Aghcheekneroo Par (Armenia)

Aghcheekneroo Par

Armenia

These notes ©2016, Andrew Carnie. Originally taught by Tom Bozigian, who learned it at the Sayat Nova State Choreographic School. The music was composed by Khachatur Avetisyan.

Music: Music for Dances GT2001; https://yaledog.bandcamp.com/track/aghcheekneroo-par
Meter: 6/4
Formation: Circle, L hand on back of neighbor, R hand up above head
Introduction: 4 bars.

Part 1

Bar 1: Step R to R (123), Cross L over R (456)
Bar 2: Stop R to R, with knee bent (1,2), Step backwards on ball of L foot (3), Step back on ball of R next to L (4) Cross L over R (56)
Bar 3-4: repeat bars 1-2, except step R to R on last count (6)
Bar 5:  Cross L over R, with a knee bend (12), step R to R (3), Cross L over R, with knee bend (45), step R to R (3), R hand rotates CCW at wrist.
Bar 6:  Cross L over R, with a knee bend (12), step R to R (3), Cross L over R, with knee bend (45), Pivot on L to face RLOD, arm lowers down and points in RLOD
Bar 7: Step on R toe (1), L toe (2), R toe (3), L toe (4), R toe (5), Step on L full foot (6)
Bar 8: Step backwards on R (123), Rock forward on L (456)
Bar 9: Starting to trace a CCW individual circle, Step R, with arms parallel to floor, swaying to the R (12), Step L, arms to L (3), Step  R, arms to R (4), Step L, arms to L (5), hold.
Bars 10-12: repeat bar 9, three more times to finish the circle.
Bar 13: Step on R, backwards behind L, raising L hand and lowering R (1,2), Step L (3), R (4), L (5), R, with a knee bend (6), while turning CCW to face RLOD, and raising R hand part ways up and lowering L
Bar 14: repeat bar 13 with opposite footwork
Bars 15-16: repeat bars 13-14, except end with arms in the position at the beginning of the dance
Bars 17-32: repeat bars 1-16

Transition

Bar 1: Cross R foot over left and pivot all the way around, with hands crossed in front
Bar 2: Kneel on R knee, extending hands from right to left, parallel to floor.

Part 2

Bar 1: Arms swing to R (123), Arms swing to L (456)
Bar 2: Arms swing to R (123), Arms  make a CCW circle around in front of face, to swing out to L (456)
Bars 3-4: Repeat bars 1-2, with opposite directions
Bar 5: "Carding the wool", turn hands around each other twice, inwards towards body, end with R hand pointing up and L hand near R Elbow [Note in the video below they Point, card wool, and point again]
Bar 6: Repeat bar 5 with opposite hands
Bars 7-8: Repeat bars 5-6
Bar 9: Standing up but with L foot still in front of the R, with knee bent, Arms straight forward, raise R arm up with hand trailing (123), Lower R hand and raise L, with hand trailing (345)
Bar 10: As in bar 9, raise R (12), Raise L (3), Raise R (456)
Bars 11-12: repeat bars 9-10 with opposite hands
Bar 13: Starting with  hands above head in Y position step on R toe to R (123), Cross L over R with a knee bend (456), Arms swing down to R then across body to L. [In Bozigian's notes it says to hold pinky fingers with neighbors -- they don't do this in the video below], eyes follow hand movements
Bar 14-16: Repeat bar 13, three more times

Part 3

Repeat bars 1-16 of part 1
Except end with a sweep of the R foot to R (or as in the video below, kneel on R knee)

Other Videos on the web

Other notes on the web

• Page 171 Stockton Folk Dance Camp Syllabus (1974) 
• page 3 of (1976) Santa Barbara Folk Dance Symposium 
• (1979) Santa Barbara Folk Dance Symposium 
• (1988) Santa Barbara Folk Dance Symposium 
• Page 1 of (1991) Santa Barbara Folk Dance Symposium 
• http://sfdh.us/encyclopedia/aghcheekneroo_par.html

Other sources

• Casey (1981) International Folk Dance USA
• Unpublished notes.

Also spelled: Bar;