Happy New Year

The new dancing year has started for our group.  We all felt a little "rusty"  after our three week break.

The new dances this week were taught by Bill.

Arcanul de la Fundul Moldovei was the intermediate dance that Bill taught. He learned it from Mihi David.
The video below is almost like the way Mihai taught it.  There is an extra step in the dance in the version that Mihai taught in Tennessee in 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TxY5-idvk

Here is a group from Copenhagen doing the dance the same music but different steps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7jOIUVqObM

Dunav's version is below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9BRVcyxQ7o&list=PL0F8AC057DFE1A68D

A PDF description of the dance as taught at the 2003 Door Count Folk Festival by Alexandru and Mihai David.  The dance that Mihai taught Tennessee has one more figure.
http://printfu.org/preview/?pdfurl=1qeXpurpn6Wih-SUpOGumaynh56j6s2UqdPe58ralKrk3NeMsuXa4tzekLjY2t-Gu9LY4NjsxuCKoOOsmqiWzJeo2KalqZ-W0Nnk4qOdo93s5JPQ0tzLotbK5KHN3evU4dzG0OKlydfOy8_l4trgx9fi2MuhppWnx9jl4tna2dPa29ma39rLlqPi


The other dance that Bill taught was Shareni Chorapki, a dance of Bulgarian origin that can be found in Greek Macedonia in the region of Drama. It is basically a Devetorka.  Below are some videos of the dance and some commentary.  The name can be translated into 'Patterned Socks" or Multi-colored Socks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jid38ux85Wg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hOVJfqQdKs

Will you be dancing with any children soon?
Have a great time dancing, playing or listening to the music.

Another Day, Another Dance,
Happy Dancing

Makemie Woods Wedding Anniversary Celebration

The fall Makemie Woods dance weekend was a special event celebrating the anniversary of Judy and Lance.  Twenty years ago Judy and Lance were married at Makemie Woods! It was great to see the pictures from their wedding. Paraphrasing a quote from an interview with Steve Kotansky "What better way to meet your life partner than folk dancing!"

This month Sue C. started teaching  "Ketri, Ketri" an Albanian Roma dance at our regular Wednesday meetings. Even though it was presented to our group as an Albanian Roma dance, the song seems to be Hungarian Gypsy as stated by some authorities.

Below is a video of the way she taught it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCLhAY8ai4o

Steve Kotansky is doing a different version in the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92zq77Zlvv8
The notes for Steve's version are below:
http://www.folkdancenotes.com/dancenotes/ketri.htm
This dance is considered a cocek by some dance authorities.
http://www.andybettis.com/dance/steps/Chochek.html

From the UK come the following comments about the dance!
http://duramecho.com/Dance/BEECIIFolkDance/Ketri_Ketri.html

The other dance that Sue taught was an Albanian dance Valle Pogonishte. She taught is as the way that the group below does it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvKgfgqTss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzvs1bkBUTc
The notes for it are below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvKgfgqTss

Another Blogger has some interesting comments on the dance.
http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2013/05/two-variations-on-albanian-folk-dance.html

Dance with as many children as you can this week!

Another Day, Another Dance,
Happy Dancing!

" The Beauty of Bulgarian Folk Music and Dance"

Who Knew??? The Library of Congress' National Audio-Visual Conservation Center was in Culpeper, VA?  Practically in our backyard!
http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/

Not only do they preserve and present AV materials, they have a theater where other performances can be viewed!

Everyone who attended Saturday's performance was treated to an afternoon of lively music, dance and song! Not only was there singing and dancing on stage, but the audience danced in the aisles and in the lobby to the accompaniment of the musicians. The musicians and singers were from the groups "Kolorit" Orchestra from Chicago, "Duo Kuchevi"  from New York, and Stoyan Kostov now based in Pittsburgh. The resulting music sounded as if they had been playing together all of their lives!

The dances were performed by "Bosilek" an all women's troupe based in New York.  The group has been together since 1979. The energetic and precise dancing was enhanced by the beautiful traditional Bulgarian folk dress.
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/bosilek/info.htm

In addition to the program notes, explanations of Bulgarian traditions and history from each region was given before the performances which added to the appreciation of the performance. The performance ended with the audience dancing with "Bosilek" the traditional Bulgarian folkdance tunes.

A story that evokes the timelessness and the circular history of folk dance was relayed to me by Cathie Springer, the director of "Bosilek".

Yves Moreau, having just been bitten by the folk dance bug, boards a Bulgarian ship in a Canadian Harbor and asks the sailors to teach him some Bulgarian folk dances. A sailor accepts the challenge and teaches Yves how to dance like the Bulgarians of his region.  The daughter of that sailor now dances with "Bosilek" and he was there Saturday to share in the joy of his heritage!

New Season Begins

A new season of " Another Day, Another Dance" has begun!  An interview with Joe Graziosi and the teaching of Sofka rounded out the show.  This month airs an interview with Yulian Yordanov and Nevesto Caven Trendafil is taught. The program airs Tuesdays at 2:30, Wednesdays at 5:00, and Saturdays at 1:00. The same program airs all month at the above times.  Click the link below and then go to the upper right hand corner and click on live stream to view the program.

http://www.cpatv.org/index.html

This week our group was introduced to ""Miliso" from Thrace as taught by Joe Graziosi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXY28BiUN88&list=TLvjuSG1NJPaI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LYuZJd_tko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3BWjR_SHfg

  and "Ina, Ina"  as taught by Christian and Sonia Florescu.  Below is a video of a group doing  "Ina, Ina". Our group does it the same way .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOs98hAmxDQ 

The notes from Stockton are below.

http://www.folkdancecamp.org/10syllabus/Ina%20Ina%20(2010SFDC).pdf

 I danced with over 30 children this week!  How many have you danced with?

Another Day, Another Dance,

Happy Dancing!

Wandering Bird, Dancing through the Alphabet

"Wandering Bird",  the title of this post, is what I have felt like this summer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6xjFxGu8v8

Sue C. taught the dance.  The search for a dance that started with a "w" began when Bill suggested that we do a night of dances that start with the the letters of the alphabet!  "W" was the letter that was missing a dance. Since Sue  has taught "Wandering Bird",  we can dance through the alphabet with no problem!

As previously mentioned, I have felt like a wandering bird because I traveled to Ohio to visit my sister Rosie, as she recovered from surgery. While in Columbus, I was able to interview dancers from the Tuesday evening Hillel group. They are a very lively group! Wednesday evening I danced with the Columbus Folk Dancers and recorded some more great stories!

While visiting my son in LA, I was able to dance with Beverly Barr's Monday evening group and again hear the stories of many fantastic dancers!

I'm sure that many of you have felt like"Wandering Birds".  I highly recommend visiting the local folk dance groups when you are on vacation because you will meet many great people and have a great time!

Remember to dance with a child every chance you have!

Another Day, Another Dance,
Happy Dancing!

Paraliakos and Kune

June has really been a busy month, I can't believe it is almost over!

 We were able to attend the workshops of Iliana Bozhanova in Green Belt and Lancanster PA. The dances she taught were Shirokolashko Horo, Trakushka Ruchenitsa, Choban Georgi, Dona, Irimenche, and Dzhahguritsa(Djanguritsa). A great time was had by all!

This month Susan O. taught Cocek from Macedonia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxOJB14P8q4
The above link to a Dunav rendition is a Cocek similar to what we do.
She also taught Dobrudzanski Buenek  from Bulgaria a dance she learned from Yves Moreau. I was not able to find a video of anyone doing or teaching the dance.

Lindy taught Paraliakos from Greece as introduced by Lee Otterholt.  Below is a link to him teaching it.
http://internationalfolkdances.blogspot.com/2011/01/paraliakos-greece.html
Kune is another dance Lindy started teaching tonight. She taught it as Iliana Bozhanova does it see the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nRi8nYUQhg

If you haven't seen the June's installment of the TV  Program  "Another Day, Another Dance", Stream it live at 1:00 PM on Saturday, June 29
http://www.cpatv.org/
Hear Jay's interview and see Susan O. teaching "Do Mar Ciften".

Happy Dancing and Dance with a child whenever you get the chance!
Remember,
"Another Day, Another Dance"

Makemie Woods

Makemie Woods was a success this year!  It was great to see every one and do some "binge dancing"

Mike taught an Israeli Dance called Lamenalseach.  Nothing turned up when I googled this name.

Bill taught Dobro Ljo a Bulgarian Dance he learned from Yves Moreau. The links below may help.
http://andybettis.com/dance/steps/DobroLjo.html
The clip for Dobro Ljo is the one above the name.
http://argonneifd.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-camp-video-clips.html
Bill also taught Koljovo Horo, another Bulgarian dance he learned from Yves Moreau.
We learned it slightly different from Yves than is demonstrated in the video clip below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xiQFH5xgbA

Any time we get together with a big group of people and dance we have a great time!

Dance with a child anytime you get a chance.
Another Day, Another Dance,
Happy dancing!