Folk Dancing is a general term for dances from various countries that are normally performed during social events by people with little or no professional training. Folk dances are often learned informally by the new dancer observing others dancing and then receiving help from others in learning the dance.
Folk dances are often part of the social fabric of the country, and often have common features such that people familiar with folk dancing can often tell what country a dance is from even if they had not seen the particular dance before. Some countries have features that are unique to that country, although neighoring countries sometimes have similar features. For example, the German and Austrian schuhplattling dance consists of slapping the body and shoes in a fixed pattern, something that few other countries have. Folk dances sometimes evolved long before current political boundaries, so that certain dances are shared by several countries. For example, some Serbian, Bulgarian, and even Croatian dances share the same or similar dances, and sometimes even use the same name and music for those dances.
Although folk dancing was originally done by the common people of the local culture, folk dancing has received some popularity on college campuses and community centers within the United States and other countries. Richard Thompson wrote a song about this group of people titled Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands, a reference to scottish musician Jimmy Shand that produced bagpipe music. In the 1960's this movement was supported by record labels such as Folk Dancer by Michael and Maryann Herman, and the Folkways label by Moses Asch which is currently under the Smithsonian Institute. Folk Dancing is viewed more of a social activity rather than competetive, although there are professional and semi-professional folk dance groups, and occassional folk dance competitions.
International folkdance is a genre of dance wherein selected folkdances from multiple ethnic groups are done by the same dancers, typically as part of one event.
International folkdance developed in the immigrant communities of the United States of America during the first half of the 20th century.
Traditional dances such as branles, the polka, et al., have been done internationally for hundreds of years; however, the creation of international folkdance as such is often attributed to Vytautas Beliajus, a Lithuanian-American who studied, taught, and performed dances from various ethnic traditions in the 1930s.
Folkdancing is viewed as more of a social activity rather than competitive, although there are professional and semi-professional folkdance groups, and occasional folkdancecompetitions.
There are a number of modern dances such as hip hop that evolve spontaneously, but the term "folkdances" is generally not applied to them, and the terms "street dance" or "vernacular dance" are used instead.
The term "folkdances" is reserved for dances which are to a significant degree bound by European tradition and originated in the times when the distinction existed between the dances of "common folk" and the dances of the "high society".
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