Romanian Folk Dance in the United States

When you're dancing, you're dancing for people to see.
Pharrell Williams

Today's post features a costumed folk dance group, Hora Romaneasca, from Boulder, Colorado, USA.  I found them totally by accident, during a search for the dance Hora de Mina on YouTube.

I found several of their videos posted in the sidebar, and I had to share them, they were so good.  These were taken during a festival in 2011.

Video #1 is the graceful Hora Spoitorilor.



Video #2 is something a bit more animated;  Alunelul de Briu, accented by shouts (strigaturi). Strigaturi are a feature of many Romanian folk dances, along with stamps. Should Romanian dancing be stamped out?  I don't think so.



Video #3 is of a dance some find intimidating because it's fast and has sudden changes of direction.  The name is Cimpoi. It means "bagpipe" in Romanian.



Video #4 is Trei Pazeste. It translates into "three times beware"; something about the sudden changes of direction and speed. There is a family of dances with the name Trei Pazeste, with different music and choreography, from other towns in Romania. You can read about them in one of the posts on the bottom of the page.

Notice how how the group uses different formations; first the men, then the women, then the entire group in a circle. (Check out the cute little girl in costume, running in front of them! I think she wanted to join the dancers.)



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Three Variations on the Romanian Folk Dance Trei Pazeste

Two Variations on the Romanian Folk Dance Hora de Mina

The Different "Flavors" of the Romanian Folk Dance Alunelul

Another Country Heard From:  The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music

This month's post on Light and Shadow is about the autumn season.


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

A Taste of Albania at Balkan Music Night 2013

Balkan Music Night is an annual festival which takes place on the third Saturday of March in Concord, Massachusetts.

I have gone to Balkan Music night for the past three years and I am always delighted to watch the dance ensembles perform at this event.  There is also participatory dancing when the costumed groups aren't performing, and there are numerous bands that play for your dancing pleasure.

The performers represented different Balkan countries, such as Bulgaria and Serbia, but the most outstanding ensemble this year was an group of young Albanian dancers from Worcester, Massachusetts,Valle Tona. They had amazing energy and were a total pleasure to watch.

Albania is a country that doesn't make the news very often especially here in the United States. It is a country very different in culture and language than the other countries on the Balkan peninsula. 

First of all, they speak a language that is totally unrelated to Slavic, Latin or Greek.  Secondly, the country has had a history of isolation from the rest of Europe. Thirdly, unlike the other Balkan countries, Islam is the dominant religion, although there is s sizable population of Eastern Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics.  The dance group Valle Tona is sponsored by St. Mary's Albanian Orthodox Church in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Albanian music is very haunting and beautiful as you can see (and hear) in this video.



The group also performed Valle Kosovare, a lively dance done to pop-folk music.  I didn't record it this year, but here is a Valle Tona video from a church picnic, taken during the summer of 2011.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

A Romanian Festival with an Albanian Accent

Music is the Strongest Form of Magic: Balkan Music Night 2012

Balkan Music Night 2011: More Balkan March Madness

By the way, if you like trivia, the American author Laura Ingalls Wilder travelled all over Europe and lived for a while in Albania.  She is best known for the series of Little House books, an autobiographical set of novels about her childhood in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Read more about her here:


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

The River of Many Names Part 3: Folk Ensembles and Performing Groups with the name "Dunav"

Rivers are roads which move, and which carry us whither we desire to go. ~Blaise Pascal

Today's post is a another Close Encounter of the Danubian Kind. You get to visit different countries by way of music, enjoy some beautiful scenery and watch some fantastic folk dancing from Bulgaria.

During my forays in the Universe of YouTube I have found several groups that play, sing or dance to Balkan music. They all have one thing in common, the name "Dunav," which is Bulgarian/Serbian for Danube.

This river has been an inspiration for many artists, musicians and poets, from Germany all the way to Romania, but the Bulgarians seem have been the most smitten by the river that forms their northern border with Romania.

The ensemble Dunav, from Vidin in Bulgaria, is an example of Bulgarian artistry inspired by the River of Many Names. The beginning of this video is especially worth watching. Notice that the man shakes his head from side to side after seeing the images in the water. Are they a figment of his imagination? The dancers are amazing, and so is the scenery, the ship in the background, however, is a distraction. But, then, that's minor.



If you are a regular reader of The Alien Diaries, you have seen these people before. Their teaching videos are all over YouTube, and their specialty is dances from the Balkans and the Middle East. Dunav, a group from Jerusalem, Israel, describes their website as "the sharing place for Balkan music and dance." Check out their link:

http://www.dunav.org.il/

Here they perform Talima, from Dobrudja, the northeast region of Bulgaria which just happens to be along the River of Many Names.



In the States, folklore and culture are often found at church festivals. These events are held during the summer at Eastern Orthodox churches located in large cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Many immigrants from Eastern Europe settled there because they were able to find work in the factories and in the steel mills. They wanted to keep the traditions alive for the next generation; the church had a hand in this by sponsoring classes in traditional music, dance, and the language of the old country. In turn, the festivals raised money for the church. The greater community benefits by being exposed to a foreign culture. I've been to Greek, Serbian, Albanian, Romanian, and Bulgarian festivals, to me it's like visiting another country without leaving my own.

The Dunav Orchestra performs at a Serbian festival in Indiana. This, to me, sounds like Croatian tamburitza music. The country doesn't matter, it's a pleasure to listen to.



The last "Dunav" group is from London. This performance, from their trip to Romania in 1993, is of a lively Romanian folk song.



If you enjoyed this post, you will also like The River of Many Names (parts one and two). Part one is a musical journey.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/river-of-many-names-musical-journey.html

Part two has songs and dances from Bulgaria related to the Danube:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/10/river-of-many-names-part-2-danube-in.html

For more on ethnic festivals, read:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/08/folklore-food-and-fun-at-festivals.html


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