Nazeli bar
(Armenia)

[Full notes] [Summary notes] [Other dances & the source code]

Formation Open circle. Little fingers W-hold.
Dance Structure ((A x 2) + B) repeated (2.375 times) throughout the music.
Music Structure 2 counts/bar (6 beats/bar), 4 bars/phrase.
Music Speed 70 counts/min.
Translation 'Nazeli' is a woman's name, 'bar' means dance.
Choreographer Tineke van Geel (based on traditional steps).
Source Tineke & Maurits van Geel's weekend course in London 2015.

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 Tineke van Geel.

An Armenian dance which has a distinctive combination of typical hand movements & fitting music. Feels gentle although there is quite a bit of movement, of the arms in particular. The leader has to remember the number of repeats in some parts but it is fairly easy for others to follow.

The musically is officially 6 beats per bar (ONE two three Four five six) but I find that a lot of distracting fast counting for a rather serene dance & most of the steps are half a bar long so I count it as 2 counts per bar (ONE two). The only slight catch with that is the sublety that the Triple steps divide the first beat long-short (ONE-& a two) rather than evenly.

Style: Gentle & smooth feeling but with moderate travelling speed (normal size walking steps not very small ones) & the arms need to move moderately fast to get between the positions. The W-hold base position has elbows about 10 cm out from the sides & about 10 cm infront of where they would be if the upper arms were vertically down, the forearms straight forwards about 30 deg above horizontal and the wrists bent backwards so palms face forwards and fingers point up.

Introduction

Summary: 8 bars.

Wait through 2 phrases (8 bars) of Part B music.

Part A

Summary: Facing Centre. R forwards with arms lower arc R, mirror. Ditto. (R side, L close) with arms circle acw. Mirror. Repeat all travelling backwards. (R Triple step facing R in Debka hold. L across Triple step facing centre in V-hold.) x 1.5. L in place, R close to W-hold. (L side with arms windscreen wiper to L, R close with arms to centre.) x 4 ending R touch.

Start Facing the centre of around the circle. W-hold (with hands about 15cm to the L ready for the first arc).
1
1
Feet R forwards walk.
Arms Hands to the R in a acw semicircular (down, right, up) arc about 30 cm diameter ending up at the same height as at the start & the same distance from the coronal plane while maintaining hands at the same spatial angle.
2 Repeat count 1 in left-right mirror image (L forwards while hands arc cw to the L (down, left & up)).
2 Repeat bar (1 R forwards with hands arcing to R, mirror).
3
Feet
1 R to the side.
2 L close without weight transfer.
Arms Hands in to the R in a acw circle (down, right, up, left, down) like the arc in bar 1 but continuing to complete the circle in count 2.
4 Repeat bar 3 in left-right mirror image (L side & R close whilst hands circle forwards while hands circle cw).
5-8 Repeat bars 1-4 but travelling backwards ((R backwards with arms arc R, mirror) x 2, ((R side, L close) with arms circle acw) & mirror).
9
1-&
Feet Turning 90 deg cw to face acw around the circle, R forwards walk.
Arms Arms (via V-hold if starting in W-hold) to Debka hold (L hand in small of ones own back).
a L close onto ball.
2 R forwards walk. (The footwork of this bar comprises a R Triple Step.)
10
1-&
Feet Turning 90 deg acw to face the centre of the circle, L across infront.
Arms Arms down to V-hold.
a R to the side.
2 L across infront. (The footwork of this bar comprises a L crossing Triple Step.)
11 Repeat bar 9 (R Triple Step to the R in Debka hold).
12
Feet
1 Turning 90 deg acw to face the centre of the circle, L in place.
2 R close.
Arms Return to W-hold.
13
1
Feet L to the side
Arms Arms to the L (about 20 cm) in windscreen wiper fashion (elbows stationary relative to the body, hands stationary relative to forearms & forarms pivot parallel to the coronal plane).
2
Feet R close.
Arms Arms to the R in windscreen wiper fashion to original (central) position.
14-16 Repeat bar 13 (L side with arms windscreen wiper L, R close with arms revert) 3 more times (making 4 times in total) but do the last step (R close on bar 16 count 2) without weight transfer.

Part B

Summary: (Part A bars 9-10.) x 2. (R side with V-hold swing R, L across infront with swing L.) x 4. (Repeat bars 1-8 with inner repeats halved) x 2.

Start Facing the centre of around the circle. W-hold.
1-4 As Part A bars 9-10, repeat. ((R Triple step facing R in Debka hold. L across Triple step facing centre in V-hold.) x 2).
5
1
Feet R to the side.
Arms Arms remain in V-hold but slightly infront of the plain of the body. The arms swing with straight elbows to the R with the hands ending up about 30 cm to the R of their neutral position.
Head Look down infront with a slight forward lean of the head.
2
Feet L across infront.
Arms Arms swing with straight elbows to the L with the hands ending up about 30 cm to the L of their neutral position.
Head Remains looking down infront.
6-8 Repeat bar 5 (R side with V-hold swing R, L across infront with swing L) 3 more times (making 4 in total).
9-10 Repeat bars 1-2 (Part A bars 9-10, but only once this time).
11-12 Repeat bars 5-6 ((R side with V-hold swing R, L across infront with swing L) but only x 2 this time).
13-16 Repeat bars 9-12 (Part A bars 9-10, (R side with V-hold swing R, L across infront with swing L) x 2).

Notes by Andrew Hardwick.
2015/7/30
Contact (email:info@duramecho.com).
Available on-line at http://duramecho.com.