The Russian word troika means three-horse team/gear, and the dancers imitate the prancing of horses pulling a sled or a carriage.
[1] The first version was created by choreographer Nadezhda Nadezhdina for her folklore dance troupe Beroyzka in 1948.
[4] Similar folk dances are known among other Slavic peoples, e.g., the Polish Trojak.
[5] It has been suggested[citation needed] that the Cajun version of the dance originated at the times when Cossacks of the Russian tsar army were stationed in Paris.
There was a German contra dance triolet recorded in 1829 for groups of one man and two women.