Russian traditional dance.
History of Russian dance.
First official record of Russian dancing is related to year 907 when Great Prince Oleg celebrated his
victory over Greeks. During the dinner 16 male dancers dressed as bears and four bears dressed as
Russian dancers performed for the guests. After the dinner Great Prince released the bears into the
wild and executed all the dancers. As it became clear later, Prince Oleg ,who was purblind, has
mistaken the dancers for the ambassadors from the Northern Tribes who owned him a skins of
Russian tiger-cat. Next record of Russian dancing comes from 1113 year when Grand Prince
Sviatopolik Iziaslavich died and big chaos started; lootings, pogroms and massacres were a favorite
time-spending the inhabitans of Kiev(at that time capital). At the same time mason Petro Preesyadka
didn’t go with them, he spent all day working hard.Every evening after work he went on Kiev’s
Broadway(famous street) and after having some wine and loaf of bagel he started jumping up trying
to release tension in his tired legs.One of the days Grand Kniaz Vladimir Monomakh was passing by
with his bodyguards when he saw a strange dance performed by a big man on the street. Just few
days later Petro Preesyadka was dancing at the Monomakh’s Palace at every breakfast, lunch and
dinner. “Preesyadka-dance”(knee-bending) has become very fashionable in a city of Kiev.
The real developers of Russian dance were so-called “scomorokhi”-street entertainers. Some of the
performers of the troup were strong in tricks, other could sing and dance. “Scomorochi” constantly
moved from town to town, learning and adopting best tricks and movement from the local dancers.
Starting from the Czar Ivan Terrible, who was famous for his nasty temper and love of the art, it
became common to have court singers and dancers. When the Czar was tired of the show, all the
artists were sent to the army or jail.
The first ensemble of the Russian Folk dance and variety of folk dance.
After the civil war has ended and the blood of the revolution has dried out Soviets alloted the money
to organise the first state funded troupe of the Russian folk dancers. In 1937 the first professional
ensemble of Russian folk dance was born under the leadership of Igor Moiseyev. He came up with
the idea of establishing the Theatre of Folk Art. The idea was successful and nowadays the
ensemble is fantastically popular. Among about 200 dance he created for his company- Moiseyev
Dance Company. Moiseyev’s work has been admired for the balance that it mantained between
authentic folk dance and theatrical effectiveness. Moiseyev has been widely acclaimed as the
greatest 20th century choreographer of folk dance, he called King of folk dance, died at 101 years
old(in 2007). Russia was home to for more than 150 million people, but only about half were ethnic
Russians. The enormous geographic dimensions of Russia and the complexity of history and
ethnography expressed in the variety of folk dances: “Kalinka”, “Sailor’s dance”, “Metelitsa”
(Snowstorm),” Siberian Nanaiski Wrestling dance”, “Quadrille”, “Yablochko”, “Drobushki”,
“Polka-Kubanka”.
“Kamarinskaya” is a Russian dance, which is mostly known today as The Russian composer
Mikhail Glinka’s magnum opus.It’s a type of dance in which a tune is repeated over a drone until the
dancers run out of energy.
Another a very famous fast linear dance is “Kozachok”, typically in a constantly increasing tempo.
The first known arrangement of a Kozachok is attributed to the Belorussian composer K.S.R.
Dusiaski(17century).This dance displayed all the characteristics of the fiery Kozak temperament.
The Kozachok was often performed in the 18 century in French ballets and achieved widespread
popularity after the Russian troops occupied Paris in the 1813. .
.
Trepak refers to one of the most distinguished and celebrated dances in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s
ballet “The Nutcracker, it is based on the traditional Ukranian folk dance known as the Tropak,
which settled primarly by descendants of the Zaporozhian Kozaks.
Barynya This is a fast Russian folk dance. The word Barynya means “landlady” which is way to
address a women of high class.
Kalinka is surely one of the best-known Russian folk song and dance.
. The Khorovod is a circle dance, has walking and circle figures which embellish folk rituals such as
the greeting of spring, the death of winter, the celebration of the winter solstice, the harvest. In pagan
Russia the first Khorovods were calendar songs, freguently sung by dancers while expressing the
words with various actions such as sowing millet or flax. Initialy they carried a ceremonial function
for major family events such as weddings and funerals.
Many of the dances have the “solos” in the centre, were improvised and took the form of lighthearted competition, the boys and the girls showing off their qualities.
Russian traditional costume.
Each Russian folk dance performed in different set of costumes. Costumes beautifully designed with
great detail, decoration, rich and various color gamut.The variety of colors displays love for beauty
and ethnic diversity. The costume is in harmony with the bright interior of the peasant house and
country landscapes. Many foreigners who come to Russia are surprised to find out how well Russian
womencostume, which consist of white blouse”rubashka” with ornaments: rhombuses, crosses,
herring bones, stylized patterns of people and animals; dress “sarafan and headdress “kokoshnik”.
Dress and sleeves gets wider to the lap. The fabric decorated with symmetric pattern, with golder
and silvery threads. Rissia has the museum collections of folk costume in St. Petersburg, it
considered to be the best of its kind.
Analysis of Russian Folk Dance.
Folk dancing is primarly a form of entertaiment and enjoiment, designed for normal , healthy
individuals. Dancers use abstract symbols to represent thoughts, feeling, emotions, and these
symbols may be interpreted in multiple ways. From folk dance you can understand the spirit of the
past age, nature of the people. From folk dance you can learn about the everyday life of the people,
the elements of their character, their feeling; about their concerns, their suffering and amusements.
Some characteristics of the Russian Folk Dance are that the steps could change with the mood of the
dancers. It is also known for vitality, competitive spirit, and endurance. Some characteristics
common for women dancers are turning of the body, spinning, stamping and heel clicking.
According to the experts, the jumping, fast running and mimics of the traditional Russian dance,
result of cold weather of the Nothern country. All dances as “Prisyadka”, “Ring”, ”Small
Barrel”,” Arabic”,” Goat”, “Devil”, “Pistol”, “Beduinsky” were invented only to get warm, at
that time it was not common to celebrate inside by the table, watching TV.
From the Feminist point of view there is equal spotlight treatment for both men and women.
Although girls don’t perform high kick or squat work like the men. Women only do twirls and
circles. Also, in many of the dances the man is in the middle of two women, this could represent
that he is dominant over the women. “Troika” is an example of this kind of dance, where a man
dances with two women. The Russian word troika means three hourse team/gear. The dancers
imitate the prancing of horses pulling a sled or a carriage. In the dances with one man and two
women, this could be a man and his wife and daughter. The man could be in the center because he is
the dominant person in the family.
In complicate Russian history they have been attacked by foreign invaders. They have had many
times when their economy was very unstable. With this dance form, it forms their identity. It doesn’t
matter what country is invading, they have there identity in there movement. There is a mix between
who is dominating the country and the geographical conditions. These factors come out in the dance.
If we compare Russian folk dance with other kinds of dance Russian Folk Dance has a culture
identity just like in Jazz and social dance.Their shoes click and clack like in tap dance. The shoes
make noise. Another way Russian Folk dance is similar to jazz in that they both improvise their
moves and also steal steps from competition. The dance is similar to court ballet because of the
simple floor patterns and they both wear heals. Russian Folk has many similar characteristics as
contemporary ballet. They both don’t need a narrative; there is no hierarchy of dancers. The first
choreographer for contemporary ballet was Michel Fokine who was from Russia.
Russian Folk is different from classical ballet because there is no hierarchy of dancers. The dancers
are all equal unlike in classical ballet. There are no mythical characters like in Romantic Ballet.