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Palma de Mallorca World Folkdance Festival is a great occasion that many art lovers look forward to. The first of its kind was conducted in 1985 at Munich in Germany. Several experienced dancers coming from close to 67 countries have participated in the festival and have entertained the audiences surpassing the expectations of everyone. After 1987 the venue of the festival was shifted to Palma de Mallorca. Various participants travel all the way from their respective countries to Palma de Mallorca to display their talent and craft learnt over many years of practice and hard work. If you visit Palma de Mallorca at the time of the festival you will notice that most of the participants are professionals while some are striving to learn and master the dances.

As you watch the whole stage come alive with these myriad performances you will be taken back a number of years when such dances were performed by simple inhabitants of villages of these countries. Some of the dances have literally become extinct so to speak. They are rarely seen being performed by anyone and anywhere except for such occasions where cultural heritage is respected and preserved for future generations.

Cultural exchange plays a very significant role in uniting countries because you become aware that the hard work and effort put during rehearsals is something that every participating country does. As 1989 approached the participants count rose to a whopping 1500 and in 1991 it increased to 2000 musicians and dancers joining in such resounding performances.

The enthusiasm and emotions are at an all time high as you go through each of their dances. You get so engrossed with the different sounds coming from peculiar instruments that the time flies and you come to the end of the festival. Although it ends, be sure that it will remain etched in your memory forever. The festival has a winner which is chosen by a jury consisting of international members from different walks of life and those who have themselves made remarkable contributions in the field of art, music, culture and literature. As the skills and talent of the dancers are being exhibited the participants are judged on the basis of several criteria.

There are a wide variety of performances. Some participants narrate a story through their dances and some simply choose a folk dance to display their cultural heritage. The festival is simply magical and flights to Mallorca are cheap and easy to fine.