Kochari (, , , , ) is a folk dance originating in the Armenian Highlands. It is performed today by

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

, while variants are performed by Assyrians,

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most nume ...

(yalli, uchayag, and tello),

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

(dilan, delîlo, and sêxanî), and

Pontic Greeks The Pontic Greeks ( pnt, Ρωμαίοι, Ρωμίοι, tr, Pontus Rumları or , el, Πόντιοι, or , , ka, პონტოელი ბერძნები, ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group i ...

(kotsari). It is a form of

circle dance Circle dance, or chain dance, is a style of social dance done in a circle, semicircle or a curved line to musical accompaniment, such as rhythm instruments and singing, and is a type of dance where anyone can join in without the need of par ...

. Each region in the Armenian Highlands had its own Kochari, with its unique way of both dancing and music.

Etymology

*In Armenian, "Kochari" literally means "knee-come". Գուճ (gudj or goudj) means "knee" and արի (ari) means "come". *In Azerbaijani Turkish, "köç" means "to move" used both as a verb and as a noun, 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. Likewise, Kurdish "koçer" means "nomad," and thus the term "Koçerî" means "nomadic," which was borrowed from Turkish. *In

Pontic Greek Pontic Greek ( pnt, Ποντιακόν λαλίαν, or ; el, Ποντιακή διάλεκτος, ; tr, Rumca) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, ...

, from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

"κότσι" (in Pontic Greek "κοτς") meaning "heel" (from

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

"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.

Versions

John Blacking John Anthony Randoll Blacking (22 October 1928 – 24 January 1990) was a British ethnomusicologist and social anthropologist. Early life and education John Blacking was born in Guildford, Surrey, and was educated at Salisbury Cathedral Scho ...

describes Kochari as follows:

Armenian

Armenians have been dancing Kochari for over a thousand years. The dance is danced to a rhythm. Dancers form a closed circle, putting their hands on each other's shoulders. 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 genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. The Armenian Kochari has been included to the

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergover ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

in 2017.

Azerbaijani

It is one of the widely spread dances known as Yalli in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, especially in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and surrounding areas. The “Kochari” dancing, consisting of slow and rapid parts, is of three variants. In the men or women lining up one after another or one woman after one man position, a yallihead (holder) holds a stick in his or her hand. This stick is not to punish the dancers but it has importance in dancing. 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. 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.

Kurdish Koçerî

Koçerî is a special form of the "Dilan", "Delîlo", or "Şêxanî" Kurdish dance. "Koçerî" means "nomadic" in Kurdish, where "koçer" means nomad, thus the name used by Kurds means "nomads' dance". As the name suggests, it is more common among Kurdish nomads.

Pontic Greek Kόtsari

The

and

have many vigorous warlike dances such as the Kochari.''Greece'' - Page 67 by Paul Hellander, Kate Armstrong, Michael Clark, Des Hannigan, Victoria Kyriakopoulos, Miriam Raphael, Andrew Ston In the Pontic dialect, it is written as . Unlike most Pontic dances, the Kotsari is in an even rhythm (), originally danced in a closed circle. The dance is very popular today; however, it is often danced differently from the original. There is a consistent, vicious double bounce, also referred to as tremoulo. It is danced hand to shoulder and travels to the right. There are few variations which may be added to the step. It is a dance that tries to scare the viewers. At the start, it is danced by both men and women. Then, men go in front and do their figures.

Gallery

File:Armenian National Dance in Aznavour Square (1).jpg, Kochari dance in Aznavour Square File:Armenian National Dance in Aznavour Square (2).jpg, Kochari dance in Aznavour Square File:Armenian National Dance in Aznavour Square (3).jpg, Kochari dance in Aznavour Square

References

External links

* Kochari music
Armenian sampleAssyrian sample

Pontic sampleTurkish sample
* Kochari dance
UNESCO video
{{Circle dance Armenian dances Armenian music Assyrian dances Kurdish music Azerbaijani dances Circle dances Pontic Greek dances Folk dances