Karsilamas [Greece] dance history & background

The term Karsilamas means face to face. Greek scholars tell us that the Karsilamas stems from an ancient Greek war dance. The war-dances frequently began with a march or procession to the field of battle. Then the men would pair off in mock battle. Maybe so. There are men's couple dances in Cypress and on Greek islands off the coast of Turkey which are highly developed and reminiscent of war-like sparring.

But elsewhere, Karsilamas is a couple dance that is still danced in every corner of the once great Ottoman empire, from Persia to Serbia. In every Macedonian and Thracian village, in all the villages on the Greek mainland, in Greek Tavernas all over the world, dancers pair off against each other but not in mock combat.

Today it is a raucous, bordering on the erotic, couple dance between men and women where the dancers face one another. Hands are held in the upright position about eye level, fingers snapped to the beat of the music, hips swaying.

When the dancers face each other, if one moves to the right the other does likewise; if one goes out, the other goes out; if one comes in, the other comes in. The same is done with circling movements, turns, etc. One is always counterbalancing the other. The predominant time signature for the dance is 9/8 or counted Quick, Quick, Quick, Slow.