BALTA Romanian
PRONUNCIATION:	BAHL-tah
TRANSLATION:	Swamp or marsh
SOURCE:	Dick Oakes learned this dance from Sunni Bloland who learned it during her 1967-68 research trip to Romania from Anca Guirchescu, dance ethnographer at the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore in Buccareşti (Bucharest). Ms. Bloland introduced the dance to folk dancers in the United States at the 1969 Balkan/Near-East Festival in Portland, Oregon.
BACKGROUND:	Balta comes from the villiage of Traian, Judeţ Teleorman (Judeţ means "county") in the southern Romanian ethnographic region of Muntenia, about five miles west of Turnu Măgurele. It may be danced at any village dance occasion. The alternating of motifs in six counts with those in eight counts makes the dance non-concordant with the music at the level of lthe measure and phrase, but becomes concordant at the beginning of each repetition of the melody. This organization of motifs gives rise to syncopation calling for attention in performance and is common to dances from the Caluşarii repertoire.
MUSIC:	Naroc Records (7"EP) NA 1054-EP, side B, band 4 Naroc Vol. 1 (7"EP) side A, band 1.
FORMATION:	Closed cir of mixed M and W with hands joined and held down in "V" pos.
METER/RHYTHM:	2/4
STEPS/STYLE:	Hands remain down at sides. All stamps are without wt. Fig II is more active than Fig I, which has a subdued shuffling feeling.
MEAS	MOVEMENT DESCRIPTION
	INTRODUCTION
	Wait 6 meas with no action and then dance only 6 meas (4 stamps) of Fig I before beg Fig II.
I.	WALK AND STAMP
1	Facing diag R and moving R in LOD, step R (ct 1); step L across in front of R (ct &); step R (ct 2); step L across in front of R (ct &);
2	Turning to face ctr, stamp R lightly twd ctr (ct 1); pause (ct &);
	Facing diag R and moving R in LOD, step R (ct 2); step L across in front of R (ct &);
3	Step R (ct 1); step L across in front of R (ct &); turning to face ctr, stamp R lightly twd ctr (ct 2); pause (ct &);
4-9	Repeat action of meas 1-3 two more times (6 stamps in all).
	NOTE: After waiting for 6 meas and dancing 6 meas (4 stamps), and after dancing Fig II, the the next time Fig I is danced, it is for the full 9 meas (6 stamps) as described.
II.	STAMPS AND BRUSH
1	Facing ctr and moving R in LOD, step R swd (ct 1); step L across in back of R (ct &); step R swd (ct 2); stamp L next to R (ct &);
2	Repeat action of Fig II, meas 1, to L with opp ftwk;
3-4	Repeat action of Fig II, meas 1-2;
5	Brush R fwd, swinging arms slightly fwd (ct 1); brush R bwd, swinging arms slightly bwd (ct 2);
6	Brush R fwd, swinging arms slightly fwd (ct 1); pause (ct 2);
7-12	Repeat action of Fig II, meas 1-6.
	Repeat entire dance from beg.
Copyright © 2003 by Dick Oakes