Kochari

Kochari (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is a folk dance originating in the Armenian Highlands.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is performed today by Armenians,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> while variants are performed by Assyrians,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Azerbaijanis,<ref name="nytimes">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="unesco"/> and Pontic Greeks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is a form of circle dance.

Each region in the Armenian Highlands had its own Kochari, with its unique way of both dancing and music.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Etymology

• In Armenian, "Kochari" literally means "knee-come". Գուճ (gudj or goudj) means "knee" and արի (ari) means "come".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Page needed
• In Azerbaijani Turkish, "köç" means "to move" used both as a verb and as a noun,<ref>KÖÇ</ref> with the latter used more in the context of nomads' travelling. "Köçəri" is also both an adjective and a noun, meaning a "nomad" and "nomadic" simultaneously.<ref>KÖÇƏRİ</ref>
• In Pontic Greek, from the Greek "κότσι" (in Pontic Greek "κοτς") meaning "heel" (from Medieval Greek "κόττιον" meaning the same) and "αίρω" meaning "raise", all together "raising the heel", since the Greeks consider the heel to be the main part of the foot which the dancer uses.Template:Fact

Versions

John Blacking describes Kochari as follows: Template:Cquote

Armenian

File:A part of Kochari dance sheet music.svg

A part of Armenian kochari

Armenians have been dancing Kochari for over a thousand years.<ref>Kochari // Music encyclopedic dictionary / Yu.V. Keldysh, M.G. Aranovsky, L.Z. Korabelnikova — Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. — p. 275.</ref> The dance is danced by both men and women and is intended to be intimidating. More modern forms of Kochari have added a "tremolo step", which involves shaking the whole body. It spread to the eastern part of Armenia after the Armenian genocide. The Armenian Kochari has been included to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding of UNESCO in 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Azerbaijani

Today this dancing is played in the Nakhchivan land of which Sharur, Sadarak, Kangarli, Julfa and Shahbuz regions' folklore collectives and it is performed at weddings.<ref name="nar">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kochari along with tenzere has been included to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding of UNESCO in November 2018 as versions of Yalli dance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="unesco">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Pontic Greek Kόtsari

The Pontic Greeks and Armenians have many vigorous warlike dances such as the Kochari.<ref>Greece - Page 67 by Paul Hellander, Kate Armstrong, Michael Clark, Des Hannigan, Victoria Kyriakopoulos, Miriam Raphael, Andrew Ston</ref>

Unlike most Pontic dances, the Kotsari is in an even rhythm (Template:Music), originally danced in a closed circle.<ref name="pontos world">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Gallery

• Armenian National Dance in Aznavour Square (1).jpg

  Kochari dance in Aznavour Square

• Armenian National Dance in Aznavour Square (2).jpg

  Kochari dance in Aznavour Square

• Armenian National Dance in Aznavour Square (3).jpg

  Kochari dance in Aznavour Square

External links

• Kochari music - Armenian sample; Assyrian sample; Template:Webarchive Pontic sample;Turkish sample
• Kochari dance - UNESCO video