Koi e toi (Pop)

Alternative Names	'Koi e toi' is the Dutch transcription given by Eddy. 'Koy e toy' is the English transcription used by Liyana. 'Кои е тоя' is it in Cyrillic in dance event records. 'Кой е той' is it in Cyrillic used by Liyana.
Formation	Individuals in circle or line dance grid as suits hall space. No hold.
Dance Structure	(A + B + C x 4 + D x 4) x 2 + E + (A + B x 2 + D x 4).
Choreographer	Eddy Tijssen.
Music Structure	4 counts/bar, 4 bar phrases.
Music Speed	90 counts/min.
Music	'Кой е той' ('Koy e toy') by Лияна (Liyana).
Source	Eddy Tijssen at the 2014 Zomerfestival in Zevenhuizen, the Netherlands.

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.

An unusual lively & rather camp line dance to Bulgarian pop music with moves showing both Bulgarian folk dance & Zumba influences (the two main genres the choreographer was teaching at the time).

Although the there are several parts & the number of repeats of those varies, each dance part fits to a distinct music part (e.g. Part D, the liveliest part, is during the chorus containing the title of the song & Part E, a bellydance intermission, is during the slow intermission.). It appears a lot more complex when written in text that it actually is. This is because it has different styles for different parts & has arm motions. However it is fairly easy to follow (like Zumba) & is a jokey fun dance so perfection is definitely not required.

Note that the music as arranged for the band's music video starts off with a jokingly misleading Country & Western introduction before totally changing into real tune. That introduction was not used when the dance was taught to it.

In Zevenhuizen in 2014, Eddy taught it with dancers in a circle. Later in an Eastbourne International Folkdance Festival in the UK, he taught it as a line dance. The moves were the same, just the arrangement of dancers on the floor was different and that was because it was in much smaller room (a school dance studio rather than a sports centre main hall) & a line dance formation grid fits people far more densely. In the following notes, treat "facing the centre of the centre of the circle" is equivalent to "facing the top of the hall", "acw around the circle" is equivalent to "to the R" etc..

I have been told by another Bulgarian folk dancer that the music is in the folk pop chalgo genre &, dispargingly, that weddings do folk dancing to midnight then chalgo takes over giving folk dancing a bad reputation! However I had already deliberately classified this dance not as Bulgarian Folk Dance but as Pop anyway.

Style: Big bold moves both strong & camp (other than Part E which is graceful & camp). Light-hearted & jolly.

Introduction

Summary: 4 bars.

Wait through 4 bars (16 counts albeit bar 1 counts 3 & 4 are silent).

(This assumes the music recording is not the one with additional joke Country & Western music false introduction before the real introduction.)

Part A

Summary: Cowboy stance. 4 plods forwards starting R with shoulder shimmying. Ditto backwards. Clap on last beat.

Start

Body	Facing the centre of the circle.
Legs	Feet apart, bow-legged & slight squat like a stereotypical cowboy pose.
Arms	Upper arms almost down by the sides but with elbows about 15 cm from the body. Forearms out to the sides in front (about 45 deg below horizontal & 45 deg out from straight in front). Hands in line with arms with fingers splayed and slightly cupped as if holding a huge ball. Very strong look.

1-2

Feet	Step R forwards in a big (about 20 cm off the floor) plod fitting the bow legged stance.
Torso	Shoulder shimmy (continual but about 2 complete shimmies per step).

3-4

Repeat counts 1-2 on the opposite foot (L plod forward continuing shoulder shimmies).

Repeat bar 1 (R & L plod forwards with shoulder shimmies).

3-4

Feet	Repeat bars 1-2 but stepping backwards (plod forwards 4 steps starting R with shoulder shimmies).
Hands	Clap on bar 4 count 4. The clap is hands flat together in praying style infront of the chest.

The ending clap really a preparatory move for the start of Part B & it fits with the clap at the end of the 1st half of Part B which is in preparation for the 2nd half.

Part B

Summary: Hands palms down infront. Turn 360 deg acw on the spot in 7 x (R side with hip & arm sway, replace) ending with a little jump & clap. Mirror but end with touch close without clap.

Start

Body	Facing the centre of the circle.
Arms	Upper arms down but more relaxed than in Part A. Forearms infront about 45 deg below the horizontal. Hands flat with fingers closed & palms facing down.

Feet	Step flat footed R to the side turning 45 deg (1/8 of the way around) acw on the spot.
Hips	Sway R.
Arms	Move to the R horizontally.

Feet	Step L in place.
Hips	Sway back to central.
Arms	Move back to central horizontally.

2-4

Repeat count 1-1a 3 more times (turning 1/8 acw in R side & hips & arms & replace 3 more times).

1-3a

Repeat bar 1 counts 1-3 (making 7 of the 1/8 acw turns with R side & hips & arms & replace in total).

Feet	Complete the last 1/8 of the acw full turn with a small jump onto both feet but retain the weight on the R foot. This is a kludge to change weight ready to reverse the turn in bars 3-4.
Hands	Clap (as at the end of Part A).

3-4

Repeat bars 1-2 in mirror image but end with R close without weight transfer and without the clap (turn 360 deg cw in 7 x (turn R side with hip & arm sway, replace), R close touch).

Part C

Summary: Zumba arms (to R side palm up & L across palm down) with torso (lean & straighten) whilst (R side, L close). R arm up circle horizontal cw whilst hips 2 x circle cw. Mirror all.

Start

Body	Facing the centre of the circle.
Hands	Flat with fingers together.

1-2

Feet

1	R to the side.
2	L close. Weight onto both feet.

L arm

Comes to forearm horizontally infront of the torso pointing to the R with palm facing down by the hand scooping up & over parallel to the coronal plane with the elbow going slightly in, down & out (other than transitioning arm positions from Part B arms of course).

R arm

Comes to forearm horizontally out to the side with palm facing up by the hand scooping up & over parallel to the coronal plane with the elbow going slightly in, down & out (other than transitioning arm positions from Part B arms of course). (These arm motions are cumbersome to describe in words are but are essentially an arm move very common in Zumba.)

Torso

1	Lean to the R.
2	Straighten up. (The torso motion over counts 1-2 emphasise the arm movements & combined give a scooping feeling.)

3-4

R arm	Raised up near vertical, move the hand in a horizontal cw circle by moving forearm on a conical path from the elbow. Hand can emphasise the circling.
Hips	2 cw Bellydance-like horizontal circles.

Repeat bar 1 in mirror image (Zumba arms to the L with torso to emphasise whilst (L side, R close), L arm up circle horizontal cw whilst hips 2 x circle acw).

Part D

Summary: 4 diagonal heel-led behind-crossing Triple steps in with swinging arms starting R ft. 4 down-bouncy plods backwards with body turns starting R ft with downward arms bouncing from shoulders.

Start

Facing the centre of the circle.

Feet	R foot big step forwards & slightly to R on the heel. Very energetic jolly style.
Arms	L arm swings up forwards bent a bit across infront & R arm swings down backwards (the natural arm swing, just a bit exaggerated).

L close to on ball crossed close behind R foot.

R foot forwards & slightly to R on the heel. Not as big a step as on the main count 1. The visual emphasis is on that main count. (Together with the previous 3 steps, this forms a Triple Step going in diagonally R.)

2-2a

Repeat counts 1 to 1a in mirror image on the opposite feet. (Triple Step going in diagonally L whilst swinging arms.)

3-4a

Repeat counts 1 to 2a (Triple Steps R & L going in diagonally L whilst swinging arms).

Stance

Legs	In a cowboy stance like in Part A but this time bouncily.
Arms	Down by the sides and forearms vertically down but with elbows about 20 cm from the body. Hands flat with fingers splayed & palms facing towards the body.

Feet	With the body turned slightly cw of the direction to the centre of the circle, R back flat footed bouncing down-up with emphasis on the down.
Arms	Emphasise the bounce by arms going vertically down-up from the shoulders lowering & raising.

Repeat count 1 in mirror image (turning slightly acw, L back with shoulders bouncing down-up).

3-4

Repeat counts 1-2 (back R & L with emphasising body facing directions & shoulder bounces).

Part E

Summary: Intermission. Imitate belly dance (arms up together, circle hips cw) turning 360 deg acw.

Start

Body	Facing the centre of the circle.
Arms	Hands loosely together above head level loosely a bit in front.

1-8

Essentially imitate a simple belly dance (gyrating hips gently but sensuously acw once per count) whilst turning 360 deg acw on the spot.

This is the intermission in the music. It is about 8 counts of much slower music.