Balkans & Greece

Bulgarian dance rhythms are steps first. A group of two is a quick step and a group of three a slow one; the boxes count eighths, with a click at each group’s start. The tempo is per eighth too, so Ruchenitsa, a wedding dance, runs at 340 to 460 a minute.

Pravo horo is an even two and Paidushko quick, slow, 2+3. Ruchenitsa is the famous quick, quick, slow seven, 2+2+3. Lesnoto reverses it to slow, quick, quick, 3+2+2, the same seven units with the long step moved, and Chetvorno shares Lesnoto’s outline at a faster pace. Eleno mome, 2+2+1+2, puts a single unit between two pairs and has more than one realisation, of which this row is one.

The nines move the long step again. Daichovo is 2+2+2+3, and Grancharsko puts the three second. Kopanitsa is eleven as 2+2+3+2+2; tap its five group openings before counting units. Petrunino keeps a sourced 3+2+2+2+2 in eleven, and its card names the other readings, 2+2+3+2+2 and a twelve as 3+2+2+2+3, rather than averaging them into one dance.

Krivo sadovsko reaches thirteen, Bučimiš fifteen and Sedi Donka twenty-five, each easier to hold as a sequence of steps than as a number. Dances that some sources write in sixteenths are written here in eighths, which changes the tempo number, not the dance, and equal boxes cannot show every unevenness between steps.

Walk Ruchenitsa for four cycles saying “quick quick slow”, then walk on in silence and check that the long step still lands. Then try Lesnoto and feel the feet cling to the old order.

The dances of North Macedonia and Serbia here run from an even two to cycles of seven, nine, twelve and eighteen eighths, and the groups are steps, a two quick and a three slow, with an accent at the start of each cell. Kolo is an even two, a steady pulse before the longer dances, and Devetorka a nine, 2+2+2+3. Čoček appears as the same nine but is also danced in an even two.

Beranče is a weightier twelve, 3+2+2+3+2, and Dolgoto oro a twelve with its longer groups later, 2+2+3+2+3. Say the cell lengths rather than one to twelve, and clap where each cell starts. Osumnaestorka, eighteen counts with eight group openings, can wait until those two are comfortable.

Teškoto (metered section) gives only the 3+2+2 seven after the dance’s free opening; the strip cannot play that opening or its acceleration. Walk Devetorka slowly, giving the last step its extra time, then walk Beranče without speeding up at each three.

Romania’s dances run from even twos to uneven fives, sevens, nines and tens. Hora is an even two. Sârba has two beats with triplets inside them, so the melody runs three and three against the two larger steps. The uneven rows count eighths, with an accent where each step group begins and no stroke syllables under the boxes.

Rustem is quick, slow, 2+3. Geampara is 2+2+3, and Brâul turns that seven round to 3+2+2. Cadâneasca extends the quick steps to 2+2+2+3, and the tens are Învârtita, 2+2+3+3, and Purtata, 4+3+3.

Brâul has other versions, and the timings of Învârtita and Purtata are fitted to equal boxes for practice, so these rows show the order of the steps, not their exact lengths. Walk Hora, then Geampara, and once its long last step stops feeling like a delay, move it to the front in Brâul.

The way into the Greek dances is a two or a seven. Hasapiko is a slow, heavy two, Hasaposerviko its faster form, and Kalamatianos the familiar seven, slow, quick, quick, 3+2+2. Group starts are accented and most rows carry no drum syllables, so put the grouping in the feet and let the clicks check it.

Mantilatos is the opposite seven, 2+2+3. Tik (tromachton) and Serra share that quick, quick, long at a sharp Pontic pace, though Tik diplon, in the Pontic section, is a five. Baidouska is a quick, slow five. Syrtos is 3+3+2 on this page, but syrtos names a family of dances, and this is one selected outline.

Zeibekiko and Karsilamas are both nines grouped 2+2+2+3, Zeibekiko slow and heavy for a solo dancer, Karsilamas lighter and quicker for couples. Aptalikos is another slow, heavy nine. Tsamiko’s three, the Cretan two of Sousta and the fast two of Pentozali rest the ear between them.

Further in, Beratis goes 3+2+3 in eight, Levendikos 3+2+2+3+2 in twelve, and Tsakonikos, a chain dance, is a 3+2 five. The uneven bars count eighths, which is why a quick dance shows a tempo in the hundreds.

Say “slow quick quick” on the group openings of Kalamatianos while a finger taps every eighth, then move the long step to the end in Mantilatos with the finger still even. Take Zeibekiko slowly before adding any flourish.

Tik diplon is the Pontic five, grouped 2+3: quick, slow. Serra is a seven grouped 2+2+3: quick, quick, long. Accents mark the start of each step group, the boxes count the eighth-note units underneath, and no instrument strokes are written. The seven-count Tik (tromachton) is in the Greece section; Tik diplon here has five.

The listed tempos look enormous because the metronome counts eighths, so start well below them. Walk Tik diplon’s two groups for several cycles, then add Serra’s extra quick group before the long one. Say the group words while tapping every small unit, then drop the words and let your feet keep the pattern, raising the speed only once the long step keeps arriving where you expect.

Pogonishte gives a measured two for a southern Albanian polyphonic dance, the first of its two quarter-note counts accented. No instrument or vocal syllables sit under the boxes; it is a pulse to practise against, not a transcription of the polyphony or of the dancers’ steps.

Tap your foot on both beats and clap lightly on one, keeping the foot going when the hand rests on two. After four cycles, drop the spoken numbers for one cycle and come back in on “one” at the next opening. Then play music around the two and keep track of where the cycle turns.