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Bulgarian folk dances are intimately related to themusic of Bulgaria. This distinctive feature ofBalkanfolk music is the asymmetricalmeter, built up around various combinations of 'quick' and 'slow'beats. The music, in Westernmusical notation, is often described usingcompound meter notation, where the notational meter accents, i.e., the heard beats, can be of different lengths, usually 1, 2, 3, or 4. Many Bulgarian dances areline dances, in which the dancers dance in a straight or curved line, holding hands.
Many Bulgarian dances areline dances, with the dancers holding hands in a straight or curved line, facing in toward the center of the dance space. Originally men and women danced in separate lines, or in a gender-segregated line in which the last woman and first man held opposite ends of a handkerchief, to avoid gender contact but today men and women often dance in mixed lines. Several differenthandholds are used in the different dances"
Bulgarian dances are distinctive for their subtle rhythms and intricate footwork. In some dances, the dancers repeat the same pattern of steps throughout the dance, while others are "called" dances with several different steps in which the leader calls out changes in the steps at his discretion. Still, others have a basic step which individual dancers may embellish at specific points with variations like stamps and foot slaps.
In dances in which the line moves to the right or left, the dancer at the head of the line is the "leader". It is his responsibility to lead the line so it doesn't collide with other lines, and in "called" dances to call the variations. New dancers joining a dancing line join at the end; it is bad manners to join at the head of the line, in front of the leader.
Bulgaria is divided into seven ethnographic regions:Northern Bulgaria,Dobruja,Shopluk,Thrace,Strandzha,Macedonia andRhodopes. Each region has its own distinctive style of dance, to the extent that a knowledgeable observer can often tell which region a group of Bulgarians comes from by how they perform a popular dance like thepravo. In addition, due to the intricate ethnic mix in the Balkans, each locality and even each village may have its own variation of a dance, different enough that it amounts to a distinct dance. In Bulgarian folkdance literature, local variations are often differentiated by adding the geographical origin to the dance name: for examplepravo plovdivsko horo means "thepravo dance from the town of Plovdiv".
The proportions of the beats do not follow any exact rational proportions. For example, the well-known tune "Eleno Mome" (Елено Моме) exists written in three forms: (1)7 = 2+2+1+2, (2)13 = 4+4+2+3, and (3)12 = 3+4+2+3times. Here, the latter two forms exist both as a musicologist's way to attempt to indicate the tendency of speeding up the last and first beats, as well in formal version, where the musician plays 3 or 4 about equal length notes on the beat. In music band playing, the meter7 = 2+2+1+2 seems favored, thus skipping some of the time-bending subtleties. Given this fact, though, some meters are more common or popular, but there is a wide variation of less frequent combinations, as well.
There is also disagreement about whether one should use1
8 or1
16 as meter denominator, but this is just a notational convenience. In the list below, the denominator follows in part notational practice of the region, and in part the speed of the type of tune, giving the1
4 note a reasonable number of beats per minute (as on a metronome).
Folk dancers often speak in terms of "quick" and "slow" instead of a steady meter "1, 2, 3," etc. These dance rhythms may not agree with the rhythms and meters performed by the musicians. For example, the11
16 rhythm of the dancekopanitsa is often described asquick-quick-slow-quick-quick, (2+2+3+2+2) whereas the tune may be played in what may be written as(2+2)+(2+1)+(2+2), i.e., an11 time with primary accent at 1, secondary accents at 5 and 8, and tertiary accents at 3, 7, and 10. The dancers thus dance to a meter composition4+3+2+2, which may also be played by the musicians, e.g., in Traichovo horo (Трайчово хоро).
In addition, some tunes may have considerable time bends, such as the MacedonianŽensko Beranče andBajrače, though viewed as and written in3+2+2+3+2. Therefore, in dance instruction, quick and slow beat descriptions, in combination with intuition and careful listening, may be a good approach, though not suitable for performing and notating the music. In addition, a dance instructor not familiar with the exact musical rhythms should not demonstrate these dance rhythms without music. It would be best to use a slowed-down playback, lest the dancers become confused at full speed.
Below is a list of some Bulgarianfolk dances, along with their commonly written rhythms and time signatures. The wordhoro means "dance" and is sometimes added to the name of the dance.
Since thetransliteration of Bulgarian is problematic, the official Bulgarian transliteration is used, which can be checked atTransliteration of proper names in Bulgaria, followed within parenthesizes by the Bulgarian name and, after a semicolon, (for searchability) alternative transliterations. Following a Bulgarian sheet music practice, more complex meters generally appear later in the list.
Yove male mome and sedi donka can be thought of as a compound of common7 (chetvorno) and11 (kopanitsa) meters, but it is more unclear what sandansko horo should be: possibilities are a compound9+13, where9 is the daychovo meter, and13 the Krivo plovdivsko horo meter, or9+9+4, where9 is the daychovo meter.
A ruchenitsa can, in slower tempo, have a distinctive2+2+3 rhythm, but in a quicker pace, it may only be perceived as a4+3. Thus, even though these are well-known rhythmic patterns, one may not arrive at an unambiguous meter interpretation, the way listeners of Western music are used to.
Many of the dances are formed by each person holding the belt or sash of the dancer on either side. These belts are typically fit loosely around the waist so that each person can move easily within the belt, while the overall line can stay together. Although there are basic steps that make up the dance, certain people may improvise variations, sometimes forming a competition between the dancers. These variations must result in the same movement as the rest of the line, but may consist of additional or slightly different steps.
For example, the basicpajdushko horo dance consists of a series of four hop-steps (actually, lift-steps) to the right, followed by a series of four steps to the left where the right foot crosses in front of the left foot on the quick beat, then weight is transferred onto the right foot, which pushes the dancer to the left on the slow beat. Finally, the line moves backwards using four hop-steps, and the dance is repeated. Variations might consist of alternating the right foot in front of and behind the left foot, forming a basicgrapevine dance step. Another variation might be that instead of hop-steps backwards, a dancer might use a series of scissor steps and end with a pas-de-bas step.
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