Scoala Gimnaziala Caraula

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TRADITIONAL
ROMANIAN DANCES
Romania possesses a rich and complex thesaurus
of folklore. Romanian folk dances, well known
through their beauty and great diversity, are part of
this thesaurus together with folk songs, anecdotes,
legends and poetry; they appear in a great variety
of regional forms, and are known under the name of
horas or dances
Any "dance" is a combination of elements:
formation, regional style; motifs, musical rhythm,
choreography and the social occasion. A change in
one or more of these elements can give another
dance, sometimes too subtle for a visitor to
understand
Many Romanian dances are accompanied by loud
shouts and calls known as Strigturi which are
called rhythmically, but often across the musical
melody and rhythm
HORA DANCE

Hora is the name for the large
circle dance and is the most
widespread dance in Romania,
partly because any number of
participants of both men and
women, of any ability or age,
can join in. Hora is frequently
performed as a ritual dance at
weddings and funerals. In
southern Romania and
Moldavia Hora is the
introductory dance to the
dance cycle, whereas in
Transylvania and Maramure it
is rarely performed at the
village Hora.

The hold in Hora has the hands joined at shoulder height
and held slightly forward. The formation is a closed circle,
apart from in some parts of Banat and north Oltenia where
it is danced in an open circle with a leader who can take
the dance into a spiral. Mostly these dances progress to
the right, often with a diagonal forward and back path.

BRASOVEANCA
Brasoveanca it is a pair dance, the pairs are
dancing on a rhythm which is becoming more
and more alert.



And, three steps forward and three back
That's Brasoveanca which we dance
Three steps forward and three back
That's Brasoveanca which we dance
The girl goes left than she passes right
The girl goes left, that's Brasoveanca, hey! (Bis
stanza)
That is how the girl dances
Also on the left and right!
And forward and back,
As we dance!

PERINITA
"Perinita" (the little pillow) is a distinctive Romanian
dance of the kiss.
It is a hora dance, in which alternatively, men and
women pick their partners from the circle of the
dancers, for a short swirl, and a kiss upon the
dance floor while kneeling in the middle of the hora,
on a little pillow or on an embroidered handkerchief.
After the kissing, the last chosen will choose a
new partner, while his former partner takes his
place into the hora.





This dance is performed on the night of the
New Year and is the last hora on the wedding
celebrations
SARBA DANCE
Like Hora, an open circle formation is the
norm, apart from south Oltenia where it is
generally danced in a closed circle.
The dancers at each end are the leaders,
with other dancers joining into the middle
of line during the dance
CIULEANDRA
Ciuleandra is a
specific type of
Srba from
north Oltenia
and Muntenia.
It is danced in
small circles,
which change
places with
other small
circles in the
dance area.


CALUSUL
The Calus, ritual folk dance it has
been included in the intangible
heritage of UNESCO
Performed in the Olt region of
southern Romania, the Clu ritual
dance also formed part of the
cultural heritage of the Vlachs of
Bulgaria and Serbia
The Calus is only performed on
Pentecost, for the three days of the
traditional holiday;
Its primordial meanings are lost in
time, but folklorists and historians
believe that the dance was either a
fertility ritual or a ritual performed to
cure off delirium caused by
possession by iele (fairies)
The Clu ritual features a series of
games, skits, songs and dances, and was
enacted by all-male Cluari dancers to
the accompaniment of two violins and an
accordion. Young men used to be initiated
into the ritual by a vataf (master) who had
inherited the knowledge of descntece
(magic charms) and the dance steps from
his predecessor. Groups of Cluari
dancers, sporting colourful hats,
embroidered shirts and trousers adorned
with small jingling bells, perform complex
dances, which combine stamping, clicking
of the heels, leaping and swinging of the
legs.
The Calus is supposed to bring luck and
keep away disease and evil spirits.
The dance includes the following elements.
The starting figure of walking (plimbri), or
a basic step, in a circle moving counter
clockwise.
More complex figures (micare) performed
in place between walking steps.
Figures are formed from combinations of
elements, often have a beginning-middle-
end structure.

Now days, the "calusari", often accompanied by
a masked personage (the mute) carry clubs and
are performing dances of great virtuosity. The
unexpected developments of the dance are
accompanied by "strigaturi" (humorous or
satirical verse chanted during the dance) and
the tunes sung by the groups of interpreters.



We hope that you liked our
traditional dances.



Now, many of these dances lost their first
significance , but there are still danced on
the important events: marriage, birth or
other events.