Armenian National Dances

Komitas once said about the phenomenon of Armenian national dances “Dance expresses the typical characteristics of every nation, especially its traditions and degree of civilization”.

Armenian national dances have originated in ancient times on the territory of Armenian Highland. Since then it has expressed the lifestyle and thinking of the people and their attitude towards life and nature.

Plutarch was the first to speak about Armenian traditions and especially dances. He testified that even in the 1st century BC, Armenians built an amphitheater and held different dance performances there. At that time, the dancers were divided according to age and gender and performed separately. Everything depended on the ritual, ceremony or the object of worship.

The evidence of Armenian ancient dances can be found also in the petroglyphs. On the stones you can see human silhouettes that are performing some elements of dance. Such illustrations even depict the rhythm and dynamics of the movements. You can see the steps, turns and even the positions of feet.

One of the key points in the study of national dances is Armenian national dress – taraz. Besides being an inseparable part of people’s everyday life, it is also an important part of national dances. Taraz is a separate culture and during the dance performances it serves as a second melody with its significance.

Every nation has created its national dances and has transferred them from generation to generation. Thus, Armenian dances have undergone many changes, but have preserved their unique musical and expressive elements that are different from the dances of other nations and are typical only for Armenian culture.

Ritual dances

Ritual dances are all those dances that were performed in everyday life and were associated with annual celebrations, weddings, funerals and other rituals. With their structural elements they have summarized the meaning and significance of the ritual. There are ritual dances that were performed only once a year during annual celebrations. With the help of dance movements, people tried to depict some processes and perform serious ritual ceremonies.

Through these dances they asked for some gifts from the Gods. And after they got them, they again expressed their gratitude with the help of ritual dances.

Armenians treated dances very carefully and seriously. Since the dances had a ritual significance and were dedicated to Gods, any mistake in the dance movement could anger the Gods.

Ritual dances were also distinguished by the unique symbolism of their movements. Dances originally had the shape of a circle. And what does the circle symbolize? It is a symbol of eternity and infinity. The back and forth movements in dance symbolized instability. An interesting fact is that such kinds of dances were performed mainly by women. Men rarely took part in such dances.

There was also a category of dances called “clap dances”. By clapping people not only expressed their joy, but also fought against evil forces. They believed that the claps will frighten the evil.

Mourning dances

In Armenian dances even the direction of the movement had a particular meaning. During the dance, moving to the right means that you are going in the right direction. Going to the right means moving towards goodness and prosperity. Moving to the left means bad luck, failure.

In times of drought, when the land was not producing any harvest, people were mourning this loss by performing a dance directed to the left – the dance of drought, also called the “reverse dance”.

In ancient times, mourning dances were also performed during funerals.

One or two months after the death of a relative, in order to get the family out of mourning, friends and relatives of the deceased gathered and visited the grieving relatives, forced them to eat, drink and dance. This ceremony symbolized the end of mourning.

Military dances

Certain types of dances have the power to transmit emotions and inspire with their values. One of these dances is the military dance, which people used to perform before battles. These dances helped to awaken the fighting spirit and have victories over the large armies.

Military dances were performed not only by soldiers but also by ordinary people who were meeting or saying goodbye to soldiers, when celebrating the victory or mourning the defeat.

Since anciant times, military dances have been performed not only by men, but also by women. Many nations had such traditions. While men were fighting, women were dancing military dances and believed that by doing so they would “ensure” the victory of their husbands.

In military dances, back and forth movements symbolized retreat and attack, expectation and victory of the soldiers.

People also used to perform military dances during the funerals, especially when the deceased was a military person or was somehow connected with the army.

Yarkhushta

Yarkhushta is probably the most unique and remarkable national military dance. In Persian, “yar” not only means lover, but also a friend, in this case also a supporter, ally. And the word “khushta” comes from Persian word “khisht”, which means a weapon. So the name of this dance means “comrade-in-arms”. This dance belongs to the category of clap dances. The dancers seem to exchange the weapons while bumping with their hands. This dance was widely spread in Sasun.

People tell legends about yarkhushta. One of them is that the enemy retreated and left the battlefield without even fighting after hearing the sound of Armenian zurna and dhol and seeing the proud military dance of the Armenians. There is another story that tells us about the troops of Zoravar Andranik and Gevork Chaush. They met before the battle, and in order to understand whose army was stronger, they danced yarkhushta. They danced until their hands started to hurt from powerful bumps.

Yarkhushta is one of the few dances that has not undergone any changes over time.

Kochari

From the pagan times until now the most common Armenian national dance is kochari. This dance was dedicated to the worship of the Aries. In the past, Armenians believed that if they would be as brave as Aries no one could conquer and enslave them. Until the 19th century kochari was performed only by men of a particular age. But when the dance lost its ritual significance everyone started to dance kochari. There are numerous varieties of kochari, as every region has its own version of this dance. The unique elements of this dance are depicted on the 12 thousand years old petroglyphs that were found in the Syunik region.

The ritual elements of kochari dance include the symbols of life and the strengthening of positive relationships between man and God.

In 2017 Armenian dance kochari was included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

People have already forgotten that their ancestors once bewitched enemies or harmed evil spirits with these dances. Armenian national dances now have become an integral part of people’s everyday life, festive celebrations, and stage performances.

A number of national dances now have become secular. Some of them were forgotten and disappeared. But the phenomenon of national dance continues to be a unique and distinctive cultural element of any nation.

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