Hopkele    Dance Notes

LITVAK DANCE- arranged by Steve raub

Formation: Couples in a circle facing CCW, man on left, inside hands joined at shoulder height.

Figure 1 -Polka and Litvak skips (man and woman opposite footwork)
Cts
+1+2 Polka on outside foot (hop and step lightly forward 3 steps)
+3+4 Polka on inside foot (hop 123)
+5+6 hop step, hop step,
+7+8 hop step, hop step (4 hop steps, total)
(Hop steps have a skipping quality, with the accent on the +)
Repeat Figure 1

Figure 2 – Back and Front
Cts
1+ Slide inside foot fwd, while swinging arm fwd, to end up back to back
2+ Step on inside foot
3+ pivot on inside foot, and swing outside foot and arm fwd, to end up face to face
4+ step on outside foot, prepare to pivot.
Repeat 3 more times.
End facing partner, weight on both feet, drop hands.

Figure 3 - Litvak scoop and turn (both man and woman same foot)
Cts
1,2 touch R heel diagonally fwd, while bringing R palm to partner’s palm, waist height (ct 1) then place weight on R foot, rocking up to toe, while lifting R arm(ct 2)
3 step back onto L foot in place
4 step back onto R foot beside L
5,6,7,8 repeat on L side.
1-8 holding both partner’s hands at shoulder height, circle around once together CW using 8 hop steps(start by hopping on the + of ct 8)
Repeat Figure 3

Figure 4- Balance and turn under (man’s R hand hold’s lady’s L hand)
Cts
1+2 balance toward partner with R foot(RLR)
3+4 balance away from partner with L foot (LRL)
5,6,7,8 Exhange places with a half turn, lady passing under man’s arm.
(this is like the folk dance Korobushka)
Repeat figure 4 three more times