Pravo [Bulgaria] dance history & background

From Dick Oakes: According to Laura Shannon, a Balkan dance instructor in Scotland, dance anthropologists believe the Pravo to be the oldest dance pattern because it is the most widespread. Found throughout Eastern Europe and Western Asia from India to the Faeroe Isles, it is most common in the Balkans, where it is labelled the 'national dance' of Bulgaria, Albania, and Macedonia. Frequently, the name just means 'dance', and it forms the basic step of many of our most well-known simple dances: Pravo Horo in Bulgaria, Pravo Oro in Macedonia, Sta Tria and Zonaradhikos in Greece, Siganos in Crete, Dropullit and Valle in Albania, Hora in Israel, and Halay in Turkey, Armenia and Kurdistan. This pattern is also found in Hejsza, a dance of the Magyar-speaking Csángó people in North Central Romania. All of these versions move to the right (counterclockwise), but occasionally you find dances that move to the left (clockwise), for example, Hanter Dro in Brittany, Vrličko Kolo in Croatia, and Zervos in Greece. In their basic form these are village dances, unarranged and unchoreographed, which everyone knows how to do and which are the main staple of dancing at weddings, feast days, and other celebrations. They all share the basic three-measure pattern, and each has its own characteristics of style and variations. These variations, added to the basic form by performing groups, urban dance styles, and the improvisation of good dancers, make each one more easily distinguishable as a separate dance.