Alashgerd - Tamzara (dance)
02/09/22 (Last modified 02/09/22)
This section of our website aims to document and share performances of various traditional Armenian dances that have been preserved by Diasporan communities in the United States. To this end, Houshamadyan is partnering and collaborating with a group of Armenian dance experts who have produced appropriate dance notations for documentation. This group consists of Carolyn Rapkievian (of Bar Harbor, Maine), Susan and Gary Lind-Sinanian (of Watertown, Massachusetts), Tom Bozigian (of Los Angeles, California), and Robert Haroutunian (Sunyside, NY).
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The Tamzara is a dance in a distinctive 9/8 rhythm which was widespread across much of the Armenian Plateau. Villages and towns had their own local versions. Some experts hypothesize that the dance originated in the village of Tamzara in the northeast region of Sepasdia/Sivas.
The region of Alashgerd (Eleşkirt) is located on the East of the city of Garin/Erzurum. In 1828, Armenians from Alashgerd relocated to the Shirag and Lori regions located at that time in Tsarist Russia. Many of them immigrated to the United States in the early part of the 20th century.
Tom Bozigian learned this dance in the 1940s in Los Angeles, California from his Alashgerdtsi paternal relatives.
Source: Tom Bozigian
Music: The distinctive 9/8 rhythm is 1-2,1-2,1-2,1-2-3
Formation: Open circle in “Armenian hold” (little fingers interlocked with hands held at chest height slightly forward) with the leader at the right moving counterclockwise.
Style: Torso is erect. Steps are firm and brisk.
Measures | Counts | Movements |
1 | 1-2 | Step backward on right foot |
| 3-4 | Lift left foot slightly in front |
| 5-6 | Step forward on left foot |
| 7 | Step backward on right foot |
| 8-9 | Lift left foot slightly in front |
2 | 1-2 | Step backward on left foot |
| 3-4 | Lift right foot slightly in front |
| 5-6 | Step to the right with the right foot as joined hands sway slightly to right |
| 7-9 | Crossing behind, step slightly to the right with the left foot as joined hands sway slightly to the left |
3 | 1-2 | Step to the right with the right foot as joined hands sway slightly to right |
| 3-4 | Crossing behind, step slightly to the right with the left foot as joined hands sway slightly to the left |
| 5-6 | Step to the right with the right foot as joined hands sway slightly to right |
| 7-9 | Crossing behind, step slightly to the right with the left foot as joined hands sway slightly to the left |
4 | 1-2 | Step forward on the right foot as hands swing down |
| 3-4 | Hop on the right foot |
| 5-6 | Step forward slightly on the left foot as hands swing back up |
| 7-8 | Stamp twice on the right foot |
| 9 | Pause |
