Metelitsa (russian: метелица), metelytsia () or miacielica ( be, мяцеліца, завейніца) is a popular folk dance from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. This dance abounds in swift changes of choreographed figures of a spinning nature, symbolizing a snowstorm. The dance still retains its

Khorovod The khorovod or horovod ( rus, хорово́д, p=xərɐˈvot, uk, хоровод, translit=khorovod or uk, коло, translit=kolo, label=none, be, карагод , bg, хоро, pl, korowód) is an East Slavs, East Slavic and pagan art ...

character, the ancient form of group dancing and choral singing with the many figures in a circle form. In the past the Metelystia was danced to only choral accompaniment. In the late 19th and early 20th century besides singing the song, it was accompanied by the

bandura A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...

or sometimes an instrumental ensemble.

See also