I had to look up where Moldova is. It’s that country colored red in the map above, in eastern Europe. That’s Romania on its west, and Ukraine wraps around its eastern side. It’s had a complicated history. For a time it was called Moldavia (or that was its English name, depending on what you read). Part of Moldova was included in the Soviet Republic for a time. Part of the territory traditionally known as Moldova is now within Romania’s borders. Some Moldovan people speak Hungarian.

Of course, I had to check out their folk dances. All the ones shown below are new to me except for the first one.

Mari Kiz is a dance we do at Phoenix International Folk Dancers. It consists of a 4-measure pattern danced in line of direction, and a variation danced into the center and out again:

Çekirgä, danced beautifully (though solemnly) by this group of children:

Hora de la Soroca:

Long Hora:

Ördög Útja (also known as Drumul Dracului):

Ostropat, a pretty couples dance:

Öves:

Sârba ca la Sud. I think there is more than one version of this dance; this is particularly spirited: