What are the most interesting cultural dance practices at weddings?

Weddings are a lot of fun. Apart from witnessing the ceremonial merging of two souls, you get to attend a fun party. The cutting of the cake, the toasts, the interactions between guests are all exciting, but there is another thing that is essential to any wedding party – dancing. We’re not talking only about the first dance between newlyweds as a married couple. It is also about the culturally specific dance traditions across the world that make weddings so unique and interesting.

Jewish Dance Traditions

Dancing is a big part of Jewish weddings. Different types of dances are performed throughout the ceremony. The main celebratory dance is called the ‘horah’. It consists of dancing around in circles and lifting the bride and the groom on chairs in the middle of the circle. There’s also the ‘Krenzl’ dance in which the bride’s mother receives a wreath of flowers on her head and her daughters dance around her. Another dance involving parents is the ‘Mizinke’. In this dance, parents of the bride and groom dance together when their last child is wed. The gladdening of the bride dance involved guests dancing around the bride while holding different quirky items, for example, jump ropes made of table napkins. The ‘Mitzvah’ dance involves family members and rabbis dancing with the bride, then the groom, and at the end, the bride and the groom dance together.

Irish Dance Traditions

The Celtic legacy has left Irishmen (and Scotts) with unique and beautiful dancing traditions. One of them is the Irish cèili (or cèilidh in Scotland), which means a social gathering in which people tell stories, ballads, sing and dance. In Ireland, it is a celebration of Irish songs and dance and it is quite popular at wedding receptions. It is usually performed with a cèili band. The band usually brings a professional dancer called a caller. Even if guests never experienced ceili-dancing, they can watch the caller skilfully parade his or her Irish dance shoes and repeat the dance moves. Usually dancers use hard shoes for the wedding dances as they produce that incredible and stunning sound valued and cherished by the audience. Stock a large range o Irish dance shoes here https://corrsirishshoes.com/ including hard shoes and ghillies. There are different types of dances and they are named after the locations where they come from: ‘Seige of Ennis’, ‘Galway Shawl’, ‘Walls of Limerick’. These dances are fun because they are interactive and give guests a sense of unity and belonging.

Russian Dance Traditions

Russian weddings involve a lot of dancing. The first dance is opened by the newlyweds and then everyone begins to dance. An interesting cultural peculiarity of Russia is the tradition of ransoming the bride. The groom must go to the bride’s house. The relatives hide the bride and bring another person (usually a man in drag) whose face is concealed by a thick veil. In order for the groom to meet his bride, he has to go through several quests: solve riddles, recite poetry, sing songs and perform silly dances. Then, the groom has to offer a ransom for his bride, usually sweets and money. This is a great tradition in which everyone involved has a lot of fun!