Prisiadki (: , ; , or ) or vprisiadku dancing () is a type of male dance move in East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian) dances. The dancer squats and thrusts one foot out in turns. The term is occasionally translated in English as squatting (squat dance, e.g., in a translation of ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (, Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ, ) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin. ''Onegin'' is considered a classic of ...

'').

Description

Two basic techniques are possible.Тимошенко Л.Г., "Русский народный танец: региональные особенности"
Chapter 5. Основные движения русского народного танца
Tomsk,

Tomsk State Pedagogical University Tomsk State Pedagogical University () is a university in Tomsk, Russia. It is the successor of the Tomsk Teaching Institute founded in 1902. The foreign languages department started in 1939 as one of the first five departments of the University. ...

, 2013. In one way, "full prisiadki", the dancer crouches on one leg while another one is thrust out straight and repeats the same alternating the crouching leg while staying in the crouching position. In another way, "half-prisiadki" (полуприсядки), the dancer quickly crouches and then jumps up making a low thrust with one leg sideways or on the heel. Zagloba w prysiudach

It is a distinct element of a number of East Slavic dances, such as Ukrainian

Kozachok Kozachok (, ) or kazachok (, ) is a traditional Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian quick-paced folk dance for couples originating with the Cossacks in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was performed throughout Ukraine, Belarus ...

and

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 ...

or Russian Barynya and

Kamarinskaya ''Kamarinskaya'' () is a traditional Russian folk dance, which is mostly known today as the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka's composition of the same name. Glinka's ''Kamarinskaya'', written in 1848, was the first orchestral work based entirely o ...

. It also entered

Polish culture The culture of Poland () is the product of its Geography of Poland, geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to History of Poland, an intricate thousand-year history. Poland has a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic ma ...

. For example, the novel ''

With Fire and Sword ''By Fire and Sword'' () is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1884. It is the first volume of a series known to Poles as The Trilogy, followed by '' The Deluge'' (''Potop'', 1886) and '' Fire in the Step ...

'' by

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...

in several places describes how people were dancing ''w prysiudach'', including the jovial character

Onufry Zagłoba Jan Onufry Zagłoba is a fictional character in the ''Trilogy'' by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Together with other characters of ''The Trilogy'', Zagłoba engages in various adventures, fighting for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and seeking adve ...

. Early evidence of ''vprisiadku'' dancing comes from a mid-fourtheenth century ''

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

'', in which an

initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...

of letter A depicts a ''

skomorokh A skomorokh (, Ukrainian and Russian: , , . Compare with the Old Polish , ) was a medieval East Slavic harlequin or actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic performances. Etymolog ...

'' playing ''

gusli The ''gusli'' (, , , ''husla'') is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in the Novgorodian Republic. ...

'' and dancing ''vprisiadku''. In improvisational folk dances ''prisiadki'' involved fancy footwork: in addition to thrusting a free leg it can be thrown up onto the hip of the support leg, rolling from the toe of the support leg onto the knee and back, doing splits, etc.

Laura J. Olson Laura Olson Osterman (a.k.a. Laura J. Olson, born in 1962) is an American professor of Russian Program, Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of Colorado Boulder. She teaches courses on Slavic folk culture, Russian ...

remarks that numerous professional Cossack troupes and choirs created in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

produced a stereotype of Cossacks as "swashbuckling sword twirlers and lithe, masculine dancers who could leap extremely high or perform innumerable ''prisiadki''". She further remarks that these fancy performances did not directly originate from Cossack traditions but that they were transformed and codified by 19th century

Russian ballet Russian ballet () () is a form of ballet characteristic of or originating from Russia. Imperial Russian ballet Ballet had already dawned in Russia long before start of the 17th century as per the previous publications by certain authors. In this ...

Squat-dancing in other cultures

Dance scenes on ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

ian artifacts lead researchers to suggest that these ancient people executed something like ''prisiadka'',

Selma Jeanne Cohen Selma Jeanne Cohen (September 18, 1920December 23, 2005) was a historian, teacher, author, and editor who devoted her career to advocating dance as an art worthy of the same scholarly respect traditionally awarded to painting, music, and literatur ...

(ed.), ''International Encyclopedia of Dance: A Project of Dance Perspectives Foundation'', vol. 4, 1998
pp. 356, 357
/ref> and some even suggested that "this kind of dance became the basis for the development of a certain style of Cossack dance".

Gallery

File:Kozak Taniec crop.jpg, Rusyn folk dance "Kozak" File:09022422 zhdakha.jpg, Kozak File:Метелица Малороссийский сборник.jpg, Metelitsa File:Kamarinskaya.jpg,

File:Русская пляска Камаринский.jpg, Kamarinsky File:Камаринский мужик.jpg, ''Kamarinsky muzhik''. ''

Lubok A ''lubok'' (plural ''lubki''; ) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. ''Lubki'' prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early exampl ...

'' File:Частушка Камаринский.jpg, Kamarinsky dance and ''

chastushka Chastushka ( rus, частушка, , tɕɪsˈtuʂkə, plural: chastushki) is a traditional type of short Russian humorous folk song with high beat frequency, that consists of one four-lined couplet, full of humor, satire or irony. It may be descr ...

'' File:Russian folklor berezka concert national ethnic vintage decor-1194851.jpg, Folk troupe '' Beryozka'' File:A man, in a satin tunic and fur hat, dancing a "Cossack" measure in a studio setting. Photograph, ca.1899-1908.jpg, Man demonstrating a prisiadka File:Танец Трепак crop.jpg,

Trepak Trepak () or tropak () is a traditional East Slavic folk dance (Russian and Ukrainian). The dance is included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, whose form is preserved in Tacheng. In m ...

File:Kurikka tanssii ripaskaa.jpg,

Matti Kurikka Matti Kurikka (January 24, 1863 Maloye Karlino, Tsarskoselsky Uyezd, Saint Petersburg Governorate, historical Ingria – October 4, 1915 Westerly, Rhode Island, United States) was a Finnish journalist, theosophist, and utopian socialist. Kur ...

dancing ''Ripaska'' (Trepak) File:Soldiers dancing in barracks.jpg, Soldiers dancing in barracks File:Hammond Slides Navy Dancers.jpg,

Yablochko Yablochko ( "little apple") is a chastushka-style folk song and dance, traditionally presented as a sailors' dance. The choreographed version of the dance first appeared in the 1926 Reinhold Glière ballet ''The Red Poppy'' and from there is ...

File:Album Tangoville sur mer Danse espagnole et danse russe Otero, Urribaren, Prince Troubetzkoy, G.20678-4.jpg, "Spanish dance" and "Russian dance"

Cultural references

The ability to dance ''prisiadki'' on prosthetic legs in a Barynya dance for a military pilot was the climax of the patriotic novel ' by

Boris Polevoy Boris Nikolayevich Polevoy (; – 12 July 1981) was a Soviet and Russian writer, screenwriter, journalist and war correspondent. He is the author of the book ''The Story of a Real Man'' about Soviet World War II fighter pilot Aleksey Maresyev. ...

. The controversial

Dancing Cossacks advertisement The "Dancing Cossacks" was a 1975 electoral television advertisement for the New Zealand National Party, produced by advertising agency Colenso. The first half of the advertisement was animated by Hanna-Barbera, with the second half featuring ...

for the

New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party (), often shortened to National () or the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand that is the current senior ruling party. It is one ...

criticized the compulsory

superannuation A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "Defined benefit pension pla ...

scheme Labour Government. In the

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

a group of cartoon

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 ...

move ''vprisiadku'' across the screen suggesting that this policy could lead to Soviet-type communism. In ''

Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Commu ...

rounds up

Zangief Zangief (; Japanese: ), often called the , is a character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' series. Considered to be the first grappling-based fighting game character, he made his debut in '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' (1991). In the ...

and a bunch of

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

agents, and together with them he does the "Russian squat dance", for a celebration. The 1936 Polish film ''

Bohaterowie Sybiru ''Bohaterowie Sybiru'' ("Heroes of Siberia") is a 1936 Polish black and white drama film directed by Michał Waszyński. It was preserved until modern times.Polish insurgents exiled to Siberia are partying with Siberian peasants. A young Russian lad does a fancy squatwork, after that a Polish officer says "I can do the same", and he does. After that the camera zooms out and shows that he does this sitting on a low stool.W starym kinie - Bohaterowie Sybiru (1936)
an episode with ''prisiadki''

References

{{reflist Dance moves Squatting position