BRÂUL LUI ZBÂRCEA

Romanian

 
PRONUNCIATION: BREWL looee ZBEHR-chya

The -ul ending, pronounced "-oo" (colloquial) or "-ool" (more formal usage) is a form of the Romanian definite article, the equivalent of English "the;" hence brîu = "belt," brîul = "the belt."

 
TRANSLATION: The belt dance of Zbârcea
 
SOURCE: Larisa Lucaci introduced Brâul lui Zbârcea (Zbîrcea) at the 1966 Santa Barbara Folk Dance Conference in California.
 
BACKGROUND: The brâu was originally named for the way the dancers were linked together by holding each other's belts ("brâu," literally "belt" in Romanian). Today, however, dances in this class also are seen with low handholds or shldr holds. They are typically characterized by their powerful dynamism.
 
MUSIC:Folk Dancer (78rpm) MH-1123-B
 
FORMATION:Open cir of M and W facing to the R with hands joined and held down in "V" pos.
 
METER/RHYTHM: 2/4
 
STEPS/STYLE: RUNNING TWO-STEP: Step fwd R (ct 1); step fwd L (ct &); step fwd R (ct 2); pause (ct &). The repeat is done with opp ftwk. While this step resembles three simple running steps, the second step is actually shortened to give it the character, if not the precision, of a legitimate two-step.
 

MEASMOVEMENT DESCRIPTION

 
 INTRODUCTION
 
1-8No action.
 
I. FIGURE ONE
 
1Facing diag R and moving in LOD, dance a Running Two-Step to R starting R (cts 1&2);
2Dance a Running Two-Step to R starting L (cts 1&2);
3Turning to face ctr with body slightly bent fwd at hips and extendling L bwd, leap R (ct 1); straightening up, leap onto L across in back of R (ct 2);
4Turning to face diag R, step R (ct 1); step L (ct 2).
5-16Repeat action of Fig I three more times, ending facing ctr.
 
II. FIGURE TWO
 
1Facing ctr, hop L (ct 1); step R in place (ct &); pause (ct 2); stamp L next to R without wt (ct &);
2Stamp L without wt (ct 1); pause (ct &); stamp L taking wt (ct 2); pause (ct &).
3-16Repeat action of Fig II seven more times, ending facing diag R.
 
 Repeat entire dance from beg.
 

Copyright © 2005 by Dick Oakes