Kozachok (, ) or kazachok (, ) is a traditional Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian quick-paced
folk dance
A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...
for couples originating with the
Cossacks
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...
in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was performed throughout Ukraine, Belarus and South Russia in various local varieties. And from the 18th century it was as well performed at noble courts including in France, Hungary, Poland, and Russia.
Description
Kozachok is a fast, linear, couple-dance in time, typically in a constantly increasing tempo and of an improvisatory character. In the 17th century, kozachok became fashionable in
court
A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...
music in Europe. It is typically in a minor key in Ukraine, and in a major key in Russia. The woman leads and the man follows, imitating her figures – she signals movement changes by hand clapping.
Traditionally it is accompanied by a ', a short, jovial, humorous song."Козачок", In: ''Українська музична енциклопедія'' vol. 2. (Е – К) гол. редкол. Г. Скрипник. — Київ : Видавництво Інституту мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології НАН України, 2008, pp. 469-470
In terms of music, ''Kozachok'' is in fact a group of "Kozachok-type dances", with numerous regional varieties, especially in
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...
, under different names: "Kozak", "Haiduk", "Dzhuman", "Metanka", etc. At least 124 different melodies are recorded. Kozachok-type dances play the function of "dance-songs" (танець-приспівка) in most of ethnic Ukrainian lands, with the exception of " kolomyika" regions ( Pokuttia, Boiko Subcarpathians, and
Kuban
Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...
kazachok (Krasnodar region of southern Russia), and Terek kazachok ( northern Caucasus region). Historically these regions had an important Ukrainian population which was significantly reduced in the Soviet era.
The first known musical arrangement of the kоzachok for
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lu ...
is attributed to the Polish nobleman and composer Kazimierz Stanisław Rudomina-Dusiacki in the 17th century. There are manuscript collections of kozachok melodies from the second half of the 18th century, and printed collections begin to appear toward the end of that century. Dusiacki's
score SCORE may refer to:
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was preserved in the
Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library (; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany, and a property of the German public cultural organization the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation ().
Founded in ...
under the name "Dusiacki-Buch".
Kozachok melodies were used in Polish music in the 18th century.
Modern choreography
The Ukrainian choreographer and dancer
Vasyl Avramenko
Vasyl Kyrylovych Avramenko (; sometimes transcribed as Vasile) (March 22, 1895 – May 6, 1981) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian actor, dancer, Choreography, choreographer, Ballet master, balletmaster, Theatre director, director, and film producer, ...
, known for his standardization of Ukrainian dance, created Kozachok Podilskyi (Козачок подільський), a Cossack courtship dance native to the
Podillia
Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria).
Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...
region, for one to four couples. He most likely learned the Kozachok Podilskyi from the theatre work he did between 1917 and 1921, sources from the repertoire of dances performed in plays generations before including plays by Ukrainian dramaturge and writer Marko Kropyvnytskyi.
See also
*
Hopak
Hopak (, ) 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 amateur and profess ...
, a Ukrainian folk dance that originated among the
Zaporozhian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...