| Alternative Names |
'Krajdunavsko' is a common name. 'Krajdunavsko Horo' (meaning "Krajdunavsko circle dance") is also a common name. 'Phillips' is a Dutch joke name because one move looks (vaguely) like unscrewing a light bulb. |
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| Formation | Circle, no hold. |
| Dance Structure | ((A x 2) + (B x 4) + (C x 2) + (D x 4) + (E x 4) + ((F1 + F2) x 2) + (G x 2)) x 2. |
| Music Structure | 4 counts/bar, 4 bar phrases. |
| Music Speed | Music Parts A-C 85, D-E 120, F 130 & 140 counts/min. |
| Translation | The region around the Dunav (Danube) river. |
| Choreographer | Jaap Leegwater. |
| Source | Initial fragments from evening social dancing at the Balkan Festival in Zetten. Basis from Nico Mol when he visited Ipswich, UK. Holds in Parts D, F & G from Dorian at Balkan Plus in London, UK. Stamp & claps in Part C & bounces in Part A from Sally Fletcher in Ipswich. Some more details from evening social dancing at the Balkan Festival in subsequent years. Refinements from Corry Verheijen when she taught it in an SIFD day course in London on 2004/5/18. Clues to original version from seeing Jaap dance it at the Balkan Festival in 2006. Timing correction in Part C & additional stylistic variations from Jutta Malzbender in 2011. |
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.
A multipart dance with a considerable number of distinct parts obviously created as a stage choreography and not easy to learn but it has become popular for decades in the Netherlands and has become a popular complex social dance for Balkan dancers in Ipswich, UK. It is good fun once one knows it. It starts slow and ends very fast.
This is my understanding of the Netherlands version as of 2004. The original version was reportedly very similar except that Part C did not go into the centre and that is how it is usually danced in London. There are many variations in subtle details between dancers when I've seen it danced socially in the Netherlands, particularly in the little filler steps at the end of Parts A & B and the hands in Part C. When I saw Jaap dancing it, he did an in-between version with a slight travel inwards smaller than common the Netherlands version but more than the London version. He also ended Part A with a back bicycle as of Part B and used simple lifts without knee circling for Part D but it was only during a casual evening dancing session in which he was asked to do without preparation so that those differences might not be definitive. Jutta pointed out that, at least by 2011, slightly alternative versions of Parts F & G were more common in the Netherlands than what I wrote. In 2016, I got round to checking for other detailed notes on the WWW & found those by the Folk Dance Federation of California (who usually do very reliable notes) direct from a 2011 class by Jaap confirming that so I've added the 2011 versions as variations. Jutta also pointed out that some people followed the syncopation of the music in Parts D & E whereas others, like I wrote, followed the straight counts so I've added that too. I also checked for videos on the WWW but found so many variations that I could not get a definitive version from that! Hence this is what I experienced as the commonest Netherlands version as 2004 plus updates for commonest Netherlands version appeared to be as of 2011 written by me between 2001 & 2016. Anyway it is mostly done as a manic party dance so small probably variations don't matter!
(It was in emailing an early sketchy version of Krajdunavsko notes that I first started typing up Balkan etc. dance notes for reference and chose the basic format based pure text in tables of bars & counts. However was almost a decade before I got round to fully fleshing out the notes to this particular dance & putting them on the WWW.)
Style: Upright, light & bouncy (but not to the extent of hopping) on balls of feet.
Summary: Part G.
Wait through one piece of Part G music (8 bars). The ending of this is clear as the tempo drops dramatically immediate after it.
Summary: Hands on hips. (Bouncing Grapevine L starting R across infront) x 3. R rock in with drop, L rock out with R flick, (R flick close, L side) x 2.
| Start | Facing centre. Weight on L foot. Palms on sides of waist with to the fingers to the front (men can have hands further back to kidney area with fingers to the back). | ||||||||||||||
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| 2-3 | Repeat bars 1 twice more (making 3 slow bouncing Grapevines in total). | ||||||||||||||
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Summary: Bouncing Grapevine. R forwards, L Back Bicycle, 2 quick steps out, quick bounce x 2.
| Start | As Part A. | ||||||||||||||
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| 1 | As Part A bar 1 (slow bouncing grapevine). | ||||||||||||||
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Summary: Hands up. (Bouncing Grapevine with syncopated hand flicks) x 2 ending with R stamp close. Pause, L in place, 6 Side Steps in R with syncopated claps in last 3, clap, pause.
| Start | Facing centre. Weight on L foot. Arms up to sides with hands slightly above head height, elbows straight, palms outwards, hands flat & fingers together | ||||||||||||||||
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To get back out to original circle diameter after this, do so during bar 1 of the repeat of this part. This is not needed after the second time through because Part D starts in a smaller circle.
The above style of hand flicking during the Grapevines is Corry's. Nico's started with elbows bent, forearms vertical & palms inwards and flicked outwards. Neither look much like replacing light bulbs! There are many other variants in style & timing (some do it syncopated, some don't) because it is (according to Corry) totally a showy addition for stage not at all from traditional folkdance of the region.
Summary: Hands behind back. R lift with knee circling to R close, Triple Step in place.
| Start | Facing centre in tighter circle than for Parts A-C. Weight on L foot. No hold. Hands together behind back at low (normal) height. | ||||
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Summary: (R ft Debka with clap during the step, Triple Step) in 1/4 solo circle .
| Start | Facing centre. Weight on L foot. R hand up & L hand down infront with palms vertical ready for the clap. | ||||||||||||
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Optional alternative styling (not as showy but supposedly easier) is to lift the R foot in bar 1 count 1 instead putting heel to floor.
A fun & audience entertaining way to ham this up is to make the solo circle of the combined Part E repeats big enough to reach the audience and clap close to them before ending up back in place in the circle.
Summary: Follow music syncopation.
Instead of treating the music count as being regular, follow the syncopation of the music. The music timing is something like "quick Slow fermata-quick Quick slow quick" which turns the 1-2-3-&-4 timing into more like a-1&-2-&-3. Some people did this, some did straight counts (albeit with the clap/drop fudged to fit the loud note in the music), some a mixture.
Summary: V-hold. (R across, L in place, R side, L in place) x 1.75, pause. L stamp close, L side without weight, L stamp close, L side, repeat 2nd half of bar 1.
| Start | Facing centre. Weight on L foot. V-hold. | ||||||||||||
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Summary: Stamps across infront. Without weight step side infront.
Instead of stamp the active foot close, without weight to the side & stamp close again in bar 2 counts 1-2, do it infront, i.e. stamp across infront, without weight side infront & stamp across infront again.
Summary: Part F1 mirrored.
As Part F1 but in L-R mirror image on opposite feet ((L across, R in place, L side, R in place) x 1.75, pause. R stamp close, R side without weight, R stamp close, R side, repeat 2nd half of bar 1).
Summary: W-hold. ((R side heel, L across behind) x 3.5, pause, swing L close, pause, jump onto L ft, pause, 2.666 Cherkessias starting R across infront) x 3. R side, L swing close.
This part crosses the musical phrasing because it is 3 repeats (each taking 10 counts) and a finishing close (taking 2 counts) done to 8 bars of music phrased into 4 bar chunks. (As my notation is based on dividing it up into bars, the following looks more complicated than it really is!)
| Start | Facing centre. Weight on L foot. W-hold. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Bar 3 count 3 to bar 5 count 4& | Repeat bar 1 count 1 to bar 3 count 2& ((R side heel, L across behind) x 3, R side, pause, swing L close, pause, jump onto L ft, pause, 2.666 Cherkessias starting R across infront). |
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| Bar 6 count 1 to bar 8 count 2& | Repeat bar 1 count 1 to bar 3 count 2& ((R side heel, L across behind) x 3, R side, pause, swing L close, pause, jump onto L ft, pause, 2.666 Cherkessias starting R across infront). |
| Bar 8 counts 3-4 | R to the side & L close both onto feet flat on the ground. |
Optionally, one can make it look much more dramatic by doing the crossing steps on the spot with high stepping (e.g. knee up to hip level). For some reason this gives the illusion of doing more steps in the same time.
Some people do a R side on heel & swing close L instead of a plain R side & L close at the end of bar 8 which looks even more dramatic.
Summary: Miss out last (L across behind, R side) of each set using time for slower L swing with R hop.
Instead of 3.5 of (R side heel, L across behind), only do 2.5 & commence the swing of the L foot a count earlier so it has 2.5 counts instead of 1.5. This is less hurried & allows for a hop on the R foot on the count which would have been the last R side.
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| 2-8 | Same sequence as the basic Part G but whenever there is a side stepping sequence like bar 1, to the alternative bar 1 steps. |
Summary: Miss out the pauses & do 4 repeats instead of 3.
When I first wrote this dance down, my record of Part G fitted the music instead of crossing it. I think that was just a mistake that coincidentally fit. Anyway, here it is as alternative.
It is done by missing out the pauses in transition between the sidesteps & the crossing on the spot (reduce the protracted L foot swing, pause, jump & pause to a quick flicking close of the L foot with the R foot raising across infront as the L foot closes so it is all complete in bar 1 count 4&). It then fits in 2 bars instead of 2.5. Do it 4 times instead of 3 and put the ending R side & L close in by replacing the last R across & L in place of the last of the 4 times instead of appending it.