PRONUNCIATION: YOH-vee-nah-tah TRANSLATION: Jova's dance in small steps (Jova is a girl's name). It is named after the song Jove malaj mome, "Jova, little girl." SOURCE: Dick Oakes learned this dance from Marcus (Holt) Moskoff who learned it during the summer of 1978. BACKGROUND: Marcus learned this dance in the village of Bojana in the Sofia district of Bulgaria. Bojana is famous for the three Bojana Churches whose frescos in the second church, painted in 1259, make it one of the most important collections of medieval paintings. MUSIC: XOPO (LP) X-LP-5, side A, band 3 FORMATION: Long lines of mexed M and W grasping neighbors' belts in "X" hold, R arm under. METER/RHYTHM: 18/16. The rhythm is slow-quick-quick-quick-quick-slow-quick (3-2-2-2-2-3-2-2) and is counted below in 8 dancers' counts. STEPS/STYLE: The term "hop" used below is a low raising and lowering of the heel only (called a čukče). MEAS MOVEMENT DESCRIPTION INTRODUCTION 1-8 No action. THE DANCE 1 Facing diag R and moving in LOD, step R (ct 1); hop R, lifting L across in front of R (ct 2); step L (ct 3); step R (ct 4); step L (ct 5); Turning to face ctr, do a small quick hop L (ct &); facing ctr, step slightly bwd R next to L (ct 6); step bwd L (ct 7); step bwd R (ct 8). 2 Facing diag L and moving in RLOD, repeat action of cts 1-5 of meas 1 to L with opp ftwk (cts 1-5); Continuing in RLOD, take one more step L (ct 6); turning to face ctr, step fwd R (ct 7); step fwd L (ct 8). Repeat entire dance from beg.
Copyright © 2012 by Dick Oakes