type
names
form
structure
motifs
music
CarpathianBrâul Brâul,
Corăgheşte
shoulder
hold
3 measure, plimbăretravelling
to the right & figures
3 measure,
syncopation,
stamping, heel
clicks
2/4
commonSârba
Sârba
shoulder
hold
3 measure, plimbăretravelling
to the right & figures
3 measure,
stamping, heel
clicks
2/4
compound
time
"Ternary"Hora
Jianul,
Balta, Salta
hands
joined at
shoulder
height
3 measure phrases nonconcordant with music
walking,
stamps, heel
lifts, leaps
2/4
Chain dance form
In chain dances the dancers are linked to their neighbours using their hands or arms. The line and circle
dances of Romania are descendents of ancient dances possibly associated with rituals.
Some dances are in a circle, either a complete circle or an open circle with dance leaders on the open ends.
These formations are common in social occasions with larger numbers of participants and mostly use simple
hand hold which is more flexible not requiring exact movement in unison from the dancers.
Shorter lines or smaller circles often use holds that maintain a rigid linkage along the line. Holding the
shoulders of one's neighbours is common in Romanian men's dances, "back basket hold" where hands are
joined behind the adjacent dancer, to the hand of the next dancer, is common in men's dances and mixed
men's and women's dances.
As a general rule, the circle dances of western Europe move to the left and those of eastern Europe and the
Balkans move to the right. In Romania most of the dances that move predominantly in one direction move
to the right in common with the rest of east Europe, although some dances in the isolated area of Vrancea
move to the left.
Romanian chain dance types
The "classic" Romanian ethnologist classification of chain dances is into basic types;
Hora and Sârba by musical rhythm
the Brâul by identity as men's line dances
those with various asymmetric rhythms which have been termed aksak, but these dances are
generally choreographically within other dance types
assemblage of various vocal dances
Selections of various dances which fulfil the basic classification requirement are put into each of these
categories, but may actually be linked by choreological development with other dances placed in the other
types.