Despite the less than ideal weather and slippery cobblestones, the dancers were in high spirits on Saturday afternoon.

"This is so much fun – it's so jovial," Marju described. "The weather has actually even spiced things up a bit; people are shrieking here and there. It's slippery, it's muddy, but that won't deter the dancers. [We're having a] great time, actually!"

"So, so much fun!" agreed Andri. "Every one of the dancers here has shown up chiefly to show off what they can do, and to entertain others too."

"I'm also really enjoying it," Melodi added. "I think it's so great here every year; we've attended quite often. When there's no snow on the ground, this crowd will definitely spark that Christmas feeling. Folk dancers are always absolutely incredible."

"We have 1,500 participants this year," said Tartu Winter Folk Dance Day producer Ave Rosenberg. "Previously we've had 200 fewer dancers, so we were very surprised ourselves by the level of interest this year. We've expanded the area [for dancing in], and we've arranged the equipment located here at Tartu Christmas City to accommodate this."

Saturday's artistic director Raul Markus Vaiksoo said that he wanted to include more dances this year than before –and so on the event's 15th anniversary, Tartu Winter Folk Dance Day featured a program of 15 dances.

When putting together the program, he bore in mind that it should feature a rich repertoire, including traditional dances. Thus Saturday's event included both dances that have been featured over and over again throughout the years alongside those that had never been danced at Tartu's Town Hall Square before.

"We're of course most proud of the flat-footed waltz from Vormsi," Vaiksoo highlighted. "It's called 'Tribitants.' It's an important dance in Vormsi weddings. It features peculiar spinning – usually, folk dancers are used to spinning in a large counterclockwise circle, while spinning clockwise themselves, but here it's the opposite."

Some of the dances may have seemed challenging at first, but the dancers were ultimately pleased with Saturday's program.

"I started teaching folk dancing this year, and at first I thought, 'Wow, what have I gotten myself into!'" Marju recalled. "But then we started working on it, and it wasn't actually a big deal at all."

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