bosarka_steps.pdf

Bosarka

Origin : Formerly Bosarka (Boh-sar-ka) was a very popular kolo in a wide area around Pirot in eastern Serbia.

The version given here was collected by Dick Crum from native dancers in the town of Luznica in

1957. In volume 5 of the “Narodne igre” the pioneering Yugoslav dance researchers Ljubica and

Danica Jankovic gave a number of other variants* which they collected in the area in 1934, and

mentions an alternate name “Basara”. Yves Moreau found still another version in Bulgaria, in a village

near the Yugoslav border in 1969.

Formation : “Lesa” formation, mixed lines of dancers w/belt hold, L over R.

Measures

Facing slightly and moving R, step R (count 1)

Step L across R (count 2)

REPEAT measure 1

Moving diagonally R, step lightly R, L, R (counts 1, &, 2)

Step R (count 1), bring L up to R without weight (count 2)

Step diagonally BKWD L, with L (count 1)

Hop on L, swinging R slightly across (count 2)

Step R diagonally FWD R, at the same time bring R shoulder a bit FWD (count 1)

Slight hop on R (do not bring L up to R - leave L “pinned” to its own position in back (count 2)

Step L straight back from centre, a bit to the R of its “pinned” position (count 1)

Close R to L taking weight (count 2)

3 light steps in place (L, R, L) (counts 1, &, 2)

8-10

REPEAT measures 5-7.

NOTE: There is a general RIGHTWARD movement during measures 5-10.

*Variants- In 1934, the Jankovic sisters mention “apparently recent variants”, consisting

of tripling and quadrupling the movements of measure 1 and crossing L

behind R. Also the movement of measures 5-7 could be repeated more than

once, probably at the whim of the leader.

Dance Notes - serbia