We have been learning Ileana’s version of Izruchana at Cathie
Springer’s class. Cathie teaches
Bulgarian folk dance on Zoom Thursday nights between 7 and 8 p.m. and on
Sundays from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern time.
I have been attending her classes for about a year now and look forward
to them every week. She posts the Zoom links on Facebook and you can also get on her mailing list.
Video #1 is Furla. This
is a northern Bulgarian dance with different choreography that uses the Izruchana music. Notice that the dancers wear costumes from
the Shope region. There is also a little
girl watching who seems fascinated by the dancers.
Both Izruchana and Furla are from northwest Bulgaria. The dances are Vlach influenced. There is also another tune for Furla as well. The dance fits well with both pieces.
Video #2 is the Izruchana we all know and love. It's a challenging dance but this group from Taiwan makes it look easy.
Any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.
Lynda Barr
Although pandemic restrictions are loosening up in the United States, and groups in some places are meeting in person again, many of us still dance on Zoom.
Zoom has some advantages over in person meetings: you don't have to go out during inclement weather to dance, and you get to see and meet people who live far away.
The main disadvantages are lack of space in the living room (where most people use as their dance space) and the hard floors. Folk dancers tend to prefer wooden floors with spring; these are less stressful on the feet and knees. Some of us dance on carpet which can also be challenging.
Also it is best to see friends in person. You don't get to talk much to your friends at Zoom meetings. Sometimes there is a chat scheduled either at the beginning or the end of the meeting for social time.
From what I've been hearing in various groups, there will be dancing on Zoom for a while; at least until the end of the year.
Video #1 is a dance I learned on Zoom: Mahala Mori Shej. It is described as a Romany dance from Hungary/Transylvania. Transylvania is a multicultural region of Romania; Germans, Roma, Hungarians and other ethnic groups call it home. Also, this dance is not to be confused with another dance, also Romany, from Hungary: Mori Shej.
If anyone can find the lyrics for Mahala Mori Shej, please post the link in the "comments" section.
Video #2 is a mellow dance from Albania: Moj Maro Moj Marine. I never knew this dance existed until people met on Zoom. It became very popular in the Zoomiverse during the past year. You can find the lyrics here.
Video #3 is Djurdevica, from Serbia, not to be confused with Djurdevka.Djurdevica was popular before the pandemic. You can find both in my series Balkan Dances Often Confused (the link is on the bottom of the page.)
This is a dance that requires more space than the average living room because it's fast and moves in several directions. (See below for the pandemic version that uses smaller steps.)
Education must, be not only a transmission of culture but also a provider of alternative views of the world and a strengthener of the will to explore them.
Jerome Bruner
Today's post features the Kyoto Folk Dance group from Japan. They are very big on Balkan dance (as well as dance from other cultures), and they have numerous videos on YouTube.
Video #1 is Rustemul from Romania. The choreography and music are different what I've seen in North America. Also notice that there is a female leader wearing a man's costume. They have amazing energy!
Video #2 is an athletic performance of Postupano from North Macedonia. According to the notes, this is a men's dance. It looks like they could get only two dancers to do this one, so there's a young woman in here, and she's wearing a women's costume (unlike the female dancer in Video #1)
Video #3 is Dzinovsko from Bulgaria. At 4:35 there is a dance that is part Salty Dog Rag, part swing dance; not Bulgarian, but fun (the audience loved it).
Video #4 is Itia, from Greece. dance. We usually dance Tsamikos to this music. This looks like a variation under a different name. According to what I read in the comments, the young people are students at Kyoto University.
I loved Nutella before the Internet made it cool. - unknown
Alunelul Batut is a dance popular on Zoom; it is easy to follow and doesn't require much space. The dance is from the region of Oltenia in Romania. Like many dances there is more than one piece of music that fits. The music in Video #1 is the one most often played. The dancers are from Vienna, Austria.
I describe the stamping as "beating up the hazelnuts." What happens when you beat up hazelnuts and mix them with with a bunch of other ingredients? You get Nutella.
Nutella actually has its own day, February 5th. I ate it while living in Europe and had a hard time finding it in the States except in specialty stores until the 1990's. I don't eat it anymore because it's high in calories and contains lactose. When you're fighting the Battle of the Bulge (not the one that took place during World War II) Nutella, alcohol and junk food are the first things to go.
This version of Alunelul Batut uses different music and a slightly different choreography. The steps are the same, but this group uses a hand hold instead. The dancers are from Copenhagen, Denmark.
I have never done this dance in a group B.C. (Before Covid) so I don't know how it is done in North America. According to the notes, it's done like in the video below, with arm swinging. So the best way to dance it is the version that is preferred in your "village." I prefer the hand hold to the back basket hold in Video #1.
Being authentic can be a good thing in that often people who are fixated on that are also fixated on having very high standards, so they may maintain something they think has tremendous value. On the other hand, most of the kinds of music that I've been excited about are hybrid in their origins.-
Edgar Meyer
The dance Pasarelska has an interesting history. It was created by a Bulgarian choreographer and first taught in Los Angeles, California. It is a dance with Shope (western Bulgarian) steps. The melody is from the Rhodope (southern region) of Bulgaria. There is a town near the Bulgarian capital, Dolni Pasarel, after which the dance was named.
I'm sure if someone from North America traveled to Dolni Pasarel and requested the dance from the local musicians, that person would get strange looks, since the dance was created in the States.
Pasarelska is a hybrid dance. It is often requested on Zoom and you can learn it by watching this pandemic-era video by Susie Shoaf, who posted it on YouTube. It is not a difficult dance (it starts slow and speeds up at the end), however, I find the slow part more challenging than the fast part.
The steps don't follow the music, either.
First, here's the teaching video:
Here is Ira Weisbund's group doing Pasarelska. Notice that he has this listed as a Macedonian dance. One of the dance notes I read mentioned that this dance is from the Pirin region of Bulgaria (sometimes called Macedonia.) The rhythm certainly fits the Pirin style; 7/8 in the slow part and 7/16 near the end (slow-quick-quick).
The subject of Macedonia can get quite confusing, because there is a country, North Macedonia, that shares a border with Bulgaria. There is also a Macedonia region in northern Greece.
You can read more about this below:
If you love Balkan music and dance you have come to the right place! The Alien Diaries began in February 2010 and is updated at least twice a month.
This blog is dedicated to the memory of my cat Fatso (see avatar), who passed away on April 9, 2011 from congestive heart failure. He was the inspiration for several of my early posts.
Don't forget to check out my second blog, Light and Shadow, for some humor, satire, photos and poetry!
