Metelitsa (), metelytsia () or miacielica () is a popular

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. This dance abounds in swift changes of choreographed figures of a spinning nature, symbolizing a snowstorm. The dance still retains its

Khorovod The khorovod or horovod, or , , is an East Slavic and pagan art form. It is one of the oldest Russian folk dancesbeing over 1,000 years old. It is a combination of a circle dance and chorus singing, similar to the choreia of ancient ...

character, the ancient form of group dancing and choral singing with the many figures in a circle form. In the past the Metelystia was danced to only choral accompaniment. In the late 19th and early 20th century besides singing the song, it was accompanied by the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

or sometimes an instrumental ensemble.

References

Ukrainian folk dances Belarusian folk dances Group dances {{Ukraine-culture-stub

See also

References