Song and Dance Ensembles

(sometimes, folk song and dance ensembles), a type of artistic concert and estrada (variety stage) company.

Song and dance ensembles include various art forms: vocal music (choruses, ensembles, and solos), instrumental music (symphony orchestras, folk instrument orchestras, and others), and choreography (solo dances, ensembles, and others). The basic element of song and dance ensembles is the chorus or the dance group. The repertories of these ensembles include works by Soviet and foreign composers and old and modern folk songs, dances, and instrumental music. An ensemble’s program may be unified by a common theme, or it may consist of individual numbers; usually it contains theatrical elements. Song and dance ensembles attract especially gifted performers from amateur artistic groups as well as professional artists.

Among the largest companies are the A. V. Aleksandrov Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army, the Folk Dance Ensemble of the USSR, the Berezka Folk Dance Ensemble, and the Folk Dance Ensemble of the Georgian SSR. The artistic forms of such ensembles are also used by many music and choral companies—for example, the Piatnitskii Russian Folk Chorus (organized in 1910), the Northern Folk Chorus (1926), the Voronezh Russian Folk Chorus (1943), and others. Song and dance ensembles have been created in republics and oblasts. These include the State Honored Folk Song and Dance Ensemble of the Armenian SSR (organized in 1938), the State Honored Song and Dance Ensemble of the Azerbaijan SSR (1938), the State Honored Folk Song and Dance Ensemble of Georgia (1885), the Letuva State Honored Song and Dance Ensemble of the Lithuanian SSR (1940), the State Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kazakh SSR (1955), the State Uzbek Song and Dance Ensemble (1955), the Bakhor State Uzbek Dance Ensemble (1957), the G. G. Verevka State Ukrainian Folk Chorus (1943), and the State Honored Dance Ensemble of the Ukrainian SSR (1954).

This art form is experiencing fruitful and varied development in a number of foreign countries. Examples are the Mazowsze and Slask ensembles in Poland, the Sluk Ensemble in Czechoslovakia, and the Kolo Ensemble in Yugoslavia.