ANCIENT SLAVS The origins of the Slavic people are still hotly debated. People had been slowly moving north and west from the southern Ukrainian steppes, following the retreating glaciers and the growth of dense forests. Trouble is, when Slavs began to differentiate themselves from their stone-age neighbours - the Baltic and Germanic peoples, no one... Continue Reading →
Šetnja (SHET-nyah) means "a walk" or "stroll" in Serbian. Google Шетнја (Šetnja in Cyrillic) and you're likely to get YouTubes of religious processionals, walking tours, or political protest marches. To Recreational Folk Dancers, it's also the name of a dance - one of the all-time most popular opening dances. Featuring a simple pattern almost any beginner can easily... Continue Reading →
Perinița or Pernița (peh-ree-NEE-tsah) is a traditional Romanian party dance, popular as an icebreaker, and also at weddings. See Romanian Wedding Dances: https://folkdancefootnotes.org/dance/a-real-folk-dance-what-is-it/about/romanian-wedding-dances/ Originally from Muntenia (Wallachia) region , Perinița is now pan-Romanian. The name of the dance comes from the Romanian word for pillow - "pernă" (from South Slavic "perina") pillow - Perinița being the diminutive "little" form. Maybe the item used... Continue Reading →
It seems that bagpipes are everywhere, and always have been. The only limit to the geographical range of bagpipes is the availability of sheep or goatskins for the bag. According to Wikipedia: "Ancient origins The evidence for pre-Roman era bagpipes is still uncertain but several textual and visual clues have been suggested. The Oxford History of... Continue Reading →
Bučimiš origins Bučimiš (boo-chee-MEESH) is one of over 30 different Bulgarian words for the poison hemlock plant, Conium maculatum - the same plant that killed Socrates. The plant is common all over Bulgaria, and much of the rest of the world as well. However this website https://bgflora.net/families/apiaceae/conium/conium_maculatum/conium_maculatum.html supposedly representing Bulgaria as a whole, calls the plant... Continue Reading →
The creation of Israeli dance (as opposed to Jewish dance) was almost exclusively a European Ashkenazi exercise (see https://folkdancefootnotes.org/dance/dance-information/israel-early-israeli-dance/) until the airlift of 47,000 refuges from Yemen in 1948 brought to Israel an ancient, very different, yet compelling and authentically Jewish way of expression and dance. It took awhile for Yemeni culture to become accepted in... Continue Reading →
Who are the Turks? The word Turk conjures up some pretty specific images to a Westerner - an Islamic, vaguely Eastern-looking citizen of Turkey, for instance. However, the more one tries to answer the question "what is a Turk?", the more one realizes the answer is far from simple. The only thing all Turks have... Continue Reading →
Primavera en Salonico [Spring in Salonica] By 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain had finally driven the remaining Moors out of the country. Sephardic Jews (see https://folkdancefootnotes.org/culture/ethnicity-history-geography/jews-mizrahi-sephardim-ashkenazi/) were then given the choice of converting to Christianity, leaving the country, or death. Among the many places Sephardim chose for their exile, one was Salonica in the... Continue Reading →
Kriči Kriči Tiček is a popular Croatian folk song. For lyrics & English translation, go here: folkdancefootnotes.org/music/lyrics-english-translations/krici-krici-ticek-english-lyrics/ For the sheet music in several keys, go here: https://folkdancefootnotes.org/music/sheet-music/krici-krici-ticek-sheet-music/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLl5BBAyAUA According to the 1992 Folk Dance Problem Solver, Kriči Kriči Tiček the dance was "collected" by Zvonimir Ljevacović, choreographer for the Croatian national dance troupe Lado, from the Prigorje... Continue Reading →
