Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.
Confucius
The video below is a group of Thracian dances performed at a Bulgarian wedding. The music is from the folklore region of Thrace.
The dances (in order) are Trite Puti, Pravo Horo (with attitude), and Bucimis, Notice that the choreography is different from what we do at recreational folk dances in North America. It starts with a mixed line for Triti Puti. During the Pravo (at 1:47) the guys dance in separate line from the women. Traditionally, men in Bulgaria dance as a way to flirt with women and demonstrate how macho they are.
At 3:28 the women form a separate line for Bucimis, so they get a chance to show off, too. At 4:03 it becomes a mixed line (with the bride somewhere in the middle). At 4:39, the guys form a separate line for Bucimis, and all hell breaks loose.
This is a fun video to watch. I would love to go to a Bulgarian wedding!
Omne trium perfectum (every set of three is complete)
Today's dance is the very popular Trite Puti, from the Thracian region of Bulgaria. In English translation it means "three times." Three times what?
It has different variations, three of which we'll explore here. The first (and the easiest) is performed by the Filip Kutev Ensemble. Here the dance consists of three steps forward, three steps back, an in and out step, and three pas-de-basque steps to the right, then left.
The videos were posted on YouTube from the Horo.bg website. There you can find dance videos from all the folklore regions of Bulgaria and also an English translate link in the upper right hand corner of their webpage, if you are Cyrillically challenged :)
Warning: the gaida (bagpipe) here is very loud, so turn up the volume! (This is especially useful in summertime when annoying neighbors sometimes keep you awake with their loud music.)
Variation #2 also features dancers in elaborate embroidered costumes. The music is slightly different, although at the end it's similar to Trite Puti #1. This video is part of a series "Teach Yourself Bulgarian Folk Dance." This version is the one most commonly done in international folk dance groups.
The teaching part of the video (not shown) breaks the dance down into its individual parts. This is what it looks like put together.
Trite Puti #3 is similar to version #1, with grapevines and side to side steps added, and at a slower speed. The music is different, although some of it is similar to version #1 and version #2.
This is part of a medley of dances (the other two are Varnensko Horo, at 2:03 and Shopska Rachenitsa at 4:50 ), which are also worth a look. Good things come in threes!
You can also watch these teaching videos on YouTube. Emily Nisbet teaches Trite Puti (in English) and if you're feeling ambitious, you can try it in Bulgarian.
You can find almost anything on the Universe of YouTube, and what I've discovered is that there are quite a few folk ensembles named after dances.
The first group, Ciuleandra, is from Vancouver Island in Canada. The song Ciuleandra is very popular with folk dancers around the world, and it's from an old recording by Maria Tanase, a Romanian pop-folk singer who died in 1963. This ensemble performs their signature dance, followed by a couple dance.
Tropanka from SAP Labs in Bulgaria is a group of colleagues who have an interest in folk dancing, and they are quite good. I've seen a few of their videos on YouTube and I get the impression morale at this company is quite high, judging from their participation in company sponsored activities. Tropanka is a dance from the region of Dobrudja (northeast Bulgaria). This group performs it along with two other popular Bulgarian dances, Pravo Horo and Graovsko Horo.
Trite Puti is the name of a folk ensemble, a dance school in Sofia, and a popular folk dance from the central Bulgarian region of Thrace. Here the group is participating in an amateur folk dance competition held annually in Sofia. The first dance is Trite Puti, and the one immediately following is ChetvornoHoro.
If you enjoyed this you may also like Bulgarian Dances and their Greek Relatives:
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!
