Festival of Mari dances “SHI KANDYRA” to be held in Kaltasinsky region of Bashkortostan

The first open festival of Mari dances “SHI KANDYRA” (“silver rope”) will take place in the village of Kaltasy on July 16 and representatives of Bashkortostan, Mari-Al, Udmurtia, Kirov, Sverdlovsk, Nizhniy Novgorod and Perm regions, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and other Russian regions will arrive to dance here. The festival is initiated by the regional division of the Republican Folk Art center under the Ministry of culture RB, administration of Kaltasinsky region RB and by the society of rural dance lovers of the eastern Mari “The Rope”.

It should be noted that the traditional dance of the eastern Mari is considered one of the rarest mass non-scenic dances, still preserved in the world. This dance is still popular among the eastern Mari people. It can stretch on several kilometers, involving from five to five thousand people. “KANDYRA” is the dance-prayer, “the message to the world”. It is considered this dance restores the harmony of the universe and the historians say that Mari warriors danced it in the streets of conquered Paris in 1814.

The participants of the festival intend to hold the record by “KANDYRA” length – in one endless straight dancing line on the main street of the village. It is planned to celebrate the 200th jubilee of this Mari dance on the pavements of Paris in 2014.