REGION: Bulgaria, Macedonia
TRANSLATION: National dance, or dance of the people, or folk dance
RHYTHM: 2/4, counted as 1 and, 2 and
ARMS: “V” position
Description
Measure
- With weight on left foot, and moving in LOD, step on Right foot, hop on Right, step on Left foot, hop on Left.
- Facing center, step on Right, step on Left behind Right, step to right on Right foot, hop on Right and close Left to Right, without taking weight.
- Repeat measure 2 with opposite footwork, and moving in reverse LOD.
Variations
- On measure 1 substitute 2 running steps for the 2 step-hops, RLR, LRL.
- The leader only, may turn once clockwise while doing the 2 step-hops.
ANOTHER WAY TO DO IT!
I don’t know why, but Macedonians seem to add something else to a dance. In Narodno Horo, they substitute a pas-de-basque instead of closing Left foot to Right in measure 2, and then add two pas-de-basques after that. Thus they make it a four measure dance rather than a three measure dance. So again, you might ask which is the correct way? And again, the answer is “when in Rome, do as the Romans”.
Some styling comments: the dance starts on count one of any measure. As in many Balkan dances, the women dance in a more restrained manner while the men dance with more gusto and larger steps.