The Odzemek (in slovak Odzemok) is a Slovak solo traditional

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

for men which always has an improvised character. The dance starts out slow and gets faster as the dance goes on, and is traditionally danced in Slovakia and also

Moravian Wallachia Moravian Wallachia ( cs, Moravské Valašsko, or simply ''Valašsko''; ro, Valahia Moravă) is a mountainous ethnoregion located in the easternmost part of Moravia in the Czech Republic, near the Slovak border, roughly centered on the cities Vs ...

. The name Odzemok comes from the words 'od zeme,' which means 'from the ground.' Composers such as

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

composed these dances. The first dance from the ''

Slavonic Dances The ''Slavonic Dances'' ( cs, Slovanské tance) are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, t ...

'' Op. 72 is an odzemek.

References

{{dance-stub European folk dances Dance forms in classical music