Thread: Folk dance
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Old 04-06-2008, 04:45 PM
Connie
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I love folk dance and folk singing, and often look it up at You Tube so I thought I'd contribute to this thread. Here are a few links I collected.

I think it's noteworthy that the costumes worn in all the cultures for these dances are very modest. Colorful and modest, for both sexes. No spandex here, no cleavage, in fact very little skin. And the dances are modest too, mostly foot work, little body contact, often an exhibition of physical strength -- and interestingly, many of them are all men. These are mostly done by official dance troupes now but they come out of genuine local traditions.

A short snippet of Greek dance to the theme from “Zorba the Greek”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjcsE...eature=related

Folk dance from Thessalia (which I'm assuming is the location of the original Thessalonian church, but I'm not sure)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zs33...eature=related

Thracian dance (between Greece and Bulgaria)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAoM...eature=related

Armenian dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEeD...eature=related

Bulgarian dance is quite similar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXFj7...eature=related

Romanian dance sometimes partners men and women:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGiFbGwRfY0

Ukrainian Cossack dance – seems to be completely a masculine thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmskm...eature=related

Mongolian – getting into some Chinese feeling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4uhS...eature=related

There are also Norwegian, English, Italian, French, Polish, German, Irish and no doubt other folk dances, but the pictures aren’t very good on some.

European dances at least come out of a Christianized culture. I wonder what kind of dancing they did before Christianity took over in Europe. I did check out a few nonChristian cultures -- African, American Indian, Polynesian, Arabian, Hindu -- and it seems many of the dances are shamanistic, with the intent of contacting demon spirits, or seductive, fertility type dances or something along those lines. Dances to the local gods at least. I didn't watch a lot so I may be misjudging, but my quick impression is that overall the movements are more sensuous, the skin is more bare (not always), and there's a lot of drumming.

Anyway, dance seems to be a very natural human expression, and I don't see any reason it can't be God-honoring. Unfortunately most of it isn't any more. Dancing with the Stars? The fewer clothes and the more suggestive movements the "better" it is it seems. Even ballet shows way too much body. I don't understand why either, since it's obviously not necessary to even the most strenuous acrobatic movements, as many of the folk dances show, where very loose clothing is worn.