Until recently, much of Israel’s culture has been a reflection of Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions, but more cosmopolitan influences are starting to take effect. In Palestinian parts of the country, Muslim culture is more evident, with Sunni being the predominant Muslim sect. Family and hospitality are very important in Palestinian life.

Israel is a nation rich in diverse history, where everyday interactions are shaped by thousand-year-old conflicts.

As Judaism, Christianity and Islam struggle to coexist, Shalom Israel Ashdod spreads the language of peace through its music and dance. In fact, its name means Peace in Israel. The 30-member group is from the city of Ashdod. Performing with the dancers are nine musicians, including two vocalists, and instruments including trombones, a trumpet, clarinet, accordian, flute and piccolo. Their dances include a Hassidic dance, representing the Eastern Europe Jewish Community; a salute dance, in honor of the strong ties between the state of Israel and the United States; and the Ladino Dance, which is a Sephardic (Spanish-Israeli) dance, representing the Jewish Dispora. The diverse origins of these dances exhibit the complex ancestry of the Israeli people.

Ilinden

Bitola, Macedonia
Full country name: The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Area: 25,333 sq km (9,928 sq mi)
Population: 2 million
Capital city: Skopje (pop 444, 229)
People: Macedonian 66%, Albanian 23%, Turkish 4%, Gypsies 3%, Serb 2%
Languages: Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian
Religion: Eastern Orthodox 67%, Muslim 30%
Government: Emerging democracy
President: Boris Trajkovski

Historical Macedonia is probably best known as the point from which Alexander the Great set out to conquer the ancient world in the 4th century B.C. Today, however, that area is contained mostly in present-day Greece, and Macedonia is a combination of Greek, Serb, Bulgarian and Albanian cultures, and of Orthodox Christianity and Islam. This melting pot has produced a fascinating culture that includes medieval monasteries, timeworn Turkish bazaars, Orthodox churches and contemporary shopping centers.

In Macedonian folk music, the gajda (bagpipes), tambura (two-stringed lute) provide a background for the kaval (flute) and tapan (a huge cylindrical drum). The most famous and popular Macedonian folk dance is called Teskoto (The Hard One). It is a male dance for which music is provided by the tapan and the zurla (large pipes). It starts slowly and gets progressively faster. This dance symbolizes the national awakening of the Macedonian people and is performed with dancers dressed in traditional costumes.

Ilinden, from the city of Bitola, was founded in 1955 as a society to study and revive old Macedonian folk traditions. The group’s dances range from battle dances and religious observances to the celebration of activities such as raising sheep, picking flowers and getting water from a spring.

Jilin Baishan Folk Dance Troupe and Minyue Folk Associates

Manchuria, China

Manchuria is an historic region of northeastern China, which today comprises the provinces of Heilongjiang, Hilin and Liaoning. Traditionally the region was much larger, extending west to what is now the Republic of Mongolia, but in 1949 a part of western Manchuria was incorporated into the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

The region is characterized by a great central plain, surrounded on the north, east and west by high mountain ranges with dense forests. Both the Liao and Sungari rivers run through the plain.

Two groups from Manchuria will perform at Folkmoot, the Jilin Baishan Folk Dance Troupe and the Minyue Folk Associates. Their dances include:

Happy Dance for the Bumper Harvest, which shows a unique way of celebrating another good harvest from the rice fields.

Days are getting better and better, a song and dance performance celebrating the good life in rural northeastern China, especially after land reform, in which farmers gained land back from the Communists.

Korean Dancing, which depicts the life and culture of Korean people in Manchuria.

Gala for the Spring Festival, the most important festival and holiday in China. It is the same as Christmas in western cultures, but Manchurians celebrate it in ways that are different from the rest of China. During the performance, people are dancing in pairs to traditional music of Manchuria.

Ballet Folklorico Universitario and El Tigre

Monterrey, Mexico
Full country name: United Mexican States
Area: 1,972,000 sq km (769,080 sq mi)
Population: 100,294,036 (growth rate 1.73%)
Capital city: Mexico City (22 million people)
People: Approximately 80% mestizo (mixed European and Indian descent) and 10% indígena (Native Americans or Indians - including Nahua, Maya, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Tarascos or Purépecha)
Languages: Spanish and over 50 indigenous languages
Religions: 90% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant
Government: Democracy
President: Vincente Fox Quesada

From awe-inspiring ancient cities to the industrial bustle of its largest city, from snow-capped volcanoes to tropical, tourist-filled beaches, Mexico is a land of extreme diversity. It is also a land with an extraordinary history — part Indian and part Spanish. There are more than 50 distinct indigenous peoples, each with their own language, maintaining vestiges of their cultural heritage.

The world’s largest Spanish-speaking country, Mexico not only shares a border with the United States, but is a strong partner in commerce and tourism. Mexico sends half its oil exports, the eighth largest reserves worldwide, to the U.S., who in turn sends food and manufactured goods to Mexico.

The Ballet Folklorico Universitario and the folk dance band El Tigre (The Tiger), both founded in the 1980s, hail from the University of Nuevo Leon in the city of Monterrey. Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo Leon, is the third-largest city in Mexico. Though the city’s industry and social life have been influenced by the United States, regional customs and traditions flourish.

The essence of the ballet’s music and dance is “to transmit the customs and traditions of a country full of magic and color.” Their performance includes the Dance of Concheros, which represents the “Guerras Floridas” (Flowered Wars), the spiritual fight of men between good and bad, active versus passive, ignorance vs. knowledge, light vs. shadow and life vs. death. In other words, the dance represents the duality of everything. The beginning of the dance is a ceremony of offering of fire to the four points of the universe, the fire being the material and physical manifestation of the sun and spirit.

Sining Kumintang ng Batangas

Bauan, Batangas, Philippines
Full country name: Republic of the Philippines
Area: 299,000 sq km (116,610 sq mi)
Population: 78.4 million
Capital city: Manila (pop: 10 million)
People: Predominantly descendants of Malays, Chinese and Muslim minorities and a number of mestizos (Filipino-Spanish or Filipino-Americans)
Languages: Pilipino (Tagalog) and English plus numerous widely spoken indigenous languages, some Spanish
Religions: 82% Roman Catholic, 9% Protestant, 5% Muslim, 3% Buddhist
Government: Republic
President: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

In 2000, a Brussels-based research center declared the Philippines the most disaster-prone country on earth for its history of typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, garbage landslides and military actions against Muslim insurgents. But you wouldn’t know it from observing the people. Despite this tragic history, most of the Philippines is laid back and stable and its people will tell you it is the place where “Asia wears a smile.”

The 7,000 islands that comprise the Philippines are often called the forgotten islands of southeast Asia. With a recent history of martial law and endemic corruption, the country has struggled to attract the kind of attention other southeastern Asian countries receive.

One of the ways it attempts to do that is through the efforts of folk groups like Sining Kumintang ng Batangas. This ensemble is composed of enthusiastic high school students and alumni of Bauan High School in Bauan, Batangas. The group formed in 1992 and started performing for government and civic groups. It started out with the name Bauan High School Dance Troupe, but eventually adopted its present name to show a personality difference from other performing groups. “Sining” refers to folk art and “kumingtang” is a dance term for hand movement, which is very popular in Batangas.

Though barely a decade old, this close-knit group of performers has become one of the Philippines’ greatest ambassadors of its country’s culture.

Polaniorze Ensemble

Poland
Full country name: Republic of Poland
Area: 312,677 sq km (121,944 sq mi)
Population: 38.6 million
Capital city: Warsaw (pop 1.75 million)
People: 98% Polish, plus Ukrainian and Belorussian minorities
Languages: Polish
Religions: 95% Roman Catholic
Government: Parliamentary republic
Premier: Leszek Miller
President: Aleksander Kwasniewski

Throughout its history, Poland has been both a bridge and a front line between eastern and western Europe. Most of Europe’s great empire builders were unrelenting in their incursions into the country, a practice that ended only with the waning of Soviet influence.

However, the centuries of invasion and occupation by other countries, is only part of the story of Poland, which means “people of the fields.” Today, Poland is free from outside interference and its efforts to pick itself up off the floor and reinvent itself are among the most successful in the days since the fall of the Soviet Union. It has become a multifaceted country where the capital and old medieval towns are honored by contemporary city folks, but where horse-drawn carts still negotiate country lanes in areas where the 20th century, let alone the 21st century, still appears to be on its way.

The new Poland is garnering international credibility by capitalizing on its material strengths. It became a full NATO member in 1999.

The Polaniorze Ensemble was created in 1977 by the activists of the Highlanders’ Union of Koscielisko. Its name is derived from the old name of the village once known as Polany. The music and dance of this 60-member ensemble, about 30 of whom will be present for Folkmoot, presents the life and customs of Polany.

In 1978, the group was awarded the Golden Mountaineer’s Axe at the International Festival of Highlander Folklore in Zakopane. Some of its members are also actors who have starred in many Polish films.

Ogonyok (Little Fire)

Moscow, Russia
Full country name: Russian Federation
Area: 17 million sq km (6,563,706 sq mi)
Population: 147 million (growth rate -0.3%)
Capital city: Moscow (pop 9 million)
People: 81% Russian, 4% Tatar, 3% Ukrainian and numerous ethnic minorities
Language: Russian
Religions: Russian Orthodox, Islam, Animist
Government: Federation
President: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

In terms of geography, Russia is the largest country in the world, spanning almost 6.6 million square miles (6,592,800 square miles to be exact.) That is nearly one-ninth of the world’s land area and nearly twice as big as the United States and China.

An independent republic in eastern Europe and Asia, established on Dec. 25, 1991, Russia includes 21 ethnically based republics, one autonomous oblast (region), 10 autonomous okrugs (national areas) and two cities with federal status. Officially named the Russian Federation (Rossiyskaya Federatsiya), Russia was once the largest and most prominent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Sharing its culture with Folkmoot audiences will be Ogonyok (Little Fire), an award-winning ensemble that has won medals at international festivals in Germany, France and Moscow. The group performs a repertoire that includes folk Russian dances, world dances, and others. Their efforts are designed not to perform folk songs as a monument to the past, but as elements of contemporary life. Dances include Skaz, an ancient Russian lyrical dance; Matryoshka (nested dolls), a folklore dance on the theme of a traditional Russian souvenir that includes bright, scenic suits in an image of nested dolls; and Good fellows – beautiful girls, a Russian national dance.

Ballet Folcloric “Ara de Madrid”

Madrid, Spain
Full country name: Kingdom of Spain
Area: 504,784 sq km
Population: 39.7 million (growth rate 0.1%)
Capital city: Madrid (pop 3.1 million)
People: Spaniards (though Catalans and Basques display a fierce independent spirit)
Languages: Castilian Spanish (also Catalan, Galician & Basque)
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic
Government: Parliamentary monarchy
Prime Minister: José María Aznar

The rich history of Espana (Spain) is not only colored by the rise and fall of empires and the activities of conquistadors, but awash in the artistic legacies of names such as Goya, Gaudí, Velazquez, Picasso and Dalí, and filled with the romance of Don Quijote, Ernest Hemingway and the International Brigades.

Any consideration of Spanish culture would be incomplete without some attention paid to the importance of religion on the country and individuals, dominated by the influence of Roman Catholicism, but balanced by a fervent mystical element present in art and literature. The country has an impressive list of saints, and a large number of religious congregations and orders. The Catholic marriage is the basis of the family, which in turn is the foundation of Spanish society.

The roots of Spanish dance reach to antiquity, including the famed Andalusian dancing girls of Roman times; the court entertainments of the Moorish caliphs; the theatrical dance dating back to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella; 16th-century courtly dances such as the zarabanda, chacona, pasacalle, and folia; and liturgical dances.

Performing at Folkmoot this year is the Ballet Foclorico “Ara de Madrid” (Altar of Madrid) from the capital city of Madrid. Formed in 1988, the group has performed all over Spain, including the tiniest villages. Their dances include classical, traditional Spanish dances such as flamenco and bolero, as well as modern dances. Many of their costumes are inspired by the colorful paintings of Francisco de Goya, whose expressionistic palette inspired later masters.

Yunist

Podillya, Ukraine
Full country name: Ukraine
Area: 603,700 sq km (233,000 sq mi)
Population: 49.1 million
Capital city: Kiev (pop 2.6 million)
People: Ukrainian 73%, Russian 22%, Jewish 1%
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian
Religions: Ukrainian Orthodox, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, Protestant, Jewish
Government: Republic
President: Leonid D. Kuchma
Prime Minister: Anatolii Kinakh

A country whose state song declares that ‘Ukraine has not yet died’ might not seem to offer a very uplifting sentiment, but don’t let that fool you. Ukraine has survived a history of military invasion and plague that has periodically devastated the population, including intentional famines engineered by Josef Stalin that wiped out 7 million people in the 1930s. His goal was to use Ukraine as a test case of his ideas about “harmful” nationalism.

The test did not work, as Ukraine did not die. Today, the country is a major player in the region’s economy, though for every large industrial city there are dozens of villages with picket fences and horse carts where time stands still.

Yunist, or the Ukranian State Song and Dance Company, is one of the most famous folklore groups in Ukraine. It hails from Podillya, near the center of the country. A special feature of the group’s work is the history of Ukranian “kozacy,” (knights), who have fought for the country’s independence throughout history. Their performances include costumes, rare instruments and ballet methods that incorporate the acrobatic elements of “gopak,” the Ukranian fighting art.



Clog America Dancers

Salt Lake City, Utah
Full country name: The United States of America (USA)
Population: 285,000,000
Area: 3,618,000 sq miles (9,370,000 sq km)
Capital city: Washington, DC (pop: 570,000)
People: Caucasian (71%), African American (12%), Latino (12%), Asian (4%), Native American (0.9%)
Languages: English, plus many secondary languages, chiefly Spanish
Religions: Protestant (56%), Roman Catholic (28%), Jewish (2%), Muslim (1%)
Government: Federal republic of 50 states
President: George W. Bush

The United States lays claim to being the greatest success story of the modern world — a nation created from a diverse and disparate population whose founders had little in common other than a desire for freedom to choose their own paths to success. Our early settlers rallied around the ideals found in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to lay the groundwork for becoming the richest, most inventive and most powerful country on earth. U.S. folklore includes all other countries participating in Folkmoot, as we are a unique country made of people representing the whole world.

Representing the U.S. at Folkmoot this year will be the Clog America Dancers from Utah. Western North Carolina is certainly no stranger to clogging, but Clog America promises to bring some exciting twists to those familiar steps.

The ensemble represents championship-level cloggers from the Rocky Mountains who, as a unit, have won national titles throughout the U.S. Individual dancers have performed as special guests with recording stars like Marie Osmond and the Branson Brothers and they have appeared in events across the United States and in England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Their repertoire includes clogging from our own Appalachian mountains, as well as steps influences by European settles from England and Holland, Native Americans and African slaves. In addition to clogging, Clog America also performs dances from different periods of U.S. history, inlcuding pioneer dances, the waltz, the cake-walk, and the Charleston. Popular dances styles from the 1990s, including country line dancing and swing, are also included.

The Clog America Dancers are accompanied by Albion, a professional bluegrass band from Utah, and by Ahunas, two American Indian and Polynesian dance specialists from Honolulu, Hawaii.

Bukhorcha

Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Full country name: Republic of Uzbekistan
Area: 447,400 sq km (172,700 sq mi)
Population: 24.8 million
Capital city: Tashkent (pop 2.1 million)
People: 80% Uzbek, 5.5% Russian, 5% Tajik, 3% Kazakh, 2.5% Karakalpak, 1.5% Tatar
Languages: Uzbek, Russian
Religions: 88% Muslim (mostly Sunnis), 9% Eastern Orthodox
Government: Republic
President: Islam Karimov
Prime Minister: Otkir Sultonov

Uzbekistan, in the ancient cradle between the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya rivers, is one of the most historically fascinating of the Central Asian republics. It contains some of the oldest towns in the world and most of the region’s architectural wonders.

Formerly the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Uzbekistan has the third largest population of any former Soviet republic.

Some of the world’s most beautiful examples of Islamic religious buildings are to be found in the cities of Bukhara, Khiva and, especially, Samarkand.

Uzbekistan’s folk art has tended towards the portable — clothes, arms, jewelery, weaving, embroidery and rugs, which befits the semi-nomadic lifestyle of its people. Islam prohibits the depiction of the humans and animals in art, so traditional arts developed in the form of calligraphy, combining Islamic script with arabesques, and the carving of doors and screens.

The ensemble Bukhorcha draws its names from traditional Bukhoran folklore music, songs, dances, traditions, costumes and instruments. Dances they will perform include: Sallabandon, which celebrates a young mother after the birth of her first child. Sayli guli surh (Holiday of the purple rose), which represents a centuries-old mass walking in which festively dressed people come out into the street to take part in dances, songs, plays and wish each other lvoe, friendship and peace to strengthen their love to native land. Buhoro usullari (Bukharan rhythms), which explores a female dancer’s love of life, nature and God.