Keywords: Festivals, Presentational dance

This chapter explores the question of what is considered as an (ideal) international folk dance festival by drawing from longitudinal ethnography among festival organisers in Romania, participants in international folk dance in festivals within Romania and Romanian participants in festivals elsewhere, as well as from archival and published sources. It explores the
roles of interaction and change in international folk festivals and investigates problems faced by organisers and the experiences of the participants focussing specifically on a long term case study of the international Festivalul Inimilor, held in Timișoara, Romania. It concludes that since the first international folk dance festival was held around eighty years ago, surprising relatively little has changed in the experiences of the organisers and participants in these events.