Gîrliceanca
(Romania)

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

Alternative Names 'Gîrliceanca' is the original spelling.
'Girliceanca' is it reduced to ASCII by missing off the accent.
Region Dobrogea.
Formation Open circle. V-hold.
Dance Structure ((A x 2 + B) x 2 + (C x 2) + (D x 2)) repeated until the end of the music.
Music Structure 4 counts/bar. 7 beats/bar. 4 bar phrases.
Music Speed 100 counts/min.
Source Silviu Ciuciumiş at the Zetten Balkan Festival in 2004.

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 Silviu Ciuciumiş.

An interesting Romanian dance that is fairly easy but feels more involved because of the irregular timing.

The timing is slow-slow-quick-slow. In conventional Western music notation this is considered a bar of 7 beats grouped 2+2+1+2 but for this dance it simply counts as "ONE two Three-four" but with count Three shorter than the others. There is always (other than one little fudge to get a dramatic ending right at the end of dance) one action per count so I find fitting the timing much easier than for many dances with regular counts.

To reduce teaching time, I've simplified Part D by making bars 3 & 4 the same (corresponding to the structure of Part C). Both versions are below with the original one first.

Style: Upright & proud.

Introduction

4 bars (16 counts) used as a introduction to get ready.

Part A

Summary: Grapevine R with claps on last 2 steps.

Start Facing centre of circle with weight on L foot.
1
1
Feet R to the side.
Hands Swing arms backwards.
2
Feet L across behind.
Hands Swing arms forwards.
3
Feet R to the side.
Hands Clap. (Claps are chest level comfortably infront with hands flat, palms vertical and right hand fingers slightly higher (this style might be unimportant & be simply the normal way a right-handed person claps)).
4
Feet L across infront.
Hands Clap.

Part B

Summary: Spin R with step, hop, step, step. To L with 4 claps in side, across infront, side, close.

Start Facing centre of circle with weight on L foot.
1
Feet Turn 360 deg cw travelling a bit acw around the circle whilst doing R to the side, R hop, L in place & R to the side.
Hands On hips.
2
1
Feet L to the side.
Hands Clap.
2
Feet R across infront.
Hands Clap.
3
Feet L to the side.
Hands Clap.
4
Feet R close without weight transfer.
Hands Clap.

Personally I feel that the clap on count 2 goes naturally behind ones back but it was taught with all 4 claps infront. (My feeling possibly comes from having learnt a similar clapping pattern previously in Headington Shepherd's Hey but that is an English Cotswold Morris dance not a Romanian dance (despite the similarity of Cotswold Morris dancing costumes to Romanian căluşari costumes).)

Part C

Summary: Two Flying Grapevines R with arms down & up. R lift, close, L across infront & R in place. Mirror.

Start Facing 45 deg acw of the direction to the centre of circle with weight on L foot.
1
1
Feet Leap R to the side turning to face 45 deg cw of the direction to the centre of the circle.
Hands V-hold.
2
Feet L across behind turning to face the centre of the circle.
Hands V-hold.
3
Feet R to the side.
Hands Arms up to W-hold.
4
Feet L across infront.
Hands W-hold (with slight Romanian W-hold arm bounce).
2 Repeat bar 1 (flying Grapevine to the R with arms down & up).
3
Feet
1 Facing the centre of the circle, lift R (lower leg vertically down & done with light styling).
2 R in place.
3 L across infront.
4 R in place.
Hands W-hold.
4 Repeat bar 3 in mirror image on the opposite feet (L lift, L in place, R across infront, L in place).

Part D

Summary: Two Flying Grapevines R with arms down & up. Scissors R, L, R, L. L side, hop, R across, L in place.

Start Facing 45 deg acw of the direction to the centre of circle with weight on L foot.
1-2 As Part C bars 1-2 (2 flying Grapevines to the R with arms down & up).
3
1 Facing the centre of the circle, slide R foot forward flat on ground (Scissor R).
2 Reverse foot position by sliding R foot back to place & L foot forwards simultaneously in a small leap (Scissor L).
3-4 Reverse feet twice more likewise (Scissor R & L).
4
1 L to the side.
2 L hop.
3 R across infront.
4 L in place.

Part D simplified

Summary: As Part D but replace bar 4 with repeat of bar 3 (scissors).

1-3 As Part D bars 1-3 (2 flying Grapevines to the R with arms down & up, scissors R, L, R, L).
4 Repeat bar 3 (scissors R, L, R, L).

Notes by Andrew Hardwick.
Written 2005/2/13. Updated 2006/3/25, 2008/8/15, 2008/8/28 & 2011/10/9. Simplified Part D added 2025/12/14.
Contact (email:info@duramecho.com).
Available on-line at http://duramecho.com.