Hi, dancers,
In December and January we reconnected with dances we used to enjoy. All are accessible on the internet, and most are at Folk Dance Musings.
January, 2021
1/4 Galaonul de la Barca (Romanian)
1/8 Istanbul USA -( Armenian inspired)
1/11 Sadi Moma (Bulgarian)
1/15 Sev Acherov Aghcheek (Armenian)
1/18 Bir Mumdur (Turkish)
1/22 Masa Mare si Polobucul (Bulgarian)
1/25 Jo Jon/Zhora Bar ((Armenian)
1/29 List of January and December dances
Biography:
Zhora Makarian was born in Armenia on March 02, 1917. He also used the names Jora and George.
Jo Jon/Zhora Bar is a dance that he learned as a child in the "Speetak [sic] region of Armenia."(Folk Dance Musings.) The Spitak region has been occupied for four millennia, and the town of Spitak (meaning white - սպիտակ ) was given that name in 1948 because of its location near white limestone cliffs.
It was previously known as Hamamlu, Turkish for bath.
According to Jora's daughter, Angela Savoian, her father
was shy but was pushed by his friends into dancing, and his talent was immediately recognized. In fact, his early days in dancing were honored with a gold medal in Moscow.
World War II erupted, and Jora, then living in Soviet Armenia, became a soldier in the Soviet army, fighting on the side of the Allies.
During the war, he was imprisoned in one of the infamous German POW camps, and when he asked himself why he had survived when so many other soldiers had died, he came to the realization that his role in life would be to share Armenian dance and culture.
"Somewhere between 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians served with the Soviet forces between 1941 and 1945, and as much as half of them were killed or became missing in action. " World War 2 Database
After the war, Jora met his talented wife, Elena, in a Displaced Person's camp in Stuttgart, Germany.
They performed in Germany as well as in Paris
before coming to the United States, to Detroit.
The Makarians then moved to California to an Armenian community in the Los Angeles area, and in 1968, Jora taught Zhora Bar to Tom Bozigian.
Jora directed and danced in several Armenian dance groups throughout the years. One group, the Sevan Armenian Dance Ensemble included his three children and his grandchildren. Sources mention other groups including the California Folkloric Folk Dance Ensemble and the Armen band.
This hour-long video from the Digital Library of USC shows the Makarian family performing Armenian dances on March 25,1990, at the Hollywood Bowl Museum in Los Angeles. Jora's daughter, Angela, introduces the performance with information about her father's life.
At age 73, he appears at time markers
16:12, 29:40, 49:10, and 106.
He plays different instruments, dances solo, and concludes the program with his wife, Elena.
Sources indicate that Elena may now be 94 years old and living in California. Jora died on May 01, 2009, at age 92, and Angela wrote this tribute in the Armenian Weekly as she responded to an article about aging:
"My advice to you is to use the wisdom of my father (Jora Makarian) who just passed away at 92. He would say that he didn’t know what getting old was all about since he had never been there before! He danced solo at his great grandson’s christening at 88 and would caution me to keep dancing since at times I acted older than him." 5/15/2009
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Additional Information
Armenia from 1917 to the present:
Russian Armenia, an area that had been part of the Ottoman Empire, became the First Armenian Republic in 1918.
It was succeeded in 1922 by the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.
In 1936 it became the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Armenia).
Soviet Armenia persisted until 1991 when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. At that time, a new republic was confirmed, and it came into reality in 1995, officially the Republic of Armenia,Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut'yun.
Soviet POW's
"Second only to the Jews, Soviet prisoners of war were the largest group of victims of Nazi racist policies."
The American Holocaust Museum
About Spitak
The Armenian town of Spitak was totally destroyed by an earthquake in 1988, but it has been rebuilt.
There is a 2018 Russian film, Spitak, that tells of a father searching for his family following the earthquake.
We would appreciate any corrections or additions to any of the above information.
Thanks also to Wikipedia and Search People Free
A reminder from your dance club:
Sadly, replying to this email address will not work because it's only for outgoing messages.
However, IFDCD members can communicate
(You have to be on the list to receive messages.)
Before the pandemic, our real life Friday dances at Marygrove were part of the Institute of Music and Dance (IMD), a program of the Center for Detroit Arts and Culture (CDAC).
Please note that the video content of our
online dances does not originate with our
group, is always credited to its sources, and
is for educational purposes only. We also credit explanatory information from outside sources.
Mask Up, Michigan; please stay safe and vigilant
Variants of the virus and re-openings may affect our success in bringing numbers down.
From The New York Times for Thursday, 1/28/21
New cases 2256
Weekly average 1993
Deaths 90
Hospitalizations 1907
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Compared to two weeks ago (all decreasing)
Cases -33 percent
Hospitalizations -29 percent
Deaths -26 percent
