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FOLKLORE> DANCES> Circles

THE RIVER IS FLOWING
Upytëlë teka

It is quite a popular circle, which originated in the East of Lithuania. It can be performed in several variants.

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audio/i_15.mp3

The sequence of the circle

Several couples stand in two rows, boys in one and girls in the other. In couples the dancers face each other and join both stretched hands (1 figure).

1. Waving (8 bars)

1 - 8 bar

“The river flows, the fish swims”

The dancers in a circle are standing in the same place, swinging and lifting hands, but not both of them together: some joined hands are lifted up to the head, while other joined hands go down almost to the waist, afterwards they lift the hands, which were lowered, and lower down those, which were lifted. (2 movements during one bar). When many couples make the same movements, and swing a little to the sides, the dancers create an impression of the waves of the sea.

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1 figure

2. Diving like a bridge (8 bars)

1 - 8 bar

“Swim, swim, fish, to the clean waters”

From one end of the row the dancers one after another start diving to the other end through the lifted hands (girls in the front, can remain taking each other by one hand (2 figure). Having reached the end of the bridge, the first couple stops, the dancers give each other stretched hands, lift them up and go in an additive step aside, letting other diving couples through, which, having reached the end, also stop to let other divers go through.

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2 figure

 

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