ZAJKO KOKORAJKO Macedonian
PRONUNCIATION:	ZAI-koh koh-koh-RAI-koh
TRANSLATION:	"Rabbit dance," from the Macedonian word Zajak, meaning rabbit.
SOURCE:	Dick Oakes learned this dance from Rubi Vučeta, a prominent Balkan dance leader and teacher in the 1950s and 1960s in the Los Angeles, California, area. Both Yves Moreau and Dick Crum also learned the dance from Rubi. Yves subsequently taught the dance at a workshop in May of 1969 as "Skopska Zaramo" and Dick taught it as "Zajko Kokorajko" on his teaching tours in the 1970s.
BACKGROUND:	Zajko Kokorajko is a humorous song about a young rabbit who dresses up in the finery of a young bachelor and goes off to Thessalonika to find a bride. In Macedonia, a dance game is performed to "Zajko Kokorajko" in which a bumbling "hunter" with a toy gun tries with comic antics to bag a couple of "rabbits."
MUSIC:	Festival (45rpm) F-4001 Jugoton (10" LP) EPY 3009 Jugoton (LP) LPY-64 Mediterranean (45rpm) M-4001
FORMATION:	Lines of mixed M and W either with joined hands held down at sides ("V" pos), or grasping neighbors' belts in "X" pos with R arm under and end dancers' thumbs tucked into own belts.
METER/RHYTHM:	2/4. The rhythm is in 3 accented dancer's beats of SLOW (cts 1&), quick (ct 2), quick (ct &).
STEPS/STYLE:	LIFT: A low hop in which the heel does not leave the floor.
MEAS	MOVEMENT DESCRIPTION
1-16	INTRODUCTION - (Instrumental) - No action. Begin dance with vocal.
	BASIC MOTIF
1	Facing ctr, step R swd (ct 1); rise on R (ct 2); step L across in front of R (ct &);
2	Step R slightly swd (ct 1); step L next to R (ct 2); step R next to L (ct &);
3	Step L slightly swd, bending L knee slightly and quickly bringing R heel to L ankle (ct 1); rise on L, bringing R in back of L ankle (ct 2); step R across in back of L (ct &);
4	Step L swd (ct 1); low leap R across in front of L, bending slightly at hips (ct 2); pause (ct &).
	Repeat action of the basic motif (except that dancers hold pos on ct 1 of meas 1 that was assumed at end of meas 4) until leader signals for a change.
	Variation I -- (SIDE-SIDE)
1-3	Repeat action of meas 1-3 of the basic motif (with the slightly bent pos hold only on the first time through);
4	Low leap L swd, bringing R twd L (ct 1); low leap R swd, bringing L twd R (ct 2);
5	Countering the basic rhythm, step L swd (ct 1); step R across in back of L (ct &); step L swd (ct 2).
	Repeat action of Var I until leader signals for a change.
	NOTE: Some dancers like to add a quick low pickup hop on L after ct & of the previous meas and before ct 1 of meas 1 on repetitions of this var.
	Variation II: -- (SIDE-SIDE/HEEL-TOE)
1-5	Repeat action of Var I, meas 1-5;
6	Rise on L, touching R heel fwd in front of L (ct 1); rise on L, touching R toe next to outside of L instep (ct 2).
	Repeat action of Var II until leader signals for a change.
	NOTE: Other variations are probable.
Copyright © 2011 by Dick Oakes