March 23, 2026, Playlist, Hopa Hemshin (Armenia/Turkey) Dancing weekly in March, and Ajdes of March.

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Mar 24, 2026, 9:34:56 AM (2 days ago) Mar 24
to International Folk Dance Club of Detroit
Hi, dancers,
Tom didn't teach a dance this Monday, so we're featuring a dance that he introduced 
to the folk dance community when he taught it at Door County in 2023, Hopa Hemshin (Turkish/Armenian).  
Two years earlier, on May 24, 2021, during the pandemic, we featured Hopa Hemshin
in a "What-is-the-question?" email. 
Answer:  Muslims of Armenian origin living in Turkey near the Black Sea.
Question:  Who are the Hemşin (Hemshin) people?"  
Our 2021 email follows the playlist.

Dancing Fridays at the BACC and Mondays at the RO Center
weekly in March.   Directions below.

Please check Rick's IFDCD email of March 22 for complete information
on Ann Arbor 's Annual Balkan Dance and Music Night, Ajdes of March. 
March 29, from 5:00 - 10:00. THREE bands, including Veselba.
Zal Gaz Grotto:  2070 W Stadium Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, (734 )663-1202.
$25 advance, $35 at the door. You can pay with VENMO (or contact Rick).

PLAYLIST Monday, March 23, 2026

1. Elenska Racenica (Bulgaria)

2. Garoon (Armenia)

3. Zakariya (Israel/Kurdish)

4. Zurla Cocek (Macedonian Roma)

5. Ais Giorgis (Greece)

6. Sapri Tama (Israel)

7. Pomuletul (Romania)

8. Valle Toskerishte (Albania)

9. Heyamo (Turkish/Laz)

10. Ajnzerica (Croatia)

11. Sa, Sa (Serbia)

12. L’Homme Qui Marche (France)

13. Hora Lautareasca din Dolj (Romania)

14. Vikivaki (Iceland)

15. High Green Mountain (Aboriginal Taiwanese)

16. Hopa Hemsin (Armenia/Turkey)

17. Ehun Alargunen Dantza (Basque)

18. Djipaj (Bulgaria)

19. Djurdjevdan (Serbia/Roma)

20. Poskakusa (Bosnia)

21. Ne Felj Lanyom (Hungarian)

22. Cumbia Semana (USA/Colombia)

23. Biserka (Serbia

From 2021
"Our category for May 24, 2021, is international folk dancing.
Answer:  Muslims of Armenian origin living in Turkey near the Black Sea.
Question:  Who are the Hemşin (Hemshin) people?

The Hemşin people are a diverse group who live in the Hemşin and Çamlihemşin 
districts of Rize, a province in northeastern Turkey along the Black Sea. 

They were originally Armenian Christians but some evolved into a distinct Sunni 
Muslim group after the Ottoman conquest of the area in the 15th Century. 

Note:  The historic Greek name for the Black Sea was Pontus and the area was also 
called Pontus, so Greek dances from this area are called Pontic dances. The Hemşin 
have borrowed some of the instruments of the Pontic Greeks.  

Hopa Hemşin   Turkey

This Turkish version is done by the band Marsis, a Karadeniz (Black Sea) rock band from Istanbul, in the Turkish film, Moskova'nın Şifresi Temel or Moscow Password.  This is a 2012 Turkish comedy in which Temel (played by Alper Kul)  steals a suitcase full of gold that the Russian mob wants back. 
 
The dance is near the end of the movie. The dancers do not use finger holds but make some of the arm movements typical of Turkish dances.

More Turkish Hopa Hemshin - Party with the band: 


Armenians dancing Hopa Hemshin:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRRmcwgNnkk


A video of Turks doing a Hopa Hemşin dance to different music.

More:  Today, Hopa is one of the most diverse cities in Turkey with a mixed population of Turks, Laz, Georgians, and many Hamsheni Armenians who have retained their unique dialect of Armenian known as Homshetsi or Homshetsma. They form the majority of the population in and around the town of Kemalpaşa (named obviously after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk)."

(Information from Wikipedia) 


For Educational Purposes Only.
Please Support our Sources.

Friday Dancing Weekly in March
Balkan American Community Center at 7pm
1451 E Big Beaver Rd
Troy, MI 48083 
On the north side of Big Beaver just east of Rochester Rd., very close to I-75.

Donations, please. 

Monday Dancing Weekly in March
Mahaney Meininger Center, 7:30 pm
3500 Marais, Royal Oak, 48073 
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