by Katley Demetria Brown

Created on: December 17, 2008

Dancing to a Different Drummer

You will not find the word "rachenitsa" in any English dictionary because it's a folk dance from Bulgaria.
I learned to dance at a very young age. When I was a child, I learned meringue, bomba and plena, dances from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Whenever we had a party or family gathering, music and dancing were an integral part of our celebrations.

When I mention folk dance to most people, they think of country line dancing, or square dancing. I had been exposed to square dance when I was a young woman.

The first time was at a high school function for mothers and daughters. Several years later, I worked at a snack bar in Minot, North Dakota, where a group met once a week. When business was slow, I watched them do their do-si-dos and their butterfly formations. It didn't appeal to me so I never pursued it. I couldn't picture myself dancing in a ruffled gingham dress with a million petticoats to country music.

I always had an interest in European folklore. I indulged it while living in Germany, but we never made it to Eastern Europe because my husband was in the military, in a sensitive occupation, and those nations were governed by communism.

In New York, a few years later, I got to talking to a friend and co-worker at McGraw Hill. She and her fiance danced with an informal international folk dance group that met on Sundays in Central Park. They danced to music from many countries, but most of the music was from Eastern Europe. Sensing my interest, she mentioned a place downtown where I could take classes in Balkan dance. I have been hooked ever since.

Currently, I dance with a group that meets on Friday nights. We dance to music from countries few Americans know about, such as Serbia, Romania, and Macedonia, but my favorite dance country is Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is folk dance heaven. I hope to travel there one day.

According to my family, I have become bewitched by Bulgaria. I develop withdrawal symptoms if I can't listen to Radio Bulgaria on the Internet at least once a day. My daughter, Marty, says we are a weird group of people who dance to strange tunes. Her twin sister, Kat, will have nothing to do with one of her former homeroom teachers because she dances with our group. My husband says Balkan music sounds like someone's strangling a cat. I have to admit it's an acquired taste and not for everyone.

In order to enjoy music from the Balkans, you need to like unusual harmonies, music played in minor keys, complex rhythms (such as 9/8 or 25/16), panpipes, bagpipes, accordions, and brass bands.

One of these days some aliens from the Planet Bulgaria will land in the front yard. They will tune in to the music that's downloaded on my computer. They will be dressed in elaborate embroidered costumes, singing in harmony and dancing rachenitsa. My family will wonder why I've disappeared.

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