Hora (dance)

Hora, also known as horo and oro, is a type of circle dance traditionally performed in Southeast Europe.

Circle dances with similar names are found in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Greece and culturally adopted by ethnic minorities such as the Ashkenazi Jews[1] (Yiddish: האָרע hore), Sephardic Jews (Ladino: הורו horo) and the Roma.

The dance is usually accompanied by musical instruments such as the cymbalom, accordion, violin, viola, double bass, saxophone, trumpet or the pan pipes.

The hora is popular during wedding celebrations and festivals, and is an essential part of the social entertainment in rural areas.

During the 2006/2007 New Year's Eve celebration, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, people were dancing Hora Bucuriei ("Hora of Joy") over the boulevards of Bucharest as a tribute to the EU anthem, Ode to Joy (Romanian: Odă bucuriei).

Some of the biggest hora circles can be found on early 20th century movies filmed by the Manaki brothers in Pindus, Greece, and performed by local Aromanians.

Teshkoto, translated as "The difficult one", is one of those, danced by men only, the music of which reflects the sorrow and mood of war.

Among Yiddish-speaking Jews, the triple-meter horah has also been called zhok (Romanian joc, 'dance') or krumer tants (Yiddish: 'crooked dance').

[1] The horah (הורה), which differs somewhat from that of some of the Eastern European countries, is widespread in the Jewish diaspora and played a foundational role in modern Israeli folk dancing.

[4] Although horah was culturally adopted from Southeast Europe, it became even more popular with the Jewish diaspora due to the Hora Agadati dance.

The dance appeared in North America in the early 20th century, well before modern Israeli independence, brought directly from Eastern Europe by Jewish immigrants.