Kopacka (Lesnoto/Pravoto)[Macedonia] dance history & background

Thanks to Dennis Boxell and to John Kuo for sharing their knowledge.

According to Atanas Kolarovski, when Kopacka was first introduced to Tanec by the village dancers, the original name was Sitnata (the litte one). Tanec changed the name to Kopacka and the dance subsequently became so famous that the villagers adopted this name of Kopacka for both the dance and the name of their group, to remind everyone from whence this dance originally came.

The dance Kopacka is based on a combination of two songs: Dimna Juda for the slow, walking part of the dance, and Dervisko Duso for the fast part of the dance. This is the story behind Dimna Juda:

According to an old folk tale from the Maleševija area of Macedonia, “Dimna Juda” was the name of a samovila or fairy-witch who built a palace on Vlaina Mountain.

She went to the village of Kratevo and demanded to be given: three bachelors, three maidens, and three children. For this small tribute, she promised never to put a curse on the village.

But the villagers tried to bargain with her and offered gold for the young men, silver for the young women and pearls for the young children.

In a fit of anger for their impudence, she took, instead, 100 young bachelors and 100 maidens and 100 children from the village. The 100 bachelors were forced to build her palace while the young girls danced the oro and the children picked wild flowers (xeranthemums).

The two dance recordings we have use only a few verses which tell bits and pieces of the whole story. The entire folk tale appears in Maleševski Narodni Pesni by Stanko Kostić, Skopje 1959.