Kolo (Serbian Cyrillic: Коло) is a South Slavic circle dance, found under this name in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. It is inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Serbia.
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Understand in 30 Seconds · In Plain Words
Quick guide to Kola
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Kolo (Serbian Cyrillic: Коло) is a South Slavic circle dance, found under this name in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia.
01 · What it is
Dance
Live movement, rhythm, costume, or staged dramatic performance passed between generations.
02 · Where & name
Geography awaiting source
Add a cited source naming the region or community that carries it.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
DescriptionThe circle dance is usually performed amongst groups of at least three people and up to several dozen people.
MusicThe music is generally fast-paced.
Traditional dance costumeTraditional dance costumes vary from region to region.
Other South Slavic circle dancesElsewhere in South Slavic countries, there is horo (Bulgarian: хоро) in Bulgaria and oro (Macedonian: оро) in North Macedonia and Montenegro.
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Kola in plain words?
Kolo (Serbian Cyrillic: Коло) is a South Slavic circle dance, found under this name in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia.
Where is Kola practised or documented?
No verified geographic place has been linked on record yet — editors can add a cited place from the edit page.
What is the current condition of Kola today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Kola entry?
Cite as: "Kola." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/kola, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
Kolo (Serbian Cyrillic: Коло) is a South Slavic circle dance, found under this name in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. It is inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Serbia. 1
Description
The circle dance is usually performed amongst groups of at least three people and up to several dozen people. Dancers hold each other's hands or each other's waists. They form a circle, a single chain or multiple parallel lines.
Kolo requires almost no movement above the waist. The basic steps are easy to learn. Experienced dancers demonstrate virtuosity by adding different ornamental elements, such as syncopated steps. Each region has at least one unique kolo. It is difficult to master the dance and even most experienced dancers cannot master all of them. 1
Kolo is performed at weddings, social, cultural, and religious ceremonies. Some dances require both men and women to dance together, others require only the men or only the women. 1
Music
The music is generally fast-paced. The dance was used by Antonín Dvořák in his Slavonic Dances – the Serbian kolo is the seventh dance from opus 72. 1
Traditional dance costume
Traditional dance costumes vary from region to region. Bordering regions are mostly more similar to each other.
Various kolos are performed at social ceremonies. Often traditional clothing, which is unique to a region, is worn. The most common kolo is the narodno kolo or drmeš; a standard step followed by accordion music. 1
Other South Slavic circle dances
Elsewhere in South Slavic countries, there is horo (Bulgarian: хоро) in Bulgaria and oro (Macedonian: оро) in North Macedonia and Montenegro. 1
Influence
Hungarian communities were also influenced by the tradition, where a similar dance is known as Kalala in Laslovo. Also, north of the Croatian border in Hungary, at the area of Mohács, where many ethnic Croats used to live, the tradition still lives on amongst the general population. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Kolo (dance)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Kola is Belarusian traditional dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
