Lulagyamo (Tibetan)

Alternative Names	'Lulagyamo' is a transcription when I learnt it. 'Lulagamo' is a transcription on the WWW. 'Lula gymo' is another transcription on the WWW. 'Lulagiamo' is another transcription on the WWW. 'Lula Lhamo' is another transcription on the WWW. 'Lila gyalmo' is a transcription of the music name on WWW.
Dance Structure	(A x 10 + B x 2) repeated throughout the music.
Formation	Circle. No hold.
Music Structure	4 counts/bar, 5 bars/phrase.
Music Speed	160 counts/min.
Source	Tenzin Samphel in Dance Around the World, London, 2022-03-19.

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 relatively simple happy popular type dance done to a pop-folk tune that was popular in Tibet in the 2010s.

I learnt this in an introductory Tibetan dance class and did not write even rough notesuntil 2 days later so they might be inaccurate (in particular the big steps of Part B bar 5 felt like they took 2 bars but obviously they must fit in one bar to fit the music). Looking for videos of the dance on the WWW later I found that what I called Part A was in common in most of the recordings but the other parts, if any, varied so I guessed that Part A was the basic dance & Part B one particular choreography/improvisation/variation of which different people/groups do differently. Likewise I might have misremembered the teacher's transliterated spelling (it was not written down) but it was obvious on searching on the WWW that there are many different transliterations in use!

The music is structured in a succession of 1 instrumental & 2 sung parts. Each music part is 10 bars long. Part A is done to the instrumental & 1st sung music part. Part B is done to the 2nd music part. Counting Part A repeats is not the best way to follow it but instead just keep doing Part A until the 2nd music part starts with a loudly sung word/phrase that sounds to me like the English words "shadow gee".

Style: Happy. Big moves, especially with the arm movements in Part A.Steps & touches onto flat foot. Part B feels relatively hurried in bars 1-4 & exaggerated slow in bar 5.

Introduction

Summary: Start when the main drum rhythm starts.

The tune sort of fades in with a less pop sound without the main drum for about 15 seconds depending on the recording. Then the main drum beat starts. Start dancing then. Alternatively start any multiple (up to 10) of 2 bars after then & reduce the number of initial repeats of Part A accordingly.

Part A

Summary: (R across infront, L close) with big sweep of R arm over & down across infront, (R touch & step close) straightening up. Mirror.

Start

Facing the centre of the circle. Weight on L foot. Arms down by sides out about 30 deg from the vertical.

1-2

Feet

1	Step R across infront. This step is emphasised compared to the other steps of the bar.
2	L close.

Arms

Sweep R arm up (to around head height) around across infront & down to continue sweeping across to down infront ending across the body at hip height about 30 cm infront. The arm & hand are in a big relaxed curve. The hand is casually nearly flat with the palm facing into the centre of the curve. The L arm naturally moves slightly backwards.

Body

Moves along with the arms to emphasise the sweep ending leaning from the waist forwards L about 10 deg.

3-4

Feet

3	Touch R close.
4	Step R close (but slightly back to compensate for the slight forwards in count 1). (Or these 2 steps might have just been a R close spread slow over 2 counts with the touch-like motion on count 3 just being styling.)

Arms

Return to neutral (down by sides out about 30 deg from the vertical) position.

Body

Straightens up.

Repeat bar 1 in mirror image. (L across infront & R close with sweep of L arm, R touch & step close straightening up.)

Part B

Summary: R across infront, L close, (R, L, R) in place qqs. Mirror. Bar 1 but start R back. Bar 2 but start L forwards. Turn 360 deg acw in big steps R & L with leaning L & R.

Start

Facing the centre of the circle. Weight on L foot. Arms down by sides out about 30 deg from the vertical.

1	R across infront. (A tighter less emphasised step than in Part A.)
2	L close.
3	R in place.
&	L in place.
4	R in place.

Repeat bar 1 in mirror image. (L across infront, R close, (L, R, L) in place qqs.)

Repeat bar 2 but step back instead across infront. (R back, L close, (R, L, R) in place qqs.)

Repeat bar 3 but step forwards instead across infront. (L forwards, R close, (L, R, L) in place qqs.)

1-2	Turn 180 deg acw in a big R step across infront. The step is almost comically big, coming up about 30 cm from the ground and taking the full 2 counts. The body leans to the L while the R foot is raised. Arms are almost up 90 deg to the sides to emphasise it further.
3-4	Continue the turn with 180 deg acw (making 360 deg in total) likewise stepping onto the L foot while leaning to the R. The tricky bit is getting back from these big slow steps turn back immediately into posture for the following part when that is a Part A.