Tropak ( uk, трoпак) or trepak (russian: трeпак) is a traditional Ukrainian folk dance that spread throughout the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. ''Фраёнова Е. М.'' Трепак // Музыкальная энциклопедия / под ред. Ю. В. Келдыша. — М.: Советская энциклопедия, Советский композитор, 1981. — Т. 5. The tropak shares many musical and choreographic characteristics with the better known

hopak Hopak ( uk, гопа́к, ) is a Ukrainian folk dance originating as a male dance among the Zaporozhian Cossacks, but later danced by couples, male soloists, and mixed groups of dancers. It is performed most often as a solitary concert dance by a ...

. Both developed as Cossack

social dance Social dances are dances that have a social functions and context. Social dances are intended for participation rather than performance. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have ceremonial, competiti ...

s, performed at celebratory occasions. The tropak differs from the hopak in chordal use and also in that the tempo gradually speeds up throughout the dance. The tropak was one of the traditional instrumental dances played by blind itinerant musicians called

kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ua, кобзар, pl. kobzari ua, кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed bandura or kobza. Tradition Kobzars were often blind and became predominantly so b ...

s on their

bandura A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...

s and

kobza The kobza ( uk , кобза), also called bandurka ( uk , бандурка) is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family ( Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kob ...

s. It was also one of the dances often included in the repertoire of village violinists in Eastern Ukraine.

In music

The dance is a brisk allegro in time in a major key. Accompaniment is usually on two alternating chords; dominant and tonic. One of its best known representations is

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...

's Trepak (also known as the Russian Dance) from the ballet ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...

''. The dance music was also used in the last movement of his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. The third of

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

's ''

Songs and Dances of Death ''Songs and Dances of Death'' (russian: Песни и пляски смерти, ''Pesni i plyaski smerti'') is a song cycle for voice (usually bass or bass-baritone) and piano by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in the mid-1870s, to poems b ...

'' is named "Trepak".

In dance

Traditional Tropak choreography did not survive except a simple walk with a syncopated stamp, often done to a quick

duple meter Duple metre (or Am. duple meter, also known as duple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples (compound) in the upper figure of the tim ...

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

. On

So You Think You Can Dance (Season 4) ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a United States television reality program and dance competition airing on the Fox Broadcasting Company network. Season four premiered on May 22, 2008, with Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy returning as permanent j ...

, Joshua Allen and Stephen "Twitch" Boss performed a Trepak routine, interpreted as a dance duel, in Week 9 (August 6, 2008).

References

* Humeniuk, Andriy (1962). ''Ukrainian Folk Dances (Українські Hароднi Танцi)'', Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. * Humeniuk, Andriy (1963). ''Folk Choreographic Art of Ukraine (Hароднe Xореографiчнe Mиcтeцтвo України)'', Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Russian folk dances Ukrainian folk dances {{DEFAULTSORT:Trepak

In music

In dance

See also

References