Ege Kaşılaması (Turkey)

Region Detail	Western Anatolia
Alternative Names	'Ege Kaşılaması' is the original spelling. 'Ege Kasilamasi' is it reduced to ASCII by missing off the accents.
Formation	Circle. No hold.
Dance Structure	Ax4 + Bx5 + (C+D)x3 + B.
Music Structure	5 counts/bar, 4 bar phrases.
Music Rhythm	"One two three, tey tey".
Music Speed	96 counts/min.
Props	Two scarves.
Choreographer	Ersin Seyhan.
Source	Ersin Seyhan in his 2002 Bognor Regis Turkish dance course. The simpler versions are from Ersin Seyhan at the Zetten Balkan Festival in 2005 & Jan Knoppers in the 2007 Eastbourne International Folkdance Festival.

Disclaimer: Mistakes are quite likely in the notes and no guarantees are made as to accuracy. There may be other versions of the same dance or other dances with the same name. Music may differ, particularly in speed, introduction and duration, between performers. The division into parts, bars & counts might not be standard. These notes of the dance are freely distributable (under GPL or CC-by-sa) in so much as the note's author's contribution but the choreography and/or collection were by other people and so their copyright might apply to the dance itself. Better than using notes, go to a dance class where it is taught by Ersin Seyhan.

A dance with an unusual foot motion and a dramatic (but in keeping) scarf use to slow atmospheric music. It was a bridal dance with the scarves infront of the face representing the trepidation of the bride (I don't know what the outgoing scarf swinging of Part D represents).

The scarves are each held by a corner, one in each hand, between middle & forefinger (or tied to middle finger) with remainder on the palm side. Hands are open.

I don't know what the rhythm officially is but I count it as "One two three, tey tey" which works well because it is always three steps then something. There is not much of a clue in the music as to where one is the dance so the leader has to do a lot of counting.

Style: Slow & subdued. Sober expression. Heavy yet graceful. Flat footed low small steps. Bent knees & slight cowed forward lean.

Snake Step

This unusual step is the most distinctive feature of the dance. The following describes (what I call) a L Snake Step (which starts off with a R step but has the prominent bit done with the L foot); a R one is the mirror image of it.

Summary: 3 steps then move raised foot in figure of eight beside other leg.

1	Step on R.
2	Step on L.
3	Step on R.
Tey	Move L foot in a horizontal acw loop starting forwards L and, as it comes back in, closely going around the R leg from its front to its L side almost as if caressing it (but not actually touching it). The L foot is about a third the way up the R lower leg in height and keeps its sole parallel to the floor.
Tey	Continue L foot moving backwards L into a cw horizontal loop at the back which, as it comes back in closely goes around the R leg from its back to its L side so. Together with the previous loop, it forms a (distorted) figure of eight path.

This requires the stance to have slightly bent knees so to give enough manoeuvrability of raised foot and enough adjustment in balance for the supporting leg. To keep balance whilst doing this, the way weight is supported varies quite a lot - even though the snaking foot appears to be doing all the work, the supporting leg is also having to do complicated actions, albeit with the result of keeping still.

Start	Facing the centre. Hands close infront of brow. Elbows out horizontally to the sides.
1	L Snake step in place.
2	R Snake step in place.

Part B

Summary: 3 steps back, 2 lifts, 3 Snake Steps in forwards.

Start

Facing acw around the circle. R hand & arm and L upper arm as in Part A. L hand out to the side infront at same height as R hand with elbow bent 45 deg.

1	Step R backwards.
2	Step L backwards.
3	Step R backwards.
Tey	Lift L slightly off the ground (then lower it a fraction ready for the next lift).
Tey	Lift L a fraction.

R Snake step in travelling forwards.

L Snake step in travelling forwards.

R Snake step in travelling forwards.

Part C

Summary: 3 steps forwards, 2 lifts, repeat twice, reverse to place.

Start	Facing the centre. Hands as in Part B.
1	As Part B bar 1 but forwards instead of backwards (forwards with 3 steps and 2 lifts starting R).
2	Repeat bar 1 on opposite feet (forwards with 3 steps and 2 lifts starting L).
3	Repeat bar 1 (forwards with 3 steps and 2 lifts starting R).
4-6	Repeat bars 1-3 but travelling backwards instead of forwards and opposite feet (three sets of 3 steps and 2 lift starting L, R & L travelling backwards).

Part D

Summary: 3 sways in place with big circling arms ending with a big lift done 4 times.

Start

Facing the centre. Torso leaning forwards. L hand down behind, R hand up infront. Arms straight.

Feet	Transfer weight to R foot with big exaggerated (yet smooth) hip sway R and L shoulder down.
Hands	Swing arms in big semicircles, as if swimming the crawl but with straight elbows, with L arm going cw up behind, over and infront & R arm going acw down infront, under & behind. Torso (as in the crawl) naturally twists a bit acw.

Repeat count 1 in mirror image (sway L with R arm going acw up behind, over and infront & L arm going cw down infront, under & behind) in seamless continuation.

Repeat count 1 (sway R with arm semicircling) in seamless continuation ending with L leg raised with bent knee with L foot infront of middle of R shin, L arm curved infront over L leg & R arm straight out down behind.

Tey

Pause.

Tey

Pause.

Repeat bar 1-2 in mirror image (3 sways and lift starting R with circling arms).

3-4

Repeat bars 1-2 (3 sways starting R lift with circling arms, ditto L).

1	Do the first bar of Part B (step R, L & R and lift L twice) turning to end up facing the centre.

Simpler Version 1

Summary: Replace Snake Steps with lifts in Part B.

This was taught by Ersin at Zetten in 2005. In Part B, all the Snake Steps were replaced with lifts (as in bar 1). The dance was shortened to Ax4 + Bx2 + (C+D)x2 + B with the ending being a fade-out.

I prefer the original (but some people find the Snake Steps difficult).

Simpler Version 2

Summary: As Simpler Version 1 but styling & repeat changes.

This was taught by Jan at Eastbourne in 2007. It was based on Ersin's teaching (presumably the Simpler Version 1) but with the main sequence shortened (Bx2 + (C+D)) and the original longer music used so that it went through more than once and the styling made more fluid (particularly the big arm circles of Part D reduced to more like figure-of-eights in a horizontal plane).

Ege Kaşılaması
(Turkey)

Introduction