Folk dance classics and popular songs
When you think of folk dancing, many schools probably include it as one of the events at their sports days or athletic festivals, right?
I’m sure many of you actually danced folk dances during your school days.
Folk dance, to begin with, refers to dances set to traditional songs from various countries, and there are a lot of pieces used for folk dancing.
In this article, we’ll introduce a wide range of folk dance songs from around the world—from standard classics to lesser-known, niche tracks.
If you’re a school teacher, a member of a PE committee, or anyone looking to choose music for a folk dance, please use this as a reference.
Folk Dance Classics and Popular Songs (1–10)
Tatarochka
This piece may not be very well known, but it’s a recommended folk dance because the choreography is relatively simple and easy to learn.
“Tatarochka” means a Tatar dance from Russia, and both the music and the moves have an Oriental feel.
The part where you raise both hands high and shout “Yakshi” is distinctive—apparently it means “wonderful.” If you’re tired of the usual folk dances, it might be fun to try folk dances from around the world that you haven’t encountered before.
Kinderpolka
This song is a German children’s folk dance tune also known as the “Kid Goat Polka.” Some say it’s an arrangement of the adult folk dance from Lithuania called “Krumpakojis,” adapted for children.
The moves are simple enough for kids, but because partners change as you dance, it’s enjoyable for adults as well.
Dances with partner changes make you imagine how, in the past, there might have been such dances in rural areas for people to find marriage partners, don’t they?
Korobushka
This piece is famous for having been used as the background music for Tetris, which was a global craze from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
It originally comes from a Russian song, said to have been composed from part of the poem “The Peddlers” by Russian poet Nikolay Nekrasov.
A dance where partners change one after another like this can really set your heart racing in your youth, can’t it? There’s also a Japanese version of Korobeiniki by Yukio Hashi, so why not give it a listen?
Che Che Kule
Known as a children’s play song, this piece is said to have originally been a Ghanaian folk song.
Like “Sarasponda,” its incantation-like, nonsensical lyrics leave a strong impression, making it a fun and quirky tune.
The choreography involves shaking your hips while moving your hands down from your head step by step, but overseas it seems to be enjoyed as a call-and-response song, much like “The Bear in the Forest.” It’s also fascinating how a single song keeps changing depending on the order in which it gets passed along.
La Bamba
This song became famous as the theme song for the film “La Bamba,” so I think many of you have heard it.
Originally, it was a folk dance that had long been performed in Mexico’s Veracruz region.
At weddings, couples would dance using a red ribbon and work together to tie the ribbon with their feet.
You could say it was their first cooperative task as a married couple.
Because of this, Japanese textbooks introduce it under the title “Ribbon Dance.”
harmonica
Here is a song called “Harmonica,” which in Israel means accordion.
It’s a dance where people hold hands and energetically step together, and they sometimes call out cheers in the middle.
Adding the calls seems like it would boost the sense of unity and make it even more exciting.
The step where you cross your left foot in front of your right is apparently called the Harmonica Step, and it’s interesting that the step’s name appears in the title.
There are many different dances depending on the country or region, so it’s fun to compare them.
Doudlebská Polka
This dance is performed in male-female pairs, but partway through it splits into a men’s team and a women’s team that do different movements, making it a folk dance full of variety.
It’s a Czech dance, and I’m told that “Doudlevská” means “double” in English.
The name seems to come from the action of clapping twice.
In the section where the men’s and women’s teams circle separately, you can also sing along with the melody, which I think makes the folk dance even more enjoyable.
By all means, try dancing while singing.