by James Wallace Harris, 8/10/24
YouTube is the TV channel I watch the most of any streaming video platform. I’m constantly finding something new and interesting. Last night I found videos of dances from unknown countries. At first, I thought they were from Russia and China, but that might not be the case.
They each appeal to me for two reasons. First, and most strongly, was the music. And second was the visuals of the dance and costumes. Both seem to be a mixture of old cultural heritages of costumes and musical instruments mixed with modern music and staging.
The first video is labeled “Caucasian Show in the Kremlin | Kabardinka Show • Ancient Princely Dance ‘Kafa’.” It looks Russian, but when I looked up Kabardinka dance on Wikipedia it took me to Circassian dance. It said it comes from Turkey. Wikipedia states, “There are several dances including the kabardinka. The version of this dance performed in Turkey is called Kafkas, from Kafkasya, the Turkish word for the Caucasus Mountain region that was home to the Circassian people before the Circassian genocide. Another similar dance is called the lezginka.”
Evidently, this is an extremely popular dance. Here is another stage of the dance, labeled “Ensemble ‘Kabardinka’ – princely dance ‘Uork kafa’.” This video has a longer description that was more informative than the Wikipedia article.
The video shows a stage version of the ancient Kabardian noble dance "Werk kafe" performed by the state academic dance ansmable "Kabardinka".
At first glance, the dance seems simple. The audience accustomed to representing the Caucasus with Lezginka, most likely, will not even understand what they saw. (It's not surprising).
Huerk kafe is a dance of the Kabardian (Circassian) aristocracy. This class of people was limited by strict protocol and codes, which naturally manifested itself in dance. Aristocrats were forbidden to show emotions, freedom of movement, turn their backs to their partner, touch and much more.
Despite the status, the guys' clothes are ascetic as possible. High origin was distinguished only by rich ammunition, which, in addition to all other elements, included the main one - checker. In the Caucasus, to fight, as well as, by the way, to dance, was a privilege. Therefore, in the appearance of men, checkers has a special place. Another distinctive element was the sleeve. Its length also indicated the status. It was impossible to do dirty household work with such a sleeve, which is very indicative. But this was also a practical application - the long sleeve prevented accidental contact between a guy and a girl.
The women's suit, unlike the men's suit, was full of luxury. In addition to the rich embroidery and the sleeves already mentioned, the status of the girl was demonstrated by the second swing sleeve and a high hat. Representatives of princely surnames additionally wore wooden shoes - Ph'e wake, which elevated them above those present. In the original images, the height of such shoes could reach 20 centimeters, which is still impressive.
Despite the above, the main decoration of the aristocrats was modesty and dignity. This made Circassian dances so beautiful, and the Circassians themselves famous all over the world.
If you can, you should watch these videos on a large screen television with good audio. They are impressive. Once I found the first video, YouTube started showing me others, basically variations of the same dance but with different costumes. Here is a more modern version of the dance.
As usual with YouTube, if it thinks you like one thing, it will show you similar things. This dance is even more spectacular, but harder to research because here’s the title: “文化自信，中国东方演艺集团《只此青绿》演活了千里江山图《2021哔哩哔哩跨年晚会》花絮.” I think of it as the dance of the leaning women.
I used Shazam to look up the music. I found an album on Spotify but not Tidal. But even on Spotify they used the Chinese characters. Like the Karbardinka, there are many variations of this dance on YouTube. Because they often come with a year, I wonder if it’s an annual performance like The Nutcracker.
I Google “文化自信，中国东方演艺集团《只此青绿》演活了千里江山图” but only got responses in the Chinese character set that Google didn’t offer to translate. I clicked on one return and then Google offered to translate. I’ll quote part of it:
At the turning point of inspiration, the romantic encounter between famous paintings and dance art has given "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" a new expression that is beyond the world. Since the premiere of "Only This Green" - the dance painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", the "green fever" has been rising, and many "green fans" have even performed across the city. Not only that, "Only This Green" has also gone from offline to online, from inside the circle to outside the circle, which has aroused extensive and heated discussions. Such a "phenomenal" storm of "national tide aesthetics" did not gradually slow down with the end of the premiere, but drove the development of "green" related peripherals, tourism and cultural and creative products with the trend of "wave".
Well, I guess I’ve gotten green fever. It’s nice to know that the dance is called “Only This Green.” With that title I was able to find a research paper on the dance that explained everything. Ah, the wonders of the internet. The dance is based on the painting “Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains” which I used at the top of this post.
The first version was dated 2021. Here’s the 2022 version.
I tried to find performance from earlier and later years, but couldn’t. If you can, leave a link.
There are over two hundred countries, and thousands more if you look back at history, so there should be many more cultural dances for me to discover on YouTube.
JWH
Auxiliary Memory 