| Region Detail | Western Anatolia |
|---|---|
| Alternative Names |
'Ege Karşılaması' is the original spelling. 'Ege Karsilamasi' is it reduced to ASCII by missing off the accents. |
| Formation | Circle. No hold. |
| Dance Structure | (A x 2) + (B x 5) + ((C + (D x 2)) x 3) + B + Ending. |
| Music Structure | 5 counts/bar. |
| 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.
The rhythm in standard counts is 9 beats per bar grouped as 2+2+2+1+2 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.
There is no definitive version. As Ersin taught it in 2002 it was essentially as the dance leader (Ersin) picked. The length of intro, number of repeats of Part A, whether the arms in Part B were like those of Part A or Part C and whether it was (C + (D x 2)) or ((D x 2) + C) varied. The particular sequence I wrote down at the time and have used as the basis one below was just one that was easy to remember because it fitted the music length quite well & with the arm options minimising the amount done with scarves blocking the view of those trying to follow. The particular example in the course video started on the opposite foot, had many of Part A, Part A type arms in Part B, the ((D x 2) + C) ordering, ((D x 2) + C) only done twice & the ending in an arbitrary place. In later teaching he simplified away some of the distinctive features of the dance to make it easier for dancers. I too (it has been my most asked for dance for a decade) have changed it both deliberately (shortened for performance to non-specialist audiences) and accidentally (muting down the size of the Snakes & hip motions whilst leading Circle dancers).
Style: Slow & subdued. Sober expression. Heavy yet graceful. Flat footed low small steps. Bent knees & slight cowed forward lean.
Summary: 2 bars.
2 bars. Start with the main theme coming in. As there is no strong regular phrasing structure one could start at the beginning of any bar but the sequences suggested here to get neat endings assume starting at this point.
This unusual step is the most distinctive feature of the dance. The following describes (what I call) a "Snake foot motion" done by the L ft. In the terminology of Ersin's original teaching this was not a separate motion but part of a "Snake" step which was this preceded by 3 normal steps (I originally used that terminology too in these notes but some readers found it confusing as to whether L & R referred to the first foot moved or the foot which does the Snake motion, which are different.)
Summary: Move raised foot in horizontal figure of eight beside other leg.
| Tey | Move L foot in a horizontal acw loop starting forwards L and, as it comes back in, closely passing 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 half 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 it closely passes the R leg from its back to its L side. This loop is smaller than the loop done infront because of the anatomy of the leg joints. Together with the previous loop, it forms a (distorted) figure of eight path. It finishes slightly ahead of the end of the count (because it is longer than the previous count) so there is effectively a slight pause at the end. |
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 the 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.
Summary: Step R, L, R in place; L Snake foot motion. Mirror.
| Start | Facing the centre. Hands close infront of brow. Elbows out horizontally to the sides. | ||||||||
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| 1 |
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| 2 | Repeat bar 1 in mirror image (L, R, L in place, R Snake foot motion). |
Summary: 3 steps back, 2 lifts. (As Part A but starting opposite foot & travelling forwards) x 1.5.
| 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. | ||||||||||
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| 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 | Repeat bar 2 in mirror image on opposite feet (R, L, R forwards, L Snake foot motion). | ||||||||||
| 4 | Repeat bar 2. |
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). |
Summary: 3 sways in place with big circling arms ending with a big lift. Mirror.
| Start | Facing the centre. Torso leaning forwards. L hand down behind, R hand up infront. Arms straight. | ||||||||||||||
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| 1 |
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| 2 | Repeat bar 1-2 in mirror image (3 sways and lift starting R with circling arms). |
Summary: 3 steps & 2 lifts to face centre.
| 1 | Do the first bar of Part B (step R, L & R and lift L twice) turning to end up facing the centre. Pause 1 bar for the music to end. |
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Summary: Do only one Part A, end with (B x 2).
I found by accident that it can end with the end of the music coinciding with the end of a dance phrase by doing only 1 of Part A. This leaves enough music to do 2 complete of Part B at the end and one can turn in to face the centre on the last bar of music. I.e. A + (B x 5) + (C + (D x 2)) x 3 + (B x 2).
Summary: Replace Snakes with lifts in Part B. End with fade out.
In Part B, replace all the Snakes with lifts (as in bar 1).
Dance shortened to (A x 4) + (B x 2) + (C + (D x 2)) x 2 + B with the ending being a simple fade-out of both music & steps.
This was taught by Ersin at Zetten in 2005. I prefer the original (but some people find the Snakes difficult which, I guess, is why Ersin removed them).
Summary: As Simpler Version 1 but fluid styling, original music & more repeats.
Lifts instead of Snakes & change the order to (A x 2) + (((B x 2) + (C + (D x 2)) x 2) x 2) + B using the original longer music. Make the styling more fluid (in particular reducing the big arm circles of Part D to more like figure-of-eights in a horizontal plane).
This was taught by Jan Knoppers at Eastbourne in 2007. It was based on Ersin's teaching of a cut-down version (presumably similar to the Simpler Version 1) then expanded by Jan back up to fit the original music duration.
Summary: Move bar 1 of Part B to the end.
Do the 3 forwards snake steps bars of Part B first ending with the backwards step & double lift bar (3 Snake Steps forwards, 3 steps back, 2 lifts).
This I did by accident and found it looked virtually the same but was easier to silently lead (a subtle hand signal pointing acw around the circle works for signalling this altered Part B whereas signalling that one is facing acw but immediately move backwards is more confusing).
Summary: (A x 2) + (B x 2) + (C + (D x 2)).
Reduce it to (A x 2) + (B x 2) + (C + (D x 2)) & shorten the music from 60 bars to 22 bars to fit (by tidily removing material from the middle not simply cutting off the end).
This is a shortened version I made when Sally Fletcher's social dance group were asked to perform in the high street of Felixstowe, UK, 2009/8/22 and Maureen Felton realised that this dance, due the props & weird music, can be simple, showy & tolerant of errors for a lay audience.
Summary: A + (B x 3) + ((C + (D x 2)) x 2) + B.
Reduce it to A + (B x 3) + ((C + (D x 2)) x 2) + B & shorten the music from 60 bars to 38 bars to fit (by tidily removing material from the middle not simply cutting off the end).
This is a shortened version I made when Sally Fletcher's social dance group were asked to perform by owners of the hall the group met in for an open day. This time I made it not quite as short as before so as to repeat the spectacular part D and have a tidy gentle ending (turn to face the centre during last Snake foot motion) befitting matching the ending music.
Summary: A + (B x 2) + ((C + (D x 2)) x 2) + (B x 2).
Reduce it to A + (B x 2) + ((C + (D x 2)) x 2) + (B x 2) & shorten the music from 60 bars to 38 bars to fit (by tidily removing material from the middle not simply cutting off the end).
This is a shortened version I made when Sally Fletcher's social dance group were asked to perform in Ipswich central library in a day of international music & dance. It was to be a repeat of version 2 but I realised that moving one of the earlier Part B to the end gave a more symmetric structure and a less hurried transition of the dance into a smooth ending (turn to face the centre with a simple R close instead of the last Snake foot motion).