Pe picior and similar Banat dances

On this page I have included mostly the dances in Marcu’s category of “swaying” dances (Leuca, Pe picior and Lența (variant 3)) which he linked by observation of a characteristic body swaying movement when changing body weight from one foot to the other.[1]

Grupa D. Jocuri cu legănări de corp şi schimbarea greutăţii corpului de pe un picior pe altul.

Ionel Marcu[1]

In addition to Marcu’s movement observations, these and other couple dances from the Banat plain also have a step pattern structure of “1101” in Leibman notation[2] – “slow-slow-quick-quick-slow”. This this step pattern is the same as the Banat Hora and the mountain De doi through the common use of “1101” step pattern, however these dances appear to be specifically Banat plain dances.

My grouping of Marcu’s “swaying dances” and “1101” step pattern couple dances includes: Legănata, Lența, Leuca, Pe picior, Cărăbășeasca, Iedera, and Pogacea.

There are two musical notations of Leuca by Bartók,[3] Cârnaleuca and Babaleuca. Cârnaleuca from Jadani (Timiș) is a similar melody to Leuca (Satchinez). Leuca is often the name for a men’s chain dance such as Druga Leuca[1] so we cannot know if Babaleuca (Seleuș) is a column dance.

Cărăbășeasca is named after the local name for a bagpipe and is played on a violin in a way that imitates the sound made by this bagpipe. Recordings include Cărăbășeasca Efta Botoca (EPD 1288/2), Joc ca din cimpoi Nelu Stan – Vioară (ST-EPE 01336/3). Cărăbă Ensemble folklorique Banatul (ST-EPE 01263/1).

Click for more details …
dance title “1101” form other figures
Pe picior (Satchinez)[1] Bilateral in column formation
Pe-un picior  (Șeitin, Arad)[4] Bilateral in column formation Bilateral promenading column formation. Turning as a couple.
P-on picior (Cuvin, Arad)[5] Bilateral in column formation
Legănata de la Cornești[1] Bilateral in column formation Walking turn with partner
Lența leganata (Comoșul Mare)[1] Bilateral in column formation
Leuca (Satchinez)[1] Bilateral in column formation 3+3+7 (similar pattern to the Măzărica, Toldăul, Poșovoaica type)
Cărăbășeasca (Izvin)[1] Bilateral in column formation with sways Turning as a couple then four leap-point steps in place.
Iedera (Banloc)[1] Bilateral in column formation with sways

Pe picior, Pre picior or Pe picioare

Efta Botoca – vioară – Pe picior din Unip

The earliest documentation I can find is from an event in 1894 in Arad where Pre picior follows Hora and Ardeleana[6]. Bartók[1] noted this dance for couples in 1912– 1913, not in a group formation, using the hold with man’s hands on woman’s hips, women’s hands on partner’s shoulders whereas Marcu in the 1960s describes Pe picior (Satchinez) as couples in column formation.[1] This discrepancy in formation, where Bartók documents a formation with scattered couples and Marcu notates a formation with couples in a column is the same as for the dances Pre loc and Întoarsa.

The step patterns described by Marcu (Pe picior (Satchinez)[1] and Nistor (Pe-un picior (Șeitin, Arad)[4] and P-on picior (Cuvin, Arad)[5] have a “weight change” step pattern (1101 in Leibman notation). The form of the dance in Șeitin (Arad) described by Nistor is very similar to the De doi of the Banat hills and mountain regions.

Rhythm

Petrică Pașca – Pe picior din Podgorie

South of the Mureș valley region the notations are in binary 2/4 meter; in the Banat plain[1], in the Făget region[7] and Valea Carașului region.[8] There are recordings on the state record label (Electrecord) by local musicians Efta Botoca (ST-EPE 03783) and Ion Peptenar (ST-EPE 03653).

Bartók[1] notated the melodies in asymmetric rhythm in the locations of Mănăștur (Arad) (7/8 as 3+2+2) and Pârnești (Arad) in various different asymmetric combinations (2+2+3+3 or 4+3+3 or 2+2+3+2 or 4+3+2). This use of asymmetric rhythm is consistent with the 7/8 rhythm music notations[4] [5] [9] and recordings (Arad orchestra, Rapsozii Zarandului (ST-EPE 03781)) in the Mureș valley region of Arad. Rather confusingly Institutul de Folclor[10] has the version from Covăsinț (1930) notated in 2/4.

Locations

Bartók (Bartók, 1967:36) recorded melodies with a tempo range of 136–160 beats per minute in seven locations in Banat, in the northern Timiș and Arad region regions. The location distribution of the published and recorded examples is along the Mureș valley, in the Făget region and some scattered villages in the northern part of Timiș county.

Click for more details …
Notation / recording Locations – binary rhythm Locations – asymmetric rhythm
Bela Bartók[3] Ghilad, Cernadul Mare, Săvârșin,  Mănăștur, Tolvadia (Livezile) Mănăștur, Pârnești
Tiberiu Brediceanu[11] Bata, Belotinț, Birchiș, Chelmac, Jupani, Lipova
Ionel Marcu[1] Satchinez
Sava Ilici[7] Făget
Achim Penda[8] Românești, Dubești, Pădurani, Ciclova, Naidăș Sâmbăteni
Ioan Florea[9] Semlac Sâmbăteni, Pârnești,  Covăsinț, Felnac, Roşia Nouă, Cuvin
Viorel Nistor[4] Șeitin, Cuvin
Ion Peptenar (ST-EPE 03653) Bazosul Vechi
Rapsozii Zarandului (ST-EPE 03781) Semlac, Mândruloc
Efta Botica (ST-EPE 03783) Unip

References

  1. Marcu, Ionel, Cărăuș, Mara & Ilici, Sava L (1964). Dansuri populare din județul Timiș. Timișoara: Comitetul de Cultura și Educăție Socialista al judetului Timiș, Centrul de Ȋndrumare a creație populare și amișcării artisce de masă.
  2. Leibman, Robert Henry (1992). Dancing bears and purple transformations: the structure of dance in the Balkans. Doctor of Philosophy doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
  3. Bartók, Béla (1967) Rumanian folk music. Volume 1: Instrumental melodies. 1. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
  4. Costea, Ștefan, Costea, Dumitru d. & Nistor, Viorel (1998). Șeitin - O așezare milenară românească de pe Mureșul Inferior. Arad, Editura Mirador.
  5. Nistor, Viorel (1991). Folclore coregrafic Vol 2. București: Editura muzicala a uniunii compozitorilor si muzicologilor.
  6. Ursulescu, Moise (1894). Sfinţirea șeolei române ortodoxe din Ecica-română - 16 August v. 1894. Biserica si scol’a. Foia bisericesca, scolastica, literaria si economica; 4 September 1894 36. Arad: Episcopiei Aradului.
  7. Ilici, Sava L (1964). Melodii de jocuri din bănățene. Timișoara, Casa regională a creației populare Banat.
  8. Penda, Achim (1974). Melodii de Jocuri din Banat. Timișoara: Centru de indrumare a creației populare județul Timiș.
  9. Florea, Ioan T (1974). Folclor Muzical din Judeţul Arad - 500 melodii de joc. Arad: Centrul Creației Populare Arad.
  10. Institutul de Folclor (1955) 100 melodii de jocuri din Ardeal. București:, Editura de stat pentru literatura se arta.
  11. Brediceanu, Tiberiu (1972). Melodii populare Romanesti din Banat. București: Editura muzicala a uniunii compozitorilor.
Published on 1st May 2023