Lezginka!
Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend a Lezginka workshop sponsored by Russkiy Mir of Washington DC.
What’s Lezginka? It’s the national dance of the Caucasus region. Each area has it’s own variation. We learned the Kabardinian, as that’s where our young dance-instructor couple (shown here) is from.
The version we learned is the dance of a love story. There are three parts. During the first part, the Kafa*, the woman is very shy, barely making eye contact with the man as he dances around her. The second part is called the Laparisa*. This is where the two start to show off a bit more - especially the man. This was definitely the most fun to dance as it involved some of the quick footwork you’ll see in the video below.
The third part, the Witch* is where the two finally get to be together (after getting the family’s permission, of course). This is the only part of the dance where the couple touches. (*These spellings are my best guesses, as I could not find a reliable source with this information printed, so corrections are welcome!)
Check out this video to see a sample of the Lezginka.
And don’t forget: Now through Friday, you can enter to WIN a copy of First 1000 Words in Russian! Click here for details!
