Balkan, East European, Circle, Israeli & International Folk Dance Notes

Here are some of the dance step notes I have written for some Balkan (etc.) dances. Please note that I did not invent these dances, I merely wrote down the steps I learnt from others, and I may have made some mistakes. Also note that is far better to learn from doing the dances in a class than from reading notes.

The Dances

Dance Name	Alternative Names & Spellings	Region	Full Notes	Summary
A, ya po lugu	А я по лугу; A ya po lugu; A ja po lugu; A, ja po lugu; A ya po luhu	Russia	A, ya po lugu steps	A, ya po lugu summary
Arap		Bulgaria	Arap steps	Arap summary
Bulgarian Party		Bulgaria	Bulgarian Party steps	Bulgarian Party summary
Çavreşlí	Cavresli; Charvreshli	Turkey	Çavreşlí steps	Çavreşlí summary
Ege Kaşılaması	Ege Kasilamasi	Turkey	Ege Kaşılaması steps	Ege Kaşılaması summary
Gaïda Gynekíos Makedonikos	Gaida Gynekios Makedonikos; Gaïda Floyéras	Greece	Gaïda Gynekíos Makedonikos steps	Gaïda Gynekíos Makedonikos summary
Hovs Bashi		Armenia	Hovs Bashi steps	Hovs Bashi summary
Imate Li Vino		Macedonia	Imate Li Vino steps	Imate Li Vino summary
Kalgamačkata	Kalgamachkata; Kalgamackata	Bulgaria	Kalgamačkata steps	Kalgamačkata summary
Kareve Yom		Sacred-Circle	Kareve Yom steps	Kareve Yom summary
Kratko Vlaško Kolo	Kratko Vlashko Kolo; Kratko Vlasko Kolo	Serbia	Kratko Vlaško Kolo steps	Kratko Vlaško Kolo summary
Mesjog gur	Mesyokh khur; Mesyoh hur	Armenia	Mesjog gur steps	Mesjog gur summary
Miziisko	Miziisko Horo; Mizijsko	Bulgaria	Miziisko steps	Miziisko summary
Pentozalis (from Kos)	Pentozalis from Kos; Pentozalis	Greece	Pentozalis (from Kos) steps	Pentozalis (from Kos) summary
Preumblata		Romania	Preumblata steps	Preumblata summary
Tankosava		Albania	Tankosava steps	Tankosava summary
Teen	Khumkhuma	Armenia (Kurdish)	Teen steps	Teen summary
Vayiven Uziyahu	ויבן צוזיהו	Israel	Vayiven Uziyahu steps	Vayiven Uziyahu summary
Zorba 2001	Zorba; Zorba Disco; זורבה	Israel	Zorba 2001 steps	Zorba 2001 summary
Žensko Svatbarsko Horo	Женско Сватбарско Хоро; Zhensko Svatbarsko Horo; Zensko Svatbarsko Horo; Žensko Svatbarsko	Bulgaria	Žensko Svatbarsko Horo steps	Žensko Svatbarsko Horo summary

Source Code

I did not write the notes directly in HTML as that would have been too tedious to maintain. Instead I wrote them in a markup language. The language is one I created just for this particular task of writing Balkan etc. dance notes. It is basically plain text with tags (each of which is a single character to speed up writing!) denoting part, bar, count, summary, front matter, etc. blocks and supporting nesting thereof. To convert it to the full & summary HTML versions (and some others) I used a program I wrote in Perl for the purpose.

If you want you can download both the programs I used to format dance notes and the source code versions of all the dance notes on this page in a zip file.