An Introduction to Uzbek Dance
by Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray
copyright 1995 and 2009 by Laurel Victoria Gray, all rights reserved
The dance traditions of present-day Uzbekistan have been enriched by numerous
cultures over the centuries because of the its central locations on the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes which linked China with the Mediterranean.
Once known as Bactria, Transoxiana, Maveranaher, and Turkestan, the area was first inhabited between 55,000 to 70,000 years ago. The ancient tribes that lived in
Central Asia left petroglyphs, bas-reliefs, clay sculptures, and other artifacts depicting dancers and musicians. Later peoples continued to portray dancing figures in wooden and clay sculptures, wall paintings, ornaments and drawings on serving vessels of precious metal. Pictures dating from the first centuries A.D. reflect religious, mythological, and secular subjects in which
dancing figures played an important part.
From the fourth to eighth centuries the professional dancers of Samarkand,
Bukhara and Tashkent were so widely known that they were in demand at the court
of the Chinese emperor. The Arab invasion of Central Asia in the 7th century
and adoption of Islam promoted sexual segregation and the practice of veiling.
Women danced for each other in the ich kari, or women's quarters. Public performances of dance were the domain of the batcha or dancing boy, who dressed in women's clothing, wore make-up, and mimicked female ways. A notable exception to this practice were the female court dancers depicted in miniature paintings which illustrated manuscripts produced in this area from the middle ages until the nineteenth century.
The surviving dance heritage of the Uzbek people includes both folklore and professional traditions. Folk dances fall into two general categories: dances performed at a specific time and linked to specific occasions, and dances performed at any time for entertainment.
The first group consists of ritual dances performed at festivals associated with the seasons of the year and reflecting man's relationship with nature. Especially popular were the songs and dances devoted to the pre-Islamic festival which takes place on the spring equinox. In addition to the all-night ritual of stirring a large cauldron to make sumalak, a special dish made from seven grains, festivities also included suskhotin, a dance asking
for rain and majnun tal a dance by girls with fluffy willow buds woven into their braids. Other folk dances depict daily chores, seasonal work, or important events. Some dances relate to ceremonies such as wedding and funeral dances. Vestiges of Central Asian shamanism can be linked to the incantational dances of medicine men and fortune tellers which were still common at the beginning of the twentieth century. Also still performed is the zikr , a Sufi ritual in which dancers travel in a circle with repetitive movements accompanied by chanting and percussion in order to reach a trance state.
Entertainment dances include koshuk and kairok-ufari, each distinctive to a particular area and featuring the playing of kairok, or castanets made from smooth, flat river stones or metal. Lapar is a duet to sung couplets; yalla is a solo dance accompanied by song. Gul Ufari (jocular rhythms) or khaivonlar-ufari (animal rhythms) are sometimes obvious pantomimes illustrating the habits of animals, birds, or fish; at other times they are sophisticated dances representing the stylized images of wild or domesticated animals.
Uzbek dance is characterized by intricate arm and hand movements, a variety of spins
and turns, backbends, shoulder isolations and animated facial expressions. Often portions of the dance are performed while kneeling on the floor. Footwork is relatively simple; high leaps and pelvic isolations are absent from the dance. The primary dancing is done by women and girls.
Musical accompaniment takes many forms, varying from purely rhythmic structures and
melodies of a narrow tonal range performed by a single percussion instrument or two-stringed instruments, to classical maqom (complex compositions of many parts), to works performed by a large orchestra of folk instruments with singers.
The professional dance tradition falls into three categories. The first includes raqs, oyin, and ufari, technically sophisticated dances performed by virtuoso who may improvise on
their patterns. The second group is gul ufari, the humorous, imitative form developed by dancers of the Uzbek theatre of Maskharaboz. The third category consists of dances preformed by traditional circus artists that include various acrobatic stunts.
Three regional styles of Uzbek dance, each of which has clearly defined forms and
systems of training, developed in the separate political entities which existed in the Turkestan prior to its incorporation into the Soviet Union. The Khanate of Kokand in the Ferghana Valley, the Khanate of Khiva in the Khorezm region, and the Emirate of Bukhara produced Ferghana, Khorezm, and Bukharan styles respectively.
The most lyrical of the three schools, Ferghana dance is characterized by
intricate wrist circles and undulations of the hands and arms with pliant use
of the spine and a shy, yet playful, demeanor. Khorezm dances often feature trembling of the hands and torso, frequent head slides and comic elements. The most popular of Khorezm dances, lazgi, was originally a healing dance, traditionally performed in place with the dancer standing on a large platter. Dances from Bukhara feature a proud carriage and the juxtaposition of soft, undulating movements with crisp, staccato motions. The Bukharan style is the most acrobatic of the three, requiring fast spins, sudden drops to the floor, and deep backbends.
In all three schools, the dancer may sometimes were wrist bells to add a percussive element to their movements. Traditionally, both folk and professional forms of Uzbek dance were of a solo nature with group dances being virtually non-existent.
Although Russia conquered Turkestan in the mid nineteenth century, local traditions went largely undisturbed until 1924 when the region became incorporated into the
USSR. The Bolshevik campaign to eliminate the custom of veiling soon lead to
public performances of dance by women.
Born in Margilan in 1906, Tamara Khanum was one of the first women to defy
tradition and perform unveiled, often courting death at the hands of reactionaries. In 1924, she performed Uzbek dance at the World Exposition in Paris, marking the first time in modern history that Central Asian dance had been seen in the West. One of Tamara Khanum's colleagues, a young dancer named Nurkhon, was murdered by her own brother for dishonoring the family by dancing in public. Nurkhon later became the subject of a musical drama by Kamil Yashin.
The Uzbek Ethnographic Company was established in 1926 create concerts staged by
masters of traditional dance. Ten years later the first Uzbek folk song and dance ensemble was formed and, in 1956, another collective Shod (Joy) was established. In 1958, an ethnographic song and dance company was created in Khorezm but the most celebrated of all Uzbek dance ensembles, Bakhor (Spring) was founded in 1957. Under the artistic direction of Mukaram Turgunbaeva, Bakhor developed a repertoire of group and solo dances based on Uzbek traditions but employing Western techniques of staging and choreography. Bakhor has toured throughout the world and at its zenith consisted of 45 young dancers who performed with an orchestra of native musicians. Nearly one hundred
amateur companies exist, some of which perform dances reflecting local themes and genres.
The first contemporary dance studios were founded between 1927 and 1932. Isadora Duncan performed in Tashkent and Samarkand in 1924 and later, her adopted daughter taught special classes at the Tashkent Choreographic Institute. In 1947 the Tashkent ballet
school was founded, with departments for both classical and folk dance. Since 1970, folk dance choreographers have been trained at the Tashkent Institute of Culture with teachers not only from Tashkent, but Leningrad and Moscow as well.
The first Uzbek musical theater was established in 1929 and the pantomime Pak (Cotton) was staged there in 1933, with choreography by Konstantin Bek, Usta Kamilov, and Mukaram Turgunbaeva. Five years later the theater staged Shakhuda, a ballet on the political theme of the struggle against the reactionary Basmatchi bandits, with choreography by Kamilov, Turgunbaeva, and Alexander Tomsky. In both cases, the dances were based on folk from but classical elements were also introduced. In 1939, the Uzbek Opera and Ballet Theater named for Alisher Navoi opened in Tashkent. This theater eventually received the title of "Bolshoi" an honor shared only with the cities of Moscow and Minsk in the former Soviet Union. Two of Uzbekistan's first native ballerinas were Galia Ismailova and Bernara Karieva, who performed both Traditional Uzbek dance as
well as classical ballet.
In addition to ballets from the classical repertory, Uzbek choreographers have created their own works, developing new forms through a synthesis of classical and traditional dance. Amulet of Love, Poem of Two Hearts, and Tomiris are examples of these ballets. One of the most popular is Guliandom (1940) by Vera Gubstkaya, I. Arbatov, Tamara Khanum. On the basis of folk melodies collected by Gavkhar Rakhimova, the composer Evgeny Brusilovsky created the score, boldly introducing quotations from folk themes. The
choreographers created the dance character of the hero by combing classical
ballet with traditional Uzbek dance elements. Leading contemporary choreographers of classical and traditional dance are Galia Ismailova, Ibragim Yusupov, Kadir Muminov, Viktoria Akilova, Yulduz Ismatova, Damira Sagirova, Akbar Muminov, Sonmas Burhkanov, Takhir Dusmetov, and Inna Gorlina.
Uzbekistan declared its independence on August 31, 1991, and annually celebrates this event with festivities in which dance plays a central role. Each year members of
Tashkent's professional dance ensembles participate in a mass dance, with music and choreography specially created for the Independence Day�s central concert. The
ancient celebration of the spring holiday of Navruz has also enjoyed a renaissance in the post-Soviet era, with numerous concerts featurig dance and a competition between professional dance companies for the best new festival program. Hyper-inflation and the need for reduced government spending has forced many ensembles to drastically reduce their size. Some professional dancers and musicians have been forced to seek employment outside of the arts since the once adequate government-paid salaries are no longer sufficient for economic survival. Small, privately sponsored dance groups have sprung up,
entertaining tourists, foreign business people, and nightclub clientele.
Traditional Uzbek dance has become more commercial in nature, abandoning many of the older classical dances in favor of more lively numbers performed to ethno-pop style
music. Access to foreign textiles and trims has resulted in traditional-style costuming being replaced by sequined gowns and rhinestone tiaras. Arabic and Turkish style dances and more revealing costumes have also become popular at concerts.Some professional companies and numerous amateur ensembles endeavor to preserve Uzbek dance traditions. Dance remains central to Uzbek life. No wedding is complete without it and televised dance performances enjoy great popularity, giving leading dancers celebrity status.
Expanded contact with the outside world, especially in the 1980s, encouraged Western dance forms to flourish in the Uzbekistan, including ballroom dance and American break-dance, aerobics, and hip-hop. Cultural exchange, most notably through the sister-city relationship between Tashkent and Seattle, resulted in an increased interest in Uzbek dance abroad with non-Uzbeks in the United States and Europe studying and performing traditional choreographies. In 1985, the Uzbek Dance and Culture Society was founded in the United States to preserve and promote Central Asian culture. Today it has members in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia.
copyright 1995 and 2009 by Laurel Victoria Gray
cultures over the centuries because of the its central locations on the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes which linked China with the Mediterranean.
Once known as Bactria, Transoxiana, Maveranaher, and Turkestan, the area was first inhabited between 55,000 to 70,000 years ago. The ancient tribes that lived in
Central Asia left petroglyphs, bas-reliefs, clay sculptures, and other artifacts depicting dancers and musicians. Later peoples continued to portray dancing figures in wooden and clay sculptures, wall paintings, ornaments and drawings on serving vessels of precious metal. Pictures dating from the first centuries A.D. reflect religious, mythological, and secular subjects in which
dancing figures played an important part.
From the fourth to eighth centuries the professional dancers of Samarkand,
Bukhara and Tashkent were so widely known that they were in demand at the court
of the Chinese emperor. The Arab invasion of Central Asia in the 7th century
and adoption of Islam promoted sexual segregation and the practice of veiling.
Women danced for each other in the ich kari, or women's quarters. Public performances of dance were the domain of the batcha or dancing boy, who dressed in women's clothing, wore make-up, and mimicked female ways. A notable exception to this practice were the female court dancers depicted in miniature paintings which illustrated manuscripts produced in this area from the middle ages until the nineteenth century.
The surviving dance heritage of the Uzbek people includes both folklore and professional traditions. Folk dances fall into two general categories: dances performed at a specific time and linked to specific occasions, and dances performed at any time for entertainment.
The first group consists of ritual dances performed at festivals associated with the seasons of the year and reflecting man's relationship with nature. Especially popular were the songs and dances devoted to the pre-Islamic festival which takes place on the spring equinox. In addition to the all-night ritual of stirring a large cauldron to make sumalak, a special dish made from seven grains, festivities also included suskhotin, a dance asking
for rain and majnun tal a dance by girls with fluffy willow buds woven into their braids. Other folk dances depict daily chores, seasonal work, or important events. Some dances relate to ceremonies such as wedding and funeral dances. Vestiges of Central Asian shamanism can be linked to the incantational dances of medicine men and fortune tellers which were still common at the beginning of the twentieth century. Also still performed is the zikr , a Sufi ritual in which dancers travel in a circle with repetitive movements accompanied by chanting and percussion in order to reach a trance state.
Entertainment dances include koshuk and kairok-ufari, each distinctive to a particular area and featuring the playing of kairok, or castanets made from smooth, flat river stones or metal. Lapar is a duet to sung couplets; yalla is a solo dance accompanied by song. Gul Ufari (jocular rhythms) or khaivonlar-ufari (animal rhythms) are sometimes obvious pantomimes illustrating the habits of animals, birds, or fish; at other times they are sophisticated dances representing the stylized images of wild or domesticated animals.
Uzbek dance is characterized by intricate arm and hand movements, a variety of spins
and turns, backbends, shoulder isolations and animated facial expressions. Often portions of the dance are performed while kneeling on the floor. Footwork is relatively simple; high leaps and pelvic isolations are absent from the dance. The primary dancing is done by women and girls.
Musical accompaniment takes many forms, varying from purely rhythmic structures and
melodies of a narrow tonal range performed by a single percussion instrument or two-stringed instruments, to classical maqom (complex compositions of many parts), to works performed by a large orchestra of folk instruments with singers.
The professional dance tradition falls into three categories. The first includes raqs, oyin, and ufari, technically sophisticated dances performed by virtuoso who may improvise on
their patterns. The second group is gul ufari, the humorous, imitative form developed by dancers of the Uzbek theatre of Maskharaboz. The third category consists of dances preformed by traditional circus artists that include various acrobatic stunts.
Three regional styles of Uzbek dance, each of which has clearly defined forms and
systems of training, developed in the separate political entities which existed in the Turkestan prior to its incorporation into the Soviet Union. The Khanate of Kokand in the Ferghana Valley, the Khanate of Khiva in the Khorezm region, and the Emirate of Bukhara produced Ferghana, Khorezm, and Bukharan styles respectively.
The most lyrical of the three schools, Ferghana dance is characterized by
intricate wrist circles and undulations of the hands and arms with pliant use
of the spine and a shy, yet playful, demeanor. Khorezm dances often feature trembling of the hands and torso, frequent head slides and comic elements. The most popular of Khorezm dances, lazgi, was originally a healing dance, traditionally performed in place with the dancer standing on a large platter. Dances from Bukhara feature a proud carriage and the juxtaposition of soft, undulating movements with crisp, staccato motions. The Bukharan style is the most acrobatic of the three, requiring fast spins, sudden drops to the floor, and deep backbends.
In all three schools, the dancer may sometimes were wrist bells to add a percussive element to their movements. Traditionally, both folk and professional forms of Uzbek dance were of a solo nature with group dances being virtually non-existent.
Although Russia conquered Turkestan in the mid nineteenth century, local traditions went largely undisturbed until 1924 when the region became incorporated into the
USSR. The Bolshevik campaign to eliminate the custom of veiling soon lead to
public performances of dance by women.
Born in Margilan in 1906, Tamara Khanum was one of the first women to defy
tradition and perform unveiled, often courting death at the hands of reactionaries. In 1924, she performed Uzbek dance at the World Exposition in Paris, marking the first time in modern history that Central Asian dance had been seen in the West. One of Tamara Khanum's colleagues, a young dancer named Nurkhon, was murdered by her own brother for dishonoring the family by dancing in public. Nurkhon later became the subject of a musical drama by Kamil Yashin.
The Uzbek Ethnographic Company was established in 1926 create concerts staged by
masters of traditional dance. Ten years later the first Uzbek folk song and dance ensemble was formed and, in 1956, another collective Shod (Joy) was established. In 1958, an ethnographic song and dance company was created in Khorezm but the most celebrated of all Uzbek dance ensembles, Bakhor (Spring) was founded in 1957. Under the artistic direction of Mukaram Turgunbaeva, Bakhor developed a repertoire of group and solo dances based on Uzbek traditions but employing Western techniques of staging and choreography. Bakhor has toured throughout the world and at its zenith consisted of 45 young dancers who performed with an orchestra of native musicians. Nearly one hundred
amateur companies exist, some of which perform dances reflecting local themes and genres.
The first contemporary dance studios were founded between 1927 and 1932. Isadora Duncan performed in Tashkent and Samarkand in 1924 and later, her adopted daughter taught special classes at the Tashkent Choreographic Institute. In 1947 the Tashkent ballet
school was founded, with departments for both classical and folk dance. Since 1970, folk dance choreographers have been trained at the Tashkent Institute of Culture with teachers not only from Tashkent, but Leningrad and Moscow as well.
The first Uzbek musical theater was established in 1929 and the pantomime Pak (Cotton) was staged there in 1933, with choreography by Konstantin Bek, Usta Kamilov, and Mukaram Turgunbaeva. Five years later the theater staged Shakhuda, a ballet on the political theme of the struggle against the reactionary Basmatchi bandits, with choreography by Kamilov, Turgunbaeva, and Alexander Tomsky. In both cases, the dances were based on folk from but classical elements were also introduced. In 1939, the Uzbek Opera and Ballet Theater named for Alisher Navoi opened in Tashkent. This theater eventually received the title of "Bolshoi" an honor shared only with the cities of Moscow and Minsk in the former Soviet Union. Two of Uzbekistan's first native ballerinas were Galia Ismailova and Bernara Karieva, who performed both Traditional Uzbek dance as
well as classical ballet.
In addition to ballets from the classical repertory, Uzbek choreographers have created their own works, developing new forms through a synthesis of classical and traditional dance. Amulet of Love, Poem of Two Hearts, and Tomiris are examples of these ballets. One of the most popular is Guliandom (1940) by Vera Gubstkaya, I. Arbatov, Tamara Khanum. On the basis of folk melodies collected by Gavkhar Rakhimova, the composer Evgeny Brusilovsky created the score, boldly introducing quotations from folk themes. The
choreographers created the dance character of the hero by combing classical
ballet with traditional Uzbek dance elements. Leading contemporary choreographers of classical and traditional dance are Galia Ismailova, Ibragim Yusupov, Kadir Muminov, Viktoria Akilova, Yulduz Ismatova, Damira Sagirova, Akbar Muminov, Sonmas Burhkanov, Takhir Dusmetov, and Inna Gorlina.
Uzbekistan declared its independence on August 31, 1991, and annually celebrates this event with festivities in which dance plays a central role. Each year members of
Tashkent's professional dance ensembles participate in a mass dance, with music and choreography specially created for the Independence Day�s central concert. The
ancient celebration of the spring holiday of Navruz has also enjoyed a renaissance in the post-Soviet era, with numerous concerts featurig dance and a competition between professional dance companies for the best new festival program. Hyper-inflation and the need for reduced government spending has forced many ensembles to drastically reduce their size. Some professional dancers and musicians have been forced to seek employment outside of the arts since the once adequate government-paid salaries are no longer sufficient for economic survival. Small, privately sponsored dance groups have sprung up,
entertaining tourists, foreign business people, and nightclub clientele.
Traditional Uzbek dance has become more commercial in nature, abandoning many of the older classical dances in favor of more lively numbers performed to ethno-pop style
music. Access to foreign textiles and trims has resulted in traditional-style costuming being replaced by sequined gowns and rhinestone tiaras. Arabic and Turkish style dances and more revealing costumes have also become popular at concerts.Some professional companies and numerous amateur ensembles endeavor to preserve Uzbek dance traditions. Dance remains central to Uzbek life. No wedding is complete without it and televised dance performances enjoy great popularity, giving leading dancers celebrity status.
Expanded contact with the outside world, especially in the 1980s, encouraged Western dance forms to flourish in the Uzbekistan, including ballroom dance and American break-dance, aerobics, and hip-hop. Cultural exchange, most notably through the sister-city relationship between Tashkent and Seattle, resulted in an increased interest in Uzbek dance abroad with non-Uzbeks in the United States and Europe studying and performing traditional choreographies. In 1985, the Uzbek Dance and Culture Society was founded in the United States to preserve and promote Central Asian culture. Today it has members in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia.
copyright 1995 and 2009 by Laurel Victoria Gray
