Ukraine: Hutsulka in Kosmach, Part II

Hutsulka as danced in Kosmach, Ukraine. Filmed September, 2009 in the Narodnyj Dim in Kosmach, Ukraine.

Hutsulka is a traditional couple's dance of the Hutsuls of the Carpathian Mountains. It is in many ways similar to traditional couple's dances of other groups of the Carpathian Mountain region (Ukrainian-speaking or not).*

As people are fond of saying in Hutsulshchyna (the Hutsul-inhabited region of Ukraine), there are as many different ways to dance Hutsulka as there are ways to make borshch. Once upon a time, each village or cluster of villages had its own unique style.

Also, once upon a time there was no name such as "Hutsulka" for this form of couple dancing; traditionally it was referred to simply as tanets/danets (dance), depending on regional pronunciation. Hutsulka is a term invented by non-Hutsuls (mostly ethnographers, folklorists, journalists, i.e., by the intelligentsia) to name the dance--a name that has been adopted fully by Hutsuls themselves.

This dance is sometimes also referred to as Kolomyjka, but usually by non-Hutsuls. In the course of my fieldwork in Hutsulshchyna, the dance has consistently been referred to as Hutsulka by people of Hutsul background.




http:///www.hutsul-project.com

*From an ethnographic perspective, it makes sense in many ways to categorize the various music and dance cultures of the Carpathian Mountain region in a non-ethnic way as "Carpathian," rather than as specifically "Ukrainian," "Romanian," "Hungarian," etc. Hutsul dance in general and the Hutsulka in particular certainly have much more in common with Romanian and Hungarian dance cultures of the Carpathian region than with the dances of Central Ukraine or the Poltava region!

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• Ukraine
• Hutsuls
• Carpathians
• Kosmach
• Hutsulka
• Eastern
• Europe
• Folk
• Music
• Dance
• Wedding

[minhali]

Reminds me of all the good times at Ukrainian weddings!  Amazing.

[AngFangIndustries]

Fantastic! And what a great band.