Turkish Folkloric Dances: There are over eighty folk dances representing the different origins of Turkey. Some of which are: greeting and Hora dances, Halay dances and Horon dances. Greeting and Hora Dances: Greeting in Turkish means facing each other and inviting a guest into your house. Also revealing positive or negative emotions to an event. The dancers are accompanied by drums,shrill pipe, tamberine along with cymbals, lute, and earthernware kettle drum. Both male and female dancers perform separately from each other. Most commonly used movements are turning around, kneeling and a lot of applause. Holding Greeting in Turkish means facing each other and inviting a guest into your house. Also revealing positive or negative emotions to an event. The dancers are accompanied by drums,shrill pipe, tamberine along hands , dancing shoulder to shoulder and eventually facing each other. The male wears a cloth on their head (all hand made embroideries). The steps and body movements are very attractive, very stylish. The female holds a handkerchief in the hand and this is very important. Greeting dances can be seen in the thorough out the whole country , but mostly seen in Marmara , Kirkiareli, Tekirdag, Canakkale, Izmit, Adapazari, Brsa, Bilecik, Bolu and in the Black Sea Region Giresun and Ordu. Halay Dances Halay means unity, union. The dancers are accompanied by a drum. Usually it requires a minimum of three people. Both male and female hold hands and stand in a row, then creating a circle. Feet movements and combinations are important. This is performed in the open air. The dancer who is first in the row is called the " halaybasi" and the last dancer in the row is called the "poccik". Both hold a handkerchief in their hands which they sway and swing according to the specific music. Halay has four different pieces of music and rhythms gradually speeding up. Halay comes from the Erzincan Erzurum, Agri which is the south region, middle and East Anatolia of Turkey. Horon Dance Horan means reaped crops after harvest, also represents the energy of the anchovy. Peformed in very old times in religious ceremonies. The dancers are accompanied by a three stringed violin "kemence" and a shrill pipe. They form a circle, semi circle or a row. And the first dancer of the row is called "cavus". Most important movements are a strong trembling of the shoulders, bending or bowing forward, also throwing legs in a forward motion and then kneeling down. Horan dance comes from the Black Sea region and mountains. Check out Joe Clawson's site full of interesting links of Turkey: www.iaqi.com/turkey.