How different people treat folk

When I started to assist folk dance clases, my friends was looking at me surprised and almost...  shocked, I could say. I can understand it because nowadays it's more popular to go to the zumba classes or to a hip-hop dance course. I remember that some years ago the dance was very in fashion. In the television appeared programmes like You can dance or Dancing with the stars and movies, international and Polish productions about dance: Kochaj i tańcz (Love and dance), Step up (1,2) or Take the Lead. Sure, any of these movies and programmes support of promote folk dance. Ok, tango from Take the Lead can be considered folk dance, it's connected with the Argentine identity, but in general, the idea is to give the chance to the dancers that practisise jazz or another modern form of dance.

In this context, you can aware that folk dance is consider pretty old-fashioned, especially in the developed countries. It's only a minority that consists of freaky people who love what they do and at the same time they cultivate national culture that step by step... Is disappearing.

On the other hand there are countries where folk is just breathing with the air. I'm sure you have everybody an image of Cuba, Mexico or Brasil. In general, latinamerican countries are more willing to be near to the tradition and theirs roots. And it's for this reason that samba or salsa are so famous. They are also folk dances, but they are cultivated so they neither needed promotion. It's sufficient to go there and see that people live dancing their own, local dance, try to learn it and take it to your country. Undoubdetly, it was the factor that helped spread of salsa, samba and rhytms like bachata from Dominican Republic.

In my huble opinion, if Polish oberek or krakowiak were danced with the frequency of disco polo or other typical genres from a Polish disco, musically speaking we would conquer other continents!