| Famous International Dances: Russian national dances: Metelitsa, Barynya, Kalinka.
In an ancient legend of the Moravian kingdom, guslar a story-teller mentions about rafts on lakes, where young men gathered, "sand and danced in circles". It is difficult to judge, for what exactly dances were performed by ancient Slavic folks on unstable rafts. Modest guslar does not give picturesque details of those festivals and games, however, some times in three short couplets, he repeats an old word "SHAME". Possibly, despite the absence of karaoke and disc jockey, our ancestors managed to spend time perfectly.
The first official reference of a Russian national dance was in the year 907, when Prince Oleg of Novograd celebrated his victory over the Greeks in Kiev. 16 dancers wearing masks as bears and four bears, dressed as dancers, performed in the state reception for guests. After the dinner, in accordance with the Prince's order, bears were released in all four directions and dancers were executed. As it turned out, half-blind Prince Oleg took the dancers for ambassadors of Northerners, who were indebted to a few hundred skins of marten.
Ukrainian folk dance:
Norak - one of the most favorite and popular dances in the Ukraine.
Young men perform very difficult movements courageously, temperamentally and with great craftiness and ease.
Girls dance softly modestly, lyrically, cheerfully and playfully .
The music is 2/4, has a moderate-fast tempo and gradually becomes fast.
The girl's costume is over a wide white linen shirt, embroidered on the chest, sleeves, corners and skirt with national embroidery, the girls wear woolen skirts made from a dense wool in a broad checkered design an embroidered apron and head is decorated with a crown of flowers with long ribbons. Dancers wear strings of multi-colored beads. On the feet they wear high boots with medium heels.
The m ale costume is a white linen shirt, embroidered on the chest, the sleeves and collar with Ukrainian designs. Very broad and wide trousers of bright red or dark blue color with a broad long belt. Young male dancers wear black boots.
The dance culture of the Kazakh people is famous since ancient times. The folk dances of the Kazak include "Ormek bi", "Koyan bi", which depict the life of hunters, while the humorous and comical include "Ayu bi", "Nasybayshy", "Orteke", "Karazhora", "Tepekok" - are examples of ancient dance forms. These dances extensively portray the life of the Kazakh people and their love for art. In musical folklore, dance is performed in the form of song, and vice- versa. Festivities, marking the end of the labour year and also its new beginning, are very wide-spread among the population. On festivals,Toyah is competed, where performers display their dancing skills to the audience. Kazakhs have couple dances, where a girl pairs with a horseman ("Koyan-cloak"), such a combination is rarely seen in other eastern people. The art of dancing is passed on from generation to generation, each tribe having their own masters. The Kazakh national dances do not have canonizers. These are more often performed in an improvised form. During dancing competitions, the emotional joyous character combines with choreographic forms. This peculiarity is in the dance form "Sylyma". The dance form while riding a horse has its own features. Only professionals can make a horse follow their rhythm.
People of many races reside in Caucasus. Each of them have their own language, traditions and culture.
Lezghinka - is one type of traditional Caucasian dance. It is some kind of symbol, or a visiting card of the Caucasian. This most beautiful dance, lezghinka - is an expression of the soul of the proud, freedom-loving, temperamental and courageous people. The dance tempo moves from being sedate to energetic, it smoothly changes from graceful movements to more difficult technical stunts. In lezghinka, the sliding, flying movements are freely mixed, like the flight of a falcon. While dancing, young men turn like a mountain, then hang in air, jump and do difficult pirouettes.
There are three kinds of lezghinka : solo, pair, group. In centuries-old Caucasian traditions, where till now, the modesty and respect of a young man towards a girls exists, it is indecent to express their feelings and speak about them publicly. Therefore, they express their feelings in dance. A young man and girl dance at some distance from each other. They move in a circle, performing difficult technical movements of one form or another. The look of the young man is proud and warm. He tries to look in the girl's eyes during the entire dance and the girl does not dare to look, but diligently follows the movements of her valued partner. Her movements express inaccessibility. During the dance, some kind of game is played. If the young man is attracted to the girl, he obediently floats ahead, luring her behind himself. The dance ends by a mutual bow thanking each other.
In addition to the lezghinka, the mountain dwellers take part in many dances. In Dagestan, there are fifty three type of races. The majority of the population is made up of ethnic groups: Laks, Avar, Dargin, Kumyk and Lezgin. And everyone have their own dances. All of them differ from Lezginka, which is more vigorous and technically difficult. And young men and girls possess complex elements, for example: foot twists, foot emissions, etc. The dance moves on accurately according to the set format.
There is a story that all movements in the dance of mountain dwellers, once carried some concealed meaning which is now lost, but the movements are preserved. |
