rita Rudner

Kolo is the Serbian version of aerobics. Today's post features some fun and easy dances from Serbia. If you're looking for dances to teach, as well as some aerobic exercise, you've come to the right place.

Savila se Bela Loza Vinova is a dance we often play at the beginning of the evening.  It's also a good dance for kids. They love it because there's running and skipping.

I used to despise gym class. It was focused on calisthenics, a form of pain and torture devised by sadistic physical education teachers.  Dancing would have been a lot more enjoyable.

Some of the people in the line are confused because they realize, too late, that the dance changes direction, which makes this video amusing to watch. 



Here is a longer version of the previous dance performed during a spring festival in Italy. Follow the lady with the red scarf, then the man with the orange one.  With this dance two heads, or leaders, are better than one.



Orijent is a popular Serbian dance that has been around since the 1950's.  According to the notes the name may have been derived from the Orient Express, a train that passed through Serbia many years ago. The original route went from Paris to Istanbul, with a number of changes over the years and operated from 1883 to 2009.



Raca is a Vlach dance, with stamps, named after a duck, deceptively easy until it speeds up. It tends to go awry when people try to have a conversation while doing it.  It helps to keep the steps small during the fast part, and don't forget to put some stamps in there for emphasis.



Cica Obrenovo Kolo is a dance with stamps and shouts. I couldn't find any notes, but it's probably of Vlach origin. Just follow the leader, he's the guy with the red scarf.

Serbian dances tend to be bouncy; this one is a good example of that up and down movement.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

On Ethnic Dance and Exercise

The "Flavors" of Serbian Kolo"

Fun and Easy Folk Dances from Romania

Take a Ride on the Orijent Express

Stamp It Out: Vlach Dances from Serbia

Another good resource is the blog Easy Folk Dances.


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

Take a Ride on the Orijent Express

Who knows who will be on board? A couple of spies, for sure. At least one grand duke; a few beautiful woman, no doubt very rich and very troubled. Anything can happen and usually does on the Orient Express.
Morley Safer

Today's featured dances are Orijent and Ciganski Orijent  from Serbia.

Orijent is one of the first dances I learned. There is one part of the dance in which my dance instructor described as "scraping shit off your shoe,"which is something peasants often did when dancing in the fields.

Back in the old days, animal droppings were the only "land mines" dancers had to worry about. In the country that used to be Yugoslavia, there are many places that have live land mines. The areas are marked off with warning signs.

Fortunately, there was no "land mine" danger for these dancers.



Ciganski Orijent  most likely originated as a Gypsy (Roma) dance.  The music sounds like a train and was inspired by the Orient Express, a luxury train that took passengers from Paris to Istanbul. The Simplon route passed through Serbia and there was a stop in Belgrade, the White City and capital of Serbia.

The Orient Express inspired Agatha Christie's novel Murder on the Orient Express, and there was also a movie based on the book.

Some of the steps are similar to Orijent in the previous video.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Stamp It Out: Vlach Dances From Serbia

The "Flavors" of Serbian Cacak

Two Variations on a Serbian Folk Dance: Stara Vlajna

Don't forget to check out the newest post on my other blog: Light and Shadow, especially if you like cats.


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