Assyrian folk dance

History

Lily Oraham Taimoorazy, often called the mother of Assyrian folk dance, started the Shamiram Folkloric Group in Tehran in 1957. Until it ended in 1980, the group danced at events in Iran and Europe, such as the coronation of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Before she left Iran, she let American researcher Rickey Holden publish booklets and records on the dances, which led to two books, LPs, and a Viltis article.

Technique

All Assyrian dances except the Sabre Dance are performed in a connected circle. Most are lateral, vining, and open-ended, allowing more participants to join; lines curve and form spirals based on floor space. Body movements are limited to step, leap, run, hop, and jump, with legs used for stamping, stomping, and kicking.

Arms move independently with gestures such as bouncing, swinging forward and back, moving side-to-side, lifting above the head, and clapping. The torso, shoulders, and arms bounce rhythmically, while knee bends, deep squats, and leg extensions occur regularly. Dancers connect hand-to-hand, hand-to-shoulder, or hand-to-hip; hand-to-hand is most common and includes three holds: the "W" (most common), the "V", and the "T" (least common, with hands on shoulders).

Dances

Siskany involves brisk shoulder shaking and energetic limb movement with emphasis on the feet. It is often classified as a form of khigga but considered its own dance due to fast performance and style; the khigga beat may accelerate to this for a climactic end. The technique resembles khigga but faster with more foot emphasis, or a simpler form with forward-and-backward stomps. Gubbare is mostly danced at the end of a party with fast, lively music akin to a jig, typically in a major key.

Dancers interlock pinkies and repeatedly move forward and back in a circle, starting with right-left-right steps while swinging arms side to side, then kicking left, right, and left foot before moving left with crossed legs and arms swinging down. Bablaka is fervently danced with interlocked pinkies, arms and hands moving up and down energetically, but unlike gubbare, the participant remains stable without prancing forward and backward. Motion focuses on arms, shoulders, and hands, with rhythmic knee bends. The beat is virtually homogeneous to gubbare, and it is also danced at the end of parties.