Figure 1.--Here we see a Russian folk dancing troupe. They seem to be celebrating Russia's victory in the Great Patriotic War.

We know very little about Russian folk dancing at this time. We have no information on the histotical origins of Russian folk dancing. The very limited number of Russian folk dances we have observed look to us like Cossack dancing with the male dancers keeping theor hands on their waist. We are not sure, however, if this is a style that the Cossacks inherited from Russian peasants or Russian pessants inherited from the Cossacks. We think Gypsey dancing is another influence. Another source mentions Klezmer dancing, a style of Jewish instrumental music. We also note references to Ukraine dancing. We have no idea at this time as differences between Russian and Ukranian dance. Folk dance can represent aspects of daily life. A good example here is “Troika,” a popular Russian folk dance. Here three dancers represent horses pulling a troika (sleigh). Dancers performing Russian dances normally dress in brightly colored costumes losely based on Russian folk costumes based on peasant dress. Hopefully our Russian readers will be able to tell us more about folk dancing in their country.