| Region Detail | From the village of Kalgamač in the Ereč region. |
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| Alternative Names |
'Kalgamačkata' is the transcription given by Eddy. 'Kalgamachkata' is an English transcription. 'Kalgamackata' is it reduced to ASCII by missing off the accents. |
| Formation | Open circle. V-hold. |
| Dance Structure | Short sequence repeated throughout the music. |
| Music Structure | 2 counts/bar, 4 bar phrases. |
| Music Speed | 16 counts/min. |
| Source | Eddy Tijssen at the 2002 Balkan Festival in Zetten. |
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 Eddy Tijssen.
A relatively straightforward (by Eddy's standards, that is; he used it as an introductory dance) Bulgarian dance.
However, the timing is still rather tricky even though the music has a nominally Western number of beats per bar because the emphasis does not fall regularly "Deee deee" on the conventional Western 2/4 beats. To me, the rhythm of an 4 bar phrase sounds like "YEEE de-Dee | de-Dee-de-Dee | Yee de-Dee | de Dee DEEE" (where all-capitals sounds are main accents & initial-capital sounds are secondary accents and the sounds with triple vowel are whole counts, the rest half counts) and I find it easier to count it as that than "1 a2 | a1 a2 | 1 a2 | a1 2".
Style: Low steps with slightly flexed knees in the north Bulgarian style. Gentle but tense.
Summary: Until melody.
Dancing starts when the melody starts.
Summary: Walk 4 steps acw starting L with a stamp squeezed into the 2nd, lift L L R on the spot facing the centre, walk 2 steps cw, lift R, walk 1 step acw.
| Start | Facing acw around the circle. | ||||||
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Summary: Above is mens'. Women's has leap, land on both feet, flick L behind instead of stamp-step.
As a variation, one can do the men's & women's versions. The men's version is that described above. The women's version is identical except that the quick stamp-step on count 2 of bar 1 is replaced by a low leap forwards from the L foot landing on both feet and immediate lifting the L foot (flicking up but barely off the ground) behind. This is even more hurried to fit in than the stamp-step.