Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Baku - Soul of Art and Dance festival has been held at the Seaside Boulevard, near the State Puppet Theater.

For seven days, dancers from Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Iran and Turkey pleased Baku residents and foreign guests.

The festival was attended by dancers, young singers, and involved open dance lessons, Trend Life reported.

The project was co-organized by Baku Boulevard Administration, the Youth Union and the Azerbaijan Dance Association.

Aziz Azizov, President of the Azerbaijan Dance Association and board member of the Youth Union, stressed that the main goal of the festival is to promote a healthy lifestyle among young people, the country's cultural heritage and national dance art.

The festival participants proved once again that it is very much true that anyone can dance. All you need is to believe in yourself!

Azerbaijani culture is rich in various kinds of folk dances. Traditional dances are among the most prominent cultural heritage of Azerbaijani people that passed through generations.

Azerbaijani folk dances have a very ancient history, which is evidenced by the rock carvings depicted in Gobustan. The first dances were ceremonial and hunting ones. Since the early Middle Ages, various kinds of dances have started to form in Azerbaijan.

As a rule, an Azerbaijani dance is divided into the three parts: the first part is a circle, the dancer holds the body high; the second – congealing on the spot (suzme) and the third – again the circling. The third part is characterized by rhythm and strong emotions.

Many dances, especially the old ones, were called after the most beloved animals or plants. These include "gazelle", "lale" (field poppy), "benovshe" (violet), etc.

The dances of male and female sharply differ from each other.

Women's dances are characterized by soft lyricism and plasticity of graceful smooth movement.

Long skirt defines the tender movement of feet. The dance is focused entirely on used technique of upper parts of arm and corpse (shoulder, head, mimics of face, etc.).

The main feature of male dance is technique of feet. The dancer stands quickly on the tiptoe, and then quickly falls on his knee, etc.

Azerbaijani dances have long history of formation.

The first professional dance group in Azerbaijan was created in 1938 on the basis of amateur performance. The ensemble performed with a diverse repertoire, consisting of ancient and modern folk dances.

In 1959, a girlish amateur dance ensemble "Chinar" was created in Azerbaijan under the leadership of Amina Dilbazi. Soon this collective became a professional folk ensemble.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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