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Geamparaua
The Geampara has three beats, short-short-long, written as 7/16. The name comes from Turkish for a type of percussion instrument, probably similar to castanets. The dance is found mostly in Dobrogea, formally a Turkish ruled region, and across the Danubian plain of south east Romania.
Geampara has much in common with the Bulgarian Râčenica found in north Bulgaria and Thrace, although the music is played with a different accent.
This dance has developed circle, couple, and modern couple variants. This type of development has also happened recently to other circle dances such as Hora where it is now common to see a few couples dancing in the middle of the circle. The couple dance consists of the man and woman dancing facing each other without contact and using improvised step combinations.
Note that in Romania the 7/8 rhythm is used for other dances associated with rituals and customs as well as for a social couple dance with called figures known by various names such as Spic de Grâu, hop şi alta or Kecsketánc (Csango). It is probable the 7/8 dance rhythm was in Moldavia prior to the introduction of the Geampara dance. There are also some other Dobrogean dances in 7/8 are Pandelaşul, Drăgăicuţa, Săltata.Spoiler!
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Originally Posted by Daos
Who knows what went on in the South, especially Dobrogea...
A christian with an arabic name, how peculiar.
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