A dance from the Laz people of North-Eastern Turkey. I learned this dance from Cindy Kelly in 2008.
The music has a slow, even rhythm but within that each beat can be counted as a 3. The slow steps take one full beat but the quick-quick pairs are split 1-2 within a beat so there's a small pause after each quick pair.
The dance is done in a line. Don't hold hands but extend the forearms forward with the wrists lower than the elbows and the hands hanging freely. Connect with your neighbours by touching sides of hands and forearms, keep up with the person on your right.
The first part of the dance involves moving to the right with a series of 'right to the side,
left cross in front' steps. The rhythm is three slow steps, a quick-quick, one slow step,
another quick-quick, and one more slow step. This gives:
Right to the side (slow), left cross in front (slow), right side (slow), left cross (quick),
right side (quick).
Left cross (slow), right side (quick), left cross (quick), right side (slow).
Touch the left beside the right (quick), then lift the left across in front (quick).
Step to the side with the left (quick), then lift the right across in front (quick). Repeat this to the right, and to the left again.
Touch the right beside the right (quick), then lift the right across in front (quick).
The dance sequence matches the musical phrase. Let one or two phrases play through before starting
Heyamo from Heyamo by Birol Topaloglu.
Dance description by Andy Bettis 8/2009