International Wedding Dances You Should Know About!

Wedding customs vary from location to location, but international wedding dances show up almost universally.

Dancing can be a huge part of a wedding. Yes, there are some religions and cultures who don’t have dancing at their weddings. However, for the vast majority, there are dances. And there are a lot of them. Some are formal, some are not, and some are very traditional. No matter what they are, they allow guests to celebrate the newlyweds, their history, and everyone being together.

I recently posted about traditional wedding dances in America, and it got me thinking about international wedding dances found in other cultures. When I started doing the research on it, I came across some information that I found to be pretty interesting. It also made me want to attend a wedding in another country just so I can experience the fun!

International Wedding Dances You Should Know About! 

This post is going to introduce you to some of the most common international wedding dances. You may have heard of some of these dances before, or even seen them in person. If you’ve ever participated in them, that’s very cool, and I hope to, too, one day. For now, let’s just explore what’s out there and learn from other cultures.

JEWISH – THE HORAH

The Horah is probably the most well-known culturally traditional wedding dance on this list. It’s common to see it on TV shows and movies.

This Jewish dance has the couple sit on chairs that are lifted up by wedding guests. The guests that are not doing the lifting dance around the newlyweds in a circle. In some weddings, the parents of the couple are also lifted. The traditional song that plays is called Hava Nagila.

In some variations, one newlywed will have a sheet or fabric that they pass to the other while the chairs are lifted. Once the other newlywed makes contact with the fabric, the dance symbolizes their connection and the crowd celebrates even more.  

The timing of the Horah dance varies, and may follow right after a first dance. This is the dance that often kicks off the dancing portion of a wedding, essentially getting the party started.

OTHER NOTABLE JEWISH WEDDING DANCES

Though the Horah is an international wedding dance that is often featured in pop culture, there are some other ones that are pretty awesome to learn about as well.

• KRENZL – This dance involves the mother of the bride crowned with a wreath of flowers. After the crowning, her daughters dance around her. It’s a memorable and special way to honor the bride’s mother at her wedding.
• MIZINKE – This special dance involves the parents of the newlyweds, if the child happens to be their last one to get married. As the tradition goes, once the last child is married, the parents will celebrate by having all wedding guests dance around them. In some variations, the mother of the bride will hold a broom and flower crowns will be placed on each parent’s head. 
• MITZVAH TANTZ – This dance actually involves the family of the newlyweds, the rabbi, and also the couple. It gives an opportunity for the family and rabbi to dance in front of the couple, and then the couple joins by dancing together.

SCOTLAND AND IRELAND – CEILIDH DANCE

The Ceilidh dance gets its name because it’s traditionally done with a Ceilidh band. This is similar to a swing dancing band.

To get a feel for how this dance goes, picture an American barn dance, or hoedown. The band will have a caller who guides the dancers as to what to do next. Some of the instructions could be to switch partners, swing your partner around, shuffle to one side, that sort of thing. The music is, of course, Irish or Scottish, in a Ceilidh dance. Depending on where the band is from, there are differences between the Irish and Scottish songs as well.

The origin of Ceilidh dances stems from finding ways to celebrate during parties. For weddings, harvests, or births, if there was a gathering, this dance was a great way to get attendees moving and enjoying a fun time with each other. This is an informative article about the nuances between Irish, Scottish, and American Ceilidh dances.

RUSSIA – PAYING THE RANSOM

Paying The Ransom is a traditional Russian wedding dance that sounds super fun.

According to this article, Paying The Ransom involves the groom, bride, bride’s family, and another person. As the tradition goes, the groom will go to the bride’s home to pay a ransom, or vykup nevesty, for the bride. The bride’s parents will then go to get the “bride”, but bring back another person who’s face is covered with a veil. 

The groom will then know that this person is not the one he’s getting married to, and will call the bride’s family out on the hoax. They will then ask him to dance before they go get the real bride. In some instances, they will ask him for money, too.  Once he has done enough dancing, begging, or giving them an appropriate ransom, the real bride will then be “released” to him.

TURKEY – HALAY

The Halay is a common folk dance at Turkish weddings, and it involves everyone at the wedding.

The Halay is actually the national dance of Turkey, and takes place at more than just weddings. You can often see it in live performances. This dance starts off with slower music and all the guests holding hands or connected in some way. They may be in a semi-circle or a line. The guests will start dancing to a slow tune, and over time, the music gets faster and faster. As you can probably guess, the faster the music, the more fun and exciting the dance is.

According to this website, the largest Halay dance involved 904 dancers.  It took place in Antayla, Turkey, in April, 2009. It was likely an amazing event to see live.  

GREECE – TSAMIKO

The Tsamiko is a well-known Greek wedding dance.

This dance involves everyone at the wedding, who will all hold hands and dance in a circle. The Tsamiko has historically only been danced by men, but more recently women have joined. The emphasis of the dance is on the participants and how into the dance they are.

To do this dance, according to this post, hands are held up high, at 90 degrees. There may be a circle of dancing men surrounding a circle of dancing women. Often a lead dancer will enter the very middle of of the circles and will perform stunts to the music, entertaining everyone.

ITALY – TARANTELLA

The Tarantella is a traditional Italian wedding dance the has everyone participating.

To do the Tarantella, dancers link arms and spin each other around. Honestly, this is a dance that sounds super exciting and fun. The music is usually very fast, and guests have the opportunity to interact, flirt, and tease as they move around each other. Some weddings will even have tambourines available as props to add to the energy. 

An interesting thing about this dance is the origin of the name. It goes back to the 15th century, when a common disease called tarantism was prevalent in Italy. This disease was connected to tarantula spider bites, and it was believed that you could be cured by frenzied dancing. As such, the frenzied dancing of the Tarantella was aptly named. To learn more about the history of this dance, check out this article.

PHILLIPINES – SALIDSID

There are quite a few international wedding dances from the Phillipines, including the money dance and Pangalay, but I’d like to tell you about the Salidsid dance.

During the Salidsid dance, couples perform to pay homage to their Filipino heritage. This dance is a courtship dance passed down from the Kalinga tribe. The Salidsid dance is all about the groom impressing his new bride. For example, he typically has some fancy footwork, but will also act like a rooster to gather the bride’s attention and affection. The bride, in turn, will move around him like a hen. 

To learn more about Filipino weddings, check out this post.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Learning about other cultures and how they celebrate weddings is so eye opening. Even though Americans have their own traditional wedding dances, we don’t have that many that involve all our guests. Some of these international wedding dances sound like memorable and exciting ways to bring all wedding guests together and kick off a great event. Hopefully I get to participate in some of them one day! 

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