PASARELSKA Bulgarian
PRONUNCIATION:	pah-sah-REHL-skah
TRANSLATION:	From Pasarel
SOURCE:	Dick Oakes learned this dance from Rubi Vučeta, a prominent Balkan dance leader and teacher in the 1950s and 1960s in the Los Angeles, California, area. Rubi taught the dance as described below. Measures 6 and 7 are danced differently in the San Francisco bay area as taught by Dean Linscott.
BACKGROUND:	Pasarel (Dolni Pasarel), Bulgaria, is home to a nearby moderately-sized hydro-electric power station commissioned in 1956. The town is located on the Iskar River some twenty kilometers southeast of the center of Sophia and just five kilometers from the Iskar reservoir. The dance is said to have been translated from a Bulgarian dance book in the 1960s, but no other information has been found.
MUSIC:	XOPO (45rpm) X-330 XOPO (LP) X-LP-4, Horo and Racenica Dances of Bulgaria Mediterranean (45 rpm) 4003 DANSSA (LP) Bulgarian Folklore Songs & Horos, "Makadonsko Horo"
FORMATION:	Lines of mixed M and W with hands grasping neighbors' belts in "X" pos with R arm under, L arm over, leader at R end. End dancers hold free hand on hip (often with fingers pointed back) or leader may flourish a handkerchief.
METER/RHYTHM:	7/8. Pasarelska is played in a "slow-quick-quick" rhythm pattern conventionally notated in 7/8 meter, with three dancers beats or counts. After several measures, the tempo quickens into 7/16 meter.
STEPS/STYLE:	Movements are small and sharp and the knees are flexed. The style is simple, rustic, and unsophisticated. In the San Francisco bay area, measures 6 and 7 are danced differently from these notes as taught by Dean Linscott.
MEAS	MOVEMENT DESCRIPTION
	INTRODUCTION - None.
	THE DANCE
1	Facing ctr, leaning fwd at hips, and looking R, step R swd (ct 1); step L across in front of R (ct 2); pause (ct 3);
2	Repeat action of meas 1;
3	Straightening body and looking fwd, small step R swd and slightly back, bending supporting knee slightly (ct 1); step L next to R (ct 2); step R next to L (ct 3);
4	Small step L swd, bending supporting knee slightly (ct 1); step R next to L (ct 2); step L next to R (ct 3);
5	Moving twd ctr, step R (ct 1); step L (ct 2); rise on L, raising bent R knee in front (ct 3);
6	Repeat action of meas 5;
7	Keeping bent R knee raised, rise again on L, pivoting to face L (ct 1); step R swd twd ctr (ct 2); bending R knee and bending fwd slightly at hips, stamp L next to R (ct 3);
8	Straightening body and turning to face ctr, step L bwd, bending supporting knee slightly (ct 1); step R bwd (ct 2); step L bwd (ct 3);
9	Step R bwd, bending supporting knee slightly (ct 1); step L bwd (ct 2); step R bwd (ct 3);
10	Step L diag, bending supporting knee slightly (ct 1); step R in front of L (ct 2); step L in place (ct 3).
	Repeat entire dance from beg.
1	NOTE: After the tempo quickens, the music becomes so fast that the the rise on ct 1 of meas 7 becomes the beg of a leap that ends on ct 2.
Copyright © 2012 by Dick Oakes