Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Michael Ginsburg Workshop and weekend dancing in PA

Last Saturday, June 2, Michael Ginsburg gave a great dance workshop in Harrisburg, PA. Michael has a clear concise style of teaching.  He associates movements with counts,  which is how my mind works also. In order to help cement dances in one's brain, he has the participants go off by themselves to see how much they can remember -  "Building leaders and not just followers".  Although he stated that "forgetting is good"  because it helps the folk dance teacher by being invited back to a location and teaching the same dances again.

He started out teaching Sofka a dance we had learned from Kyriakos Moisidis.
The other dances Michael taught were: Gravosko(Ventzi), Preplet, Myatalo lenche, Devetorka, Pravo Trakitsko, Eleno Mome, Pajdushko, Varnensko, Cocek, and not to be left out we did a Lesnoto.

As usual, the dance party in the evening was fun. Those of us there danced to our heart's content and visited with friends. Chervon Traktor provided the music for our dancing and listening pleasure. They also provided music the second half of the dance workshop.

We continued our dancing weekend Sunday by attending the opening church picnic of St. Nicholas Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church at Serb Park in Harrisburg. They did a grapevine step to Miserlou that I had never seen done before.  The  music was provided by Sviraj and the Polka quads. As for the food-- " Pigs in the Blanket" just the way Mom used to make them and delicious roast lamb--not for the squeamish.

Again, Monday arrives and back to work with memories of dancing fun!

Another Day, Another Dance,
Share the Dance!

Monday, May 21, 2012

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but no time like the present to start again.  There has been a lot dance wise that I've participated in, but just haven't had time to blog about.  The big event was the wedding our our oldest daughter.

The groom requested Hava Nagila to be done at the reception, so after the rehearsal dinner we had a practice with the bridal party and any others who were interested in learning some of the "other" dances.  The bride and groom taught everyone the Hustle.  The folkdances we did were: Hava Nagila, Adjon Az Isten,the Virginia Reel, the Hustle, the Electric Slide.  It was great fun after the rehearsal dinner and at the reception.

Now that the wedding is over, I'll make more time to blog.

Keep on Dancing!

Another Day, Another Dance

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

St'tris (Σ'τρεις) - Dance Tidbit

Thank you to Bill for the following contribution.
The lively dance with the gaida (bagpipe) called St' tris that we did last Wednesday is just one version, but is the version as it is done in the village of Kufalia.

Kufalia is about 39 km (24 miles) northwest of Thessalonika, Greece. The people in Kufalia arrived as refugees from East Romelia in 1906 and settled in a number of villages in Northern Greece. Their region, East Romelia, was in northern Thrace, which is today part of Bulgaria.
St'tris is one of 6 dances from Kufalia that were taught during the `12th Seminar of Greek Dance' this summer. Tripodhis is one that I taught and we have been doing the last couple of weeks.

Others from Kufalia include:
Rihtos
Kastrinos
Sygkathistos
Baituska

St'tris literal translation is 'On Three' or 'In Three' possibly because one complete pattern is composed of 3 counts of 4.

St'tris is pronounced 'Strees' with a trilled 'r'. Other parts of Greece may pronounce it as sta treese.

The following are some YouTube videos of different versions of St'tris. The music is not the same as used in Kufali but the dances are all very similar. St'tris is characterized with very rapid arm swing behind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcvplAaFsj8&feature=related

Some variations of the dance involve a swinginig arm movement with a pause where the arms are held in the 'W' position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKiZRXfTtvk&NR=1
Please pass the word about this blog to your friends.
Another Day, Another Dance!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Tripodhis,Kukuvicka, and the Greek Seminar

Bill has taught the Greek Dance " Tripodhis" that he learned at the dance seminar we attended in Greece this past summer. Sue C. noticed that it sounded very similar to the Bulgarian dance we do "Kukuvicka ". You can listen to a version of "Kukuvicka" at http://www.dunav.org.il/balkan_music_bulgarian.html#all .

The dance "Tripodhis" is done to the song "Bati kuritsia stu churo". Neither one could be found online. Sorry! If you find them, please let me know.

Anyone looking for a great dance vacation check out the 13th Annual Seminar with a great teacher Kyriakos Moididis! The 12th was fantastic!
http://www.moisidis-dance.gr/en/

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Timber Ridge and beyond

Another great year at the Labor Day Camp at Timber Ridge. Dance, sing and play 'til you drop!!
Go to http://www.dancingplanetproductions.com/dancecamp.htm to see what you missed!

A big THANK YOU to Betsy and Jamie Platt!

I was able to start the third part of the BIRD Project, which is interviewing folk dancers about their experiences folk dancing. Thank you to all that participated.

Susan O. is teaching Pembe a Macedonian dance. The one on Youtube is near to the one that we dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2qvxvY7lq4&feature=related
There is also a Serbian dance of the same name but different music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2E-S_x3dU

Please forward this blog to your dancing friends!
Happy Dancing!
Another Day, Another Dance

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Serbian Dancers on Jay Leno

Did anyone see Novak Djokovic, the world's reigning top tennis player (from Serbia), on Jay Leno the other night. He brought with him some Serbian dancers!

Here is a clip of that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpnHiVMxb7k
International Folk Dance needs some more publicity like this!
Please share this blog!

Keep on Dancing!

Another Day, Another Dance!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Sighanon

Thank you to Bill for the following "Dance Tidbit" information.

The dance we tried out on Wednesday, 8/10/2011 was called Sighanon. It comes from the Pontos region which is now part of present day Turkey, the southern coast of the Black Sea.

"40 Red Apples"
The actual name of the song that we danced Sighanon to, is "Seranda mila kokina" or "Saranta Mila kokkina" which translates to "40 Red Apples".

We learned this in the village of Prochoma in Northern Greece which is populated mainly by refugees from Pontos and Kars. Kars is a present day city in Turkey.

Greek Genocide
The refugees were from the Greek Genocide carried out by the Turks during the years of 1914 to 1923 when the worlds attention at the time was focused on the aftermath of WW I. Explains the sometimes derogatory references to Turks in some of the lyrics of other Greek dances.

Links

I don't at present have a video link to the dance Sighanon but do have some links to performances of "Saranta Mila kokkina", "40 Red Apples".

Modern Acoustic Session. Recorded 16.10.2006 live at at Octalogic Studio (GER)
http://youtu.be/7oXm_BeQrm4


Very dated ( 60's ??) black & white movie with people singing to lone bagpipe version of the song. They appear to be drinking Ouzo.
http://youtu.be/HIIhkYzBf4I



Some lyrics from "Saranta Mila kokkina"

saranta mila kokkina pouli m'
saranta mila kokkina giavri m'

s' ena mantil demena
s' ena mantil demena

saranta sevtas ki' an eftas pouli m'
saranta sevtas ki' an eftas giavri m'

k' evrik's ki amon emena
k' evrik's ki amon emena

gia ela ela pouli m'
me temen ela giavri m'

This is a 'latin alphabet' based version of Greek words.