The Karsilamas in Lesvos
Posted
by Christos on Saturday, November 05, 2005
The name Karsilamas comes from the Turkish word for face-to-face, and the Karsilamades are face-to-face dances, usually danced by two people, without a handhold.
The music has nine beats in a bar (9/8), and the speed of the music determines the dance. In the faster (Aidinikos or Jumping) karsilamas, the beats are divided between four steps - quick-quick-quick-SLOW (2+2+2+3=9) - with the dancer giving a little jump on to the last step to emphasise the rhythm.
It is the slower tempo Karsilamas that is most characteristic of Lesvos. Tunes like San ta Marmara tis Polis and Dodekachronon Koritsi are particularly popular.
In the simplest form of the dance, the nine beats of the bar are divided into six steps - three quick one-beat steps, and three slower two-beat steps. This gives the pattern of 1+1+1+2+2+2=9 or 2+2+2+1+1+1=9, depending on the rhythm of the music. For example, To Pigki has a clear quick-quick-quick-SLOW-SLOW-SLOW rhythm, while San ta Marmara tis Polis has a SLOW-SLOW-SLOW-quick-quick-quick rhythm.
You can find a very thorough and detailed exposition of all this in the teaching modules on the University of the Aegean WEBDANCE site. (http://www.aegean.gr/culturaltec/webdance/wd/index_english.htm)
But there is much variation in the way the steps themselves are done, and the way in which they are fitted to the music. Different villages have different ways of dancing. Mesotopos is not really very far from Parakila, which is not very far from Aghia Paraskevi, yet their ways of dancing are very different! It is the music, and the rhythm, that are common to all parts of Lesvos, and it is the music and the rhythm that are the key to the dancing.