Roma Belly Dancer

This is clip of a wonderful belly dancer in the Rom style. The video was filmed at the Herdelejzi Festival in Sebastopol, CA in May, 2007. Each movement she makes with her arms has a meaning, but I only know one. According to my Romani informants, when she puts her arms out straight and bangs her two fists together, this means, "may your enemies explode." I love the look of joy on her face as she dances and I heard her called "Liz." The little girl in the video I think is her daughter.

Why these dances?

You might ask why I am posting these dances to my blog. It is because they are dances I am teaching in my dancing circles and workshops and I think it is really important to see how native dancers do these dances. I believe the dances of a culture transmit something very important about that culture that cannot be put into words. Many of these videos are from the Herdelejzi Festival that takes place in May in Sebastopol, California. It is hosted by Sani Rifati, a Rom from Macedonia, with many Rom musicians and dancers. I think there is a special flavor to a festival produced by and for the Roma. A festival produced by non-Rom, about the Rom, just isn't the same. I must apologize for my video clips. They are often too short and sometimes just scraps. But, I am likely to be dancing and having a great time and then say, "Oh my goodness, I need to be video taping this one." Then it's scramble, scramble, oops. Sometimes the dance is moving so fast, I am just running along behind trying to get a shot through someone's legs. And then some of the videos are pretty good. So, enjoy!

Pousteno

This is a group of dancers from Sebastopol, California doing Pousteno. Many of the dancers show the steps in the simplest form while the leader is quite accomplished in his improvisations. The music is "Leventikos" by Brass Menazerie. You can find it on their CD "Brazen" and order it from their website.

Amy Luna dancing

This is a video of Amy Luna Manderino dancing. She has been researching Rom dancing particularly women's styles for many years. Put her name in your search engine and many interesting websites will surface with information about her including her own website. Click this link to view the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24K0xzubKhU This video clip was taken at the Herdelejzi Festival in Sebastopol, CA in May, 2007.

Tursko Pharo

In this video clip from the Herdelejzi Festival in May, 2007 in Sebastopol, CA, Sani Rifati is dancing Tursko Pharo with the lifts much closer to the ground than his lifts when I first learned this dance in Greenbelt, MD in 2002. When he danced it then, his lifts were quite high with thighs parallel to the ground.

Kosovsko Oro

This is a video of Sani Rifati doing the dance I have named Kosovsko Oro. It takes place at the Herdelejzi Festival in May, 2007 in Sebastopol, California. Does anyone know the name of the piece of music being played?

Tsamikos from Grevena

A women's Tsamikos from Western Macedonia taught by Joe Graziosi at Buffalo Gap, September, 2003. Joe taught this dance to ‘Gaida’ on ‘Glendi Sto Dotsiko’ by the Takis Betzios Brass orchestra, a CD available from Joe Kaloyanides Graziosi. It is included on Treasures 11.