Balkan Kolo

Also known as Коло · Circle Dance

The kolo is the circle or chain dance of the Balkans: dancers hold hands or belts and move around together with small, quick steps while an accordion or a band keeps the pulse. Tunes run from the even two-beat narodno kolo to the limping seven-beat measures of the south-eastern Balkans.

Play the preview About this tradition

Balkan Kolo: photograph by Wilfredor — Photo: Wilfredor, CC0, source on Wikimedia Commons

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How to play

Four pads are four foot actions: step with the right foot, step with the left, a hop, and a closing step that brings the feet together.
Marks fall toward the line; play the matching pad as each one lands, as the whole ring keeps the same step.
The two-beat tune is danced on the quarter note; the seven-beat tunes count seven short pulses in groups of three and two and two, or two and two and three.
Each dance plays through twice.

Rules at a glance

In the two-beat dance each beat is a quarter note and half-beat steps are the quick doubled steps.
In the seven-beat dances each pulse is one eighth note; steps fall on the first pulse of each group.
A step within a short moment of the mark is perfect; a close one is good; extra steps cost points.
Three stars need nearly every step on time.

About the tradition

Kolo, horo and oro are danced at weddings, fairs and village gatherings across the Balkans, and each region keeps its own tunes and step names. Every dancer keeps the same step, so a newcomer can join the line at any point.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Northern and Eastern Europe.

Credits

Dance: Balkan tradition; step patterns written for this game
Photo: Wilfredor, CC0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.

Sources

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Šopsko_kolo,_XVIII_Duna.jpg

Get the app

Balkan Kolo is one of 10 instruments and dances in the Music & Dance of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 10 instruments and dances in the app

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