Teškoto or Teshkoto (, "the hard one"), is a folk dance from the Mijak ethnographic region, located in western

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

History

The dance represents the hard life of people from the region. Its origins come from the period when locals were leaving their country for a better life, but over the years it has also grown as a symbol for all the pain caused in the region in the past. The dance has inspired

Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski ( Macedonian and ; 19 December 1921 – 7 December 1993) was a Macedonian poet, writer, literary translator, and linguistic scholar, who had a major contribution to the codification of the standard Macedonian language, for which ...

's 1948 poem ''Teškoto''. It has been the signature dance of

Tanec Tanec () is a folklore musical ensemble from Skopje, North Macedonia. It is considered as an ambassador of the Ethnic Macedonians, Macedonian folklore tradition worldwide. History The Tanec ensemble was founded by the Government of the Social ...

after its formation in 1949. Teškoto has been traditionally performed in the western Macedonian mountainous region of

Reka Reka may refer to: Places * Řeka, a village in the Czech Republic * Reka, Cerkno, a village near Cerkno, Slovenia * Reka, Laško, a village near Laško, Slovenia * Reka (Kladovo), a village near Kladovo, Serbia * Reka, Koprivnica, a village n ...

, as well as the villages of

Galičnik Galičnik () is a mountain village in North Macedonia and along with Lazaropole is one of the two biggest and oldest Mijak villages in the region. Galičnik has well-preserved traditional architecture, including an amphitheater in the village sq ...

Lazaropole Lazaropole () is a village in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša, North Macedonia. Situated on a plateau at Mount Bistra and surrounded by beech and oak forest; at 1,350 m altitude, it is one of the highest settlements in the country. Dem ...

, and Gari. Apart from Eastern Orthodox people, dancers of Teškoto have also been the

Torbeši The Torbeši () are a Macedonian language, Macedonian-speaking Islam, Muslim ethnoreligious group in North Macedonia and Albania. The Torbeši are also referred to as Macedonian Muslims () or Muslim Macedonians. They have been culturally distin ...

. Traditionally, Albanian-speaking Muslim Romani people from

Debar Debar ( ; , sq-definite, Dibra or Dibra e Madhe) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ethnic Albanian majorit ...

have been the performers of the music for the dance. It is a line dance in which the leader requires skills of

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

. The dance begins with a slow and non-metric section where the dancers perform with precise lifts, steps, and leaps. The musicians must follow the leader, picking up on visual embodied cues. The music builds with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

, ending in a fast 2/4 section. Macedonia (now

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

) attempted to include the dance in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's Masterpiece of Intangible Cultural Heritage list twice, in 2002 and 2004. A monument of the dance is in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Galičnik Wedding Festival

One of the most prominent festivals that feature the dance is the

Galičnik Wedding Festival The Galičnik Wedding Festival () is an annual festival held in the village of Galičnik (North Macedonia) near the city of Debar in which a selected couple gets married in the traditional "Galička" style wedding. Traditionally the wedding las ...

, an annual event in the

, one of the oldest villages in

References

Macedonian dances {{Europe-dance-stub