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Folk dancing usually involves a group of happy individuals performing steps in certain formations, such as a circle or a straight line. Folk dancing is a great exercise and a fun recreational activity for people of all ages. Dancing is beneficial for stress-reduction, cardiovascular stimulation, and protects against dementia. Anyone can learn to folk dance as no formal dance experience is necessary and no partner is required. Come and learn a wide variety of international folk dances with music from many countries around the world, have fun and meet new people.
Click here if you are 60 and older and are interested in a project to study the Benefits of Participation in Dance Classes.
1. Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care - 905-568-0333 x 4610
5510 Mavis Road (S. of Matheson), Mississauga, ON L5V 2X5
International Folk Dance
Thursdays: 1:00 ~ 2:15 p.m. New session starting on July 22, 2010.
2. Mississauga East Health Centre - 905-602-4082
2555 Dixie Rd. Unit 7, 2nd Floor (SE corner of Dixie Rd & Dundas St E), Mississauga, ON L4Y 4C4
International Folk Dance
Dance Classes now expanded into 2 sessions:
Wednesdays: 9:30 ~ 10:30 a.m. May - July 2010
Wednesdays: 10:45 ~ 11:45 a.m. May - July 2010
3. Mississauga Mandarin Association:
Peel Chinese Community Service Hub:
1177 Central Parkway West, Unit 81, Mississauga, ON L5C 4P3 Canada - Map
Sequence Dance and International Folk Dance
June - August 2010
International Folk Dance (90-minute class with 30 minutes of practice on you own)
June 10 to August 26, 2010 – Thursday – 7:00 ~ 9:00p.m.
(No class on July 1, 8 and July 15, 2010)
Sequence Dancing is based on the Standard Ballroom and Latin Dances such as Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Rumba, Cha Cha, Samba, Mambo, Merengue ... etc. These dances are arranged in 16-bar routines, which are repeated until the end of the dance. May add Saunters, Gavotte and Schottische for more variety.
Dates and Times:
June 8 to August 24, 2010 - Tuesdays - 1:00 ~ 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 ~ 8:30 p.m.
(No class on July 6 and July 13, 2010)
Why sit and watch when you can learn the dances in an easy friendly way? Come along and join in the fun!
For more information, please contact: Kathy Lin at 905-270-1834, or
E-mail:
k.lin@rogers.com
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| Kathy Lin Dancers Performance Cooksville United Church |

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| Kathy Lin's International Folk Dance |
![]() Ge Ge Dancers: Amy, Kathy, Bing-Jie |
![]() Ge Ge Dancers: Annie, Lillian, Anita & Amy |
![]() Ethnic Folk Dancers |
![]() Anita, Lillian, Amy, Kathy, Bing-Jie, Annie & Gen-Di |
![]() Ethnic Folk Dance |
| Chinese Ge Ge Princess Dance Part 1 - YouTube | Chinese Ge Ge Princess Dance Part 2 - YouTube | |
| Ethnic Folk Dance Part 1 - YouTube | Ethnic Folk Dance Part 2 - YouTube |



º About Kathy Lin - International Folk Dance Instructor
º International Folk Dance Information
º International Folk Dancing Videos and PowerPoint Presentations
Kathy Lin was introduced to International Folk Dance (IFD) in her first year of university and fell in love with it immediately. Her passion for IFD grew through university while she learned, danced, and taught other students as an assistant. She put aside her love of dance temporarily after graduating from university to join the work force as a teacher, get married, and raise two wonderful sons who now have successful careers of their own.
Recently, Kathy realized that now is the time to pick up dancing again. She tried ballroom, jazz, tap, clogging and popular line dancing and enjoyed all the dance classes and performances with fellow members of the Square One Older Adult Centre in Mississauga. Since April 2007, she has been teaching line dance to various seniors groups.
In 2007, a program at Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care attracted Kathy's attention, and she completed all three courses of Brain Beat Dance (BBD) with Rainbow Dill-Yuen, a senior instructor of Senior Dance Federal Association of Germany, who introduced BBD to Canada in 2003. The music of BBD woke Kathy up and brought back memories of International Folk Dance from over four decades ago. Inspired, Kathy started to collect information, find contacts in the community and purchase music CDs – and before she knew it, she was ready to teach her first folk dance class at the Yee Hong Centre in July 2008.
Since that time, Kathy has been teaching and promoting IFD in Mississauga and surrounding area. Her goal is to grow the popularity of International Folk Dance in the local community.
Folk Dances from Around the World (The World Dance Series) |
![]() International Folk Dancing, USA |
• Andy Pollock's Folk Dance Page. Syllabus Menu includes step-by-step instructions on how to do a number of folk dances, e.g. Andy's Oberek (Poland), Staro Ratarsko (Serbia) by Dave Skidmore, and many other detailed folk dance steps.
• Ballroom and Sequence Dancing Compared by Diane and Peter.
• Crescent City International Dancers. What to Wear to folk dance.
• Dick Oakes' International Folk Dance Resources . Include: Standardized Abbreviations for International Folk Dance Descriptions. International Folk Dance Articles. Folk Dancing and Health by John Gratiot, M.D. Folk Dance for Health by Rick Allen. The Teaching of Folk Dancing: An Overview by Dick Oakes.
• Folk Dance Etiquette by Dick Oakes.
• History of Traditional Dance by Jenna E. Caputo, eHow.com. "Traditional dance, also called folk dance, dates back before history was officially documented."
• Hugo's Folk Dance Resources. List of about 100 dances. Click the link for each dance to go to dance instructions and/or a video clip of the dance.
• International folk dance from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• International Folk Dance. Blog spot and clearing house for more information about International Folk Dance, includes links to videos.
• Learning to Folk Dance. Folk Dance Tips from International Folk Dance in Lawrence, Kansas.
• What Is Folk Dance? From wiseGEEK. "Folk dance is a collective term that is used to identify a wide range of dances that have to do with dances and traditional dancing performed by the common people within a given culture."
• What Is Folk Dancing? By David Fankhauser. "Folk dancing is a social, cultural and physical activity. The sheer enjoyment of dancing in a circle of friendly people is reward enough. But, in addition, like all dance forms, it is an excellent means of improving one's physical (and mental) fitness."
• What Is Sequence Dancing? By Diane and Peter: "Sequence dancing is one of the most popular forms of social dancing for all ages 9-90 (yes 90 or even more!)"
• International Folk Dance. YouTube video, 4:07 min.
• International Folk Dance 9. YouTube video, 0:57 min.
1. Asia
• Chinese Dancers in Beautiful Costumes - Flower Dance 2009. PowerPoint Presentation accompanied by Chinese music.
• Chinese amazing traditional dance "Ta Ge". YouTube video, 5:39 min.
• Chinese traditional dance "Tao Yao". YouTube video, 5:12 min.
• Traditional Chinese Dance by Deaf People. YouTube video, 5:53 min.
• Aboriginal dance in Taiwan. Taiwanese folk dance. YouTube video, 1:37 min.
• Ethnic Folk Dance, Part 1. YouTube video, 0:33 min. Part 2. 0:38 min.
• Chinese Ge Ge Princess Folk Dance Part 1 - Kathy Lin Folk Dance. YouTube video, 0:26 min. Part 2. 0:33 min.
• Tinikling Dance. Traditional Filipino Bamboo Dance, YouTube, 1:19 min.
• Korean Fan Dance. YouTube video, 4:02 min.
• Traditional Japanese Dance. YouTube video, 3.55 min.
• Geisha Dance - Memoirs of a Geisha. YouTube video, 2:03 min.
• Maiko dance in a Kyoto hotel. YouTube video, 4:10 min.
• Robot Doing Japanese Folk Dance. YouTube video, 0:50 min.
• Dancing in Silence (Thailand). These beautiful Thai dancers are all hearing impaired. SunnyRadio.com. 6:20 min.
• Thai Folk Dance - ramthai. YouTube video, 7:34 min.
• Thai Dance - 4 Regions. YouTube video, 5:09 min.
• Thousand-Hand Guan Yin. YouTube video, 5:55 min.
• Traditional Vietnamese Fan Dance performed at VSA UCI's Culture Night "1306". YouTube video, 2:24 min.
• HJ1:Authentic (real) Bharatanatyam Bharatnatyam Indian dance. YouTube video, 5:12 min.
• Punjabi Folk Dance. YouTube video, 5:15 min.
• LAWISWIS KAWAYAN: Philippine Folk Dance. YouTube video, 3:05 min.
• PANDERETAS : Philippine Folk Dance. YouTube video, 4:51 min.
• Java Traditional Dance. YouTube video, 4:29 min.
• Tibetan Folk Dance. (Poor quality). YouTube video, 8:06 min.
• tibetan dance. YouTube video, 3:39 min.
• Uyghur dance: Dolan meshripi (CCTV dance competition). YouTube video, 5:12 min.
• Uyghur dance: Dap usuli (Sun worship in Uyghurs). YouTube video, 3:48 min.
• Xinjiang Uyghur Dance. (Excellent). YouTube video, 4 min.
2. Middle East
• Lebanese Folk Dance - Dabke Ala Dalouna Cedars of Lebanon Folkloric Group. Lebanese folk dance. YouTube video, 3:36 min.
• Iranian Folk Dance. YouTube video, 6:13 min.
• Iraqi Folk Dance. YouTube video, 6:12 min.
• Turkish Folk Dance. YouTube video, 1:00 min.
• Turkish traditional dance 1. YouTube video, 0:34 min.
3. Africa
• Traditional African Dance. YouTube video, 1:34 min.
• South Africa - Zulu traditional Dance - Awesome!!!! YouTube video, 0.25 min.
• Swazi Dance. YouTube video, 0.41 min.
• Pretty Zulu Girls show their wedding dance. YouTube video, 3:18 min.
4. North America
• Pow Wow. North American Indian folk dance. YouTube video, 3:53 min.
•
Hopi Eagle Dance. YouTube
video, 7:56 min.
5. Central America
• Mexican Folk Dancing. YouTube video, 0:42 min.
• Mexican Folk Dances. YouTube video, 2:15 min.
6. South America
• Dance of the Amazon Indians. YouTube video, 3:11 min.
• Peru Huayno Dance. YouTube video, 3:19 min.
7. Europe
• Bulgarian Folk Dance. YouTube video, 5:56 min.
• Hopak - Ukrainian Dance. YouTube video, 6:38 min.
• Dance of the Zaporozhian/Ukrainian Cossacks. YouTube video, 5:57 min.
• Irish Dance. YouTube video, 3:24 min.
• Riverdance "Thunderstorm". YouTube video, 2:07 min.
• Lord of the Dance - Cry of the Celts [Michael Flatley]. YouTube video, 4:56 min.
• Danish Folkdance. YouTube video, 0:45 min.
• Folk Fair - Scottish Dance. YouTube video, 0:54 min.
• Magnificent Mazowsze - Polish Folk Dance. YouTube video, 8:45 min.
• Hungarian traditional folk dance 1: Somogyi táncok. YouTube video, 7:13 min.
• Zorba the Greek. YouTube video, 3:42 min.• German Dancing. YouTube video, 4:36 min.
• Bavaria Schuhplattler part 2. German folk dance. YouTube video, 2:48 min.
8. Australia, South Pacific
• Aboriginal Dance Theater, Kuranda, Australia. YouTube video, 0:53 min.
• Cook Islands Dance - Tiare Tipani. YouTube video, 3:57 min.
• Marvelous Hula Dance - Hawaii. Hawaiian folk dance. YouTube video, 3:03 min.