Opinca

Thank you again to Susan J. for this week's folk dance "tidbit". Sue C.introduced us to the dance, Opinca. Cool! A good dance, so thanks to Sue for the good pick. We considered how to do the arm-swinging. I think the following video may gave some guidance: this is a YouTube video of Opinca being done by members of Kolo Koalition. This is the long-established recreational folk-dancing group in Sacramento, and has a number of experienced dancers, so that I would guess that their version of the arm-swinging is correct. (Also, I think that Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu, who introduced Opinca, have taught in that part of California, so)again I think that what one sees in the video is probably the correct way to do this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBS9lu_WkEo Also: Romanian dances are often characterized by strigaturi, which are phrases shouted out during the dance that are in cadence with the steps of the dance: http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaMusic/strigaturi.htm In Opinca, there is 1 strigaturi that is called out in 2 places. You can hear it, but somewhat faintly, on the video. I have heard this called out in person, and it sounds something like "Opishaw". This is a "choreographed" part of the dance, so it would make sense to add this in. I have e-mailed Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu and asked that they provide the spelling, so as to make sure we get the correct pronunciation. Not all Romanian dances have these. However, the dances that have any strigaturi at all usually have these in multiple places throughout the dance. This makes Opinca is a bit unusual, in that the strigaturi is limited to one 3-syllable word, called out only twice. Here is a YouTube video of the dance Calusari, and here the strigaturi are a prominent part of the dance. This may be a bit more typical of Romanian dances that have strigaturi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndxoye0vEfg&feature=related Keep on Dancing! Another Day, Another Dance! Please share this blog with all of your dancing friends.