Karatzhova

History

A Greek dance that I learned from Kyriakos Moisidis in 2009.

Rhythm

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-slow pairs are split 1-2 within a beat.

Steps

There are two parts to the dance, the first part is done until the music changes at which point you change to the second part and do that until the end.

Start in a line, arms in a W hold, facing right.

First part

Step forward with the right (slow), then touch close with the left (slow). Repeat with the left.
Step forward with the right, then touch close with the left (quick-slow).
Turning to face centre step forward with the left, then touch close with the right (quick-slow).
Step back with the right, then touch with the left - the foot is turned out to the side but the legs are together (quick-slow).
Touch again with the left with the feet together (slow).
Step back with the left, then touch close with the right on the outside of the left (quick-slow).
Step forward with the right, then touch close with the left (quick-slow).
Step back with the left, then touch close the right with the foot turned out (quick-slow).
Touch again with the right with the feet together (slow).

The sequence matches the musical phrase.

Second part

The second part begins when the music speeds up. Start off facing right as you would for the first part. All the steps are quick.

As the music speeds up replace all the touches (except for the ankle crossing one) with 1-2-3 steps, ending up with:
Two steps forward followed by a 1-2-3 while travelling and turning to face left.
Three steps back and a cross touch.
A 1-2-3 going forward and turning to face centre.
A 1-2-3 while turning to face right.

The dance begins at the start of the clarinet melody. There's a 3-beat introduction, it can be easier to wait until one whole phrase has played through but it's a long phrase.

Music

Karatzhova from a workshop CD produced by Kyriakos Moisidis.