User:Dahhak/bulgarian folklore dance

NOTE : The following is just a draft for editions that I intend to add to the official article. This article is still in the works and by no means finished. Please do not interfere with it until I have it finished and up for discussion, thank you.

Choreographic theory of the Bulgarian folklore dance edit

Bulgarian folklorists started collecting information and samples of the Bulgarian folklore dance as early as the 1920's, with one of the first folklorists to do so being Rayna Kacarova, Boris Conev, Angel Drumev and others. By the 1940s the thorough recording and preserving of the folklore dances led choreographers and folklorists to systematize them in order to use the folklore material in the newly emerging genre of stage folklore dance. [1] The work of choreographers and folklorists such as Kiril Haralampiev[2][3], Kiril Djenev[4][5][6], Stoyan Djudjev[7][8], Margarita Dikova[9][10], Boris Conev[11] and others has left us with a great number of folklore dances and detailed knowledge about their choreography.

Types of Bulgarian folklore dance edit

Collective dances edit

Horo edit

Horo (Bulgarian - Хорó)- a collective chain dance.[12] All the dancers follow a set combination of steps. Improvisation is usually done only in the end of the dance, sometimes during all the parts of the dance but just by the first and the last dancer in the chain, and sometimes it's not done at all.[13] If the dancers are in a closed circle it is called Zatvoreno horo (Bulgarian - Затворено хоро, meaning Closed horo) and if the dancers are in a semi-circle or a straight line it is called Otvoreno horo (Bulgarian - Отворено хоро, meaning Open horo). An Open horo can either be led (Водено хоро, Vodeno horo), meaning that the steps of the dance make the chain move gradually (usually going right and very few cases left) or not.[14][15]

The body part involved the most in this type of dance is the legs.[16]

There are several different ways for the dancers to hold each other in a horo.

The most common is За длани (Za dlani, meaning By Hands) - the right hand of every dancer (except the leader if there is one) holds the left hand of the next dancer in the right-hand side. This gives certain freedom to the hands so in many dances of that type the hands would take part in the dance - swinging forward and backward in the rhythm of the music, sometimes bending the elbows. Generally both hands would perform the same movement at the same time.[17]

The second most common way is formed by each person holding the belt or sash of the dancer on either side (Za Poyas, За пояс).[18]

Other popular way for the dancers to hold each other in a horo are Lesa (Леса, meaning hedge), Za ramo (За рамо, meaning By shoulder)and others.[19][20]

Other collective dances edit

There are dances, usually organized similar to a horo (the dancers are holding each other) with very few exceptions (the dancers are lined up, in a circle, etc, but are not holding each other).

Solo and couple dances edit

Solo or couple dances (Игра по саме или по двамина, Igra po same ili po dvamina) are dances performed by a single dancer or rarely in a couple. These dances usually have improvisational character although the dancers would follow the traditional steps and style of the dance to some extent.[21]





  1. ^ http://www.nbu.bg/PUBLIC/IMAGES/File/departments/music/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Osnovni%20pravila%20za%20terenni%20prouchvania.pdf
  2. ^ Дженев, К., Харалампиев, К., Теория за строежа на движенията в българската народна хореография, Наука и изкуство, 1966
  3. ^ Дженев, К., Харалампиев, К, Универсален танцопис, Наука и изкуство, 1971
  4. ^ Дженев, К., Харалампиев, К., Теория за строежа на движенията в българската народна хореография, Наука и изкуство, 1966
  5. ^ Дженев, К., Български сценични танци, Наука и изкуство, 1968
  6. ^ Дженев, К., Харалампиев, К, Универсален танцопис, Наука и изкуство, 1971
  7. ^ Джуджев, С. Българска народна хореография, С. 1945
  8. ^ Джуджевъ, С., Българска народна хореография съ неколко примери изъ македонския фолклоръ, Министерство на народното просвещение, 1940
  9. ^ Дикова, М., Български танци из репертоара на държавния ансамбъл за народни песни и танци, Наука и изкуство, 1962
  10. ^ Дикова, М., Донев, Д., Танци и игри за младежта - сборник, Народна младеж, 1967
  11. ^ Цонев, Б. Български народни хора и ръченици, Медицина и физкултура, 1960
  12. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/272102/horo
  13. ^ Въгларов, С, Български народни хора и танци, Медицина и физкултура, 1976
  14. ^ Цонев, Б. Български народни хора и ръченици, Медицина и физкултура, 1960
  15. ^ Въгларов, С, Български народни хора и танци, Медицина и физкултура, 1976
  16. ^ Дженев, К., Харалампиев, К., Теория за строежа на движенията в българската народна хореография, Наука и изкуство, 1966
  17. ^ Въгларов, С, Български народни хора и танци, Медицина и физкултура, 1976
  18. ^ Въгларов, С, Български народни хора и танци, Медицина и физкултура, 1976
  19. ^ Въгларов, С, Български народни хора и танци, Медицина и физкултура, 1976
  20. ^ Цонев, Б. Български народни хора и ръченици, Медицина и физкултура, 1960
  21. ^ Илиева, А. Теория и анализ на фолклорния танц. Принципи на формообразуване в българския танцов фолклор. С., АИ "Проф. Марин Дринов", 2007.