Set beside the Sounds of California Stage & Plaza, La Cueva was a space for musicians to show their related crafts: mask making, instrument building, and whip braiding.

Sheltering from the hot sun at the Frontoia on the National Mall, the Aukeran Dance Company graced the Arts and Industries stage at the 2016 Folklife Festival.

It was the very last concert of the 2016 Folklife Festival, and the Basque folk rock band Korrontzi was performing on the Ralph Rinzler Concert Stage.

At the 2016 Folklife Festival, I had the pleasure of seeing and meeting Aukeran, a Basque dance company from Donostia-San Sebastian that performs contemporary pieces inspired by traditional Basque styles.

Throughout the first week of the 2016 Folklife Festival, the rhythmic clang of bells frequently echoed down the National Mall as the Joaldunak marched along paths, between tents, and, on one occasion, around the Washington Monument.

Throughout the Folklife Festival, the sounds of upbeat banda music and the cracks of whips wafted through the air.

At the 2016 Folklife Festival, the Oinkari Basque Dancers energetically twirled, jumped, and high-kicked across the Musika eta Dantza Etxea and Frontoia.

Each year in the last week of January, up to sixty people march from one village to another, with clanging bells strapped on their backs.

When I was six years old, I took a modern dance class, and in the classroom next door was a traditional Irish step dance class. Thanks to his love of all things Irish, my father convinced me to join.

While Basque country is home to many styles of dance, each with variations in dress, there are some basic elements that dance costumes have in common.