What is sirtaki? Greek dance of American origin

In the vocabulary of culture and art there are many terms andwords that come to us from other languages. Among them, we can name the word "sirtaki". What is sirtaki? Where did this word come from? We'll talk about this today with you.

Sirtaki as a term in art

This word came to us from Greece asthe name of the national group Greek dance. In translation from the Greek language, this means "touching". The dance is characterized by a gradual increase in tempo-rhythm from slow and calm to very mobile. This is the visiting card of Greek culture.

Sirtaki: history

Many mistakenly reckon sirtaki dance to ancient folk dances. However, you will be surprised to learn that this dance is not at all popular, but quite authoritative. And the author of it is the movie actor Anthony Queen.

The second surprise for you is that at allGreek originally this dance, and American, as Quinn - not a Greek, but an American, filmed in 1964 with the Greek director Michalis Kakkoyannis. True, the film concerned Greek themes. And the actor was supposed to perform the Greek folk dance by the sea. But Quinn broke his leg, and it was not just difficult for him to dance the fast Greek dance - it's impossible. So he invented a new dance based on simple rhythmic movements of Greek folk dances on his slow version. The film was shot for a long time. During the filming of her foot, she was healed. And the second part of the dance he was able to perform quickly. The music for the sirtaki Quina dance was also written specifically in connection with the arisen need. It was written for "Greek Zorba" by the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

But what about the director, did he really not know that,that such a dance does not exist? Apparently, Kakoyannis was very trusting, because he believed the arguments of the actor, who said that the local residents told him about this dance. Did he not recheck from them what sirtaki is, is there really such a dance in the culture of the Greek people? It is possible that we will never find the answer to this question.

By the way, about the name of the dance. And it is attributed to the imagination of Queen: supposedly this is a "small" (reduced) version of the traditional Cretan dance sirtos.

Sirtaki: technique of execution

Most often sirtaki dance is performed by a grouppeople standing in one line and holding outstretched hands over the shoulders of their neighbors. It happens that part of the dance is performed in a circle, but, as a rule, this is an exception. In the case of the participation of a large number of people in the dance, the dancers are in a few lines.

The dance is performed only with the feet, and the hulls and hands of the dancing sirtaki remain immobile. With the help of a strong grip of hands, dance participants keep the dance line.

The rhythm of the dance is clear, four quarters, and withfast - two quarters. The legs perform the movements absolutely synchronously: the traditional zigzag-like cross step, step-in steps, sit-ups and half-squats, lunges. If you disassemble the features of the movements used in the dance, the Greeks noticed that in the first part of the sirtaki dance the traditional movements of the Cretan folk dance group sirtos were used, and in the second part the elements of the other group of Cretan dances-the pidikhtos, among which jumping and jumping, were used.

To the rhythm of the dance was well audible during performance, the dancing sirtaki put on their feet special sandals on the hard soles.

Types of modern sirtaki

One of the most common varieties of sirtakiin modern Greece was born on the basis of the Athenian dance of Haspako. What do hakapiko and sirtaki have in common? Firstly, music. Secondly, the linear form of dance. True, both dances do not imply the location of a large number of people in one line. There should be no more than three. If there are more dancers, then they line up in parallel lines. Thirdly, a number of movements, especially similar in the fast part of the dance.

There is a version that Husapiko was previously a military mandance. It was used as a pantomime for preparing for battle and for training silent operations, for example, approaching the enemy. He also passed on the peculiarities of conducting the battle by the Greeks.

The second variant of sirtaki is the Zorbas, which consists not oftwo parts, and three or four. All parts are characterized by a change in rhythm and tempo. In the slow part of the movement, they look like sirtaki, and in the fast part they look like hapakiko. And the movements along the dance can be changed and combined by the dancers improvisingly, by transferring the "impulse" to the neighbors with shoulders: after all, their bodies are tightly pressed against each other.

There is another dance, very reminiscent of sirtaki -naphthiko. His dance Greek sailors, and he is very similar to the Russian apple. The original dance for naftiko was the ancient folk dance of makkelarikos, from which the hashapiko dance also grew.

Sirtaki today

What is sirtaki for the Greeks now? Now this dance is so popular with the Greeks that they honor it as other traditional national dances and dance with pleasure on holidays. Photos of sirtaki are presented in the article.

In the case when it is necessary to acquaint guests with the Greek culture, it is performed in Greek national costumes.

Today there are a lot of optionsperformance sirtaki. The author of the dance Anthony Quinn Greeks are called the Honorary Greek, and his dance is the dance of Zorba. And sirtaki dances not only in Greece, but also in many countries of the world. For example, in the USA in the late 1960s sirtaki played in a number of nightclubs. And in Russia sirtaki is one of the brightest numbers of ballet theaters and dance ensembles, for example, the Moiseyev ensemble, the Gzhel dance theater.

So what is sirtaki? For some, this is an amazing phenomenon of the dance culture of the 20th century, which seized the entire world with its energy. For others - a way of ethnic self-identification. For the third - the opportunity to find like-minded people and share with them a positive charge obtained from a joint detachment from the surrounding reality and absolute immersion into a completely embracing rhythm of the dance. And what sirtaki for you?