Macedonian Folk Dancing

The drum boldly beats out the base rhythm, horns join in with tone and fill, then voices sing out a strong and joyful yet dissonant melody... enter the dancers, dressed in embroidered red, white, black, brown, purple and gold: Macedonian folk dancers treating us with a special performance before the Lord of the Dance last Saturday.

I'd only ever seen this dancing in full folk costume once before (at the Galichnik Wedding) and so was thrilled to get to see it last weekend. If you look at the pictures you'll notice that the outfits are different. This is because each region of Macedonia has their own unique style/pattern of dress. I assume that some of the dances are region unique as well, though I may be wrong. These outfits were the common daily dress of locals not too long ago (well, ok, closing in on 100 years now maybe) though even today in some villages and remoter places you'll see the ocassional baba (grandma) wearing her outfit headed home from the market. Ah. Culture.

One of the coolest thing about these dances is that some are still danced today: at the Christmas bonefires, weddings or any special occasion really. Old or young, it does not matter, everyone knows how to do these dances. I can understand why---> because they're so much fun! (It's easy to dance your feet off.) If only we had such dancing in the US... there's no emphasis on couples and everyone can participate. The closest thing we have is country line dancing... and that's not the same (still fun, though).

It was a joy to see this special dance performance, especially as those performing looked like they were having such a great time! :) Here's a video clip sample of the dancing from that night.