Lecture in AGBU “Demirchyan” Centre

Lecture in Gagik Ginsyan, the Honoured Figure of Culture of the Republic of Armenia, who is currently in Beirut by a special invitation of AYA “Arin” dance group, gave a lecture on “The Origin and Formation of Armenian National Choreography.” The event took place in AGBU’s “Knight Hall’’ of “Demirchyan” Centre on Thursday, December 27 at 20:00.

Doctor Armen Yurneshlian, the director of “Andranik” cultural centre and the head of the administration made a welcome speech. Mr. Yurneshlian introduced his speech with a question: how can scientist and physicist, strategist and soldier, artist and choreographer be combined in a single personality of Gagik Ginosyan. Having analysed Mr. Ginosyan’s road taken, Mr. Yurneshlian concluded that the adherence to the ancient roots, the vow to be faithful towards them, the meticulous and analytical working style typical for a scientist, the extreme patriotism of a self-sacrificing soldier and the great influence of Hayurik Muradyan, a highly-merited person having dedicated his life to national art shaped the artist Gagik Ginosyan.

Mr. Ginosyan’s lecture was comprised of five parts.
Firstly, he mentioned the importance of a national dance as a core of cultural education. He quoted the words of Komitas Vardapet: “Dance reveals the characteristic traits of each nation.” Commenting on the above stated conviction, Mr. Ginosyan mentioned the importance of national dance choreography; national dances should be handed over to the people in a clean and purified form and thus become not only a stage culture, but an inseparable part of daily routine.

Secondly, Mr. Ginosyan referred to the peculiarities of national dances. He stated that Armenian dance is something more than a hand or foot movement: it conveys specific climatic and daily features, peculiar to one or another district of the Armenian Highland, the reflection of ancient believes (revelation of the nature, powers that were able to eliminate the evil, sun worship, to name a few), psychology of the nation (love for labour, the importance of community life), etc. Shortly, there is not a single random step in national dance: each step has its own interpretation and meaning, it is a centuries-old phenomenon.

The third part of the lecture was dedicated to the ritual origin and signification of a dance. The mixing of song, dance and environment already witnesses the dramatisation of a dance, like Tearnendaraj and some other mourning dances. Mr. Ginosyan mentioned that there are a number of dances that are devoted to a single event or phenomenon and the performance of these dances on specific days is strictly followed (dancers, environment, reason, etc.). One of similar dances is Astvatsatsna Dance (dance dedicated to Virgin Mary).

The fourth part of the lecture covered the scientific system for recording dances. The importance of this work was firstly referred to by Komitas Vardapet. Srbuhi Lisitsyan is a world-famous figure in this field: kinetography, a system designed for recording dances (the recording of head, arm, leg, feet movements, the jumping and step types, as well as other constituents) is widely used today.

In the fifth part Mr. Ginosayan presented the most peculiar and specific versions of Armenian dances. The lecturer referred to the fact that dances found among a number of nations are usually comprised of 3-4 versions, while Armenian national dances have 20 versions, the most peculiar among them are the working, pagan worshiping, military, mourning, curse and other dances. Mr. Ginosyan presented types of military dances in details, strengthening their importance in spiritual upbringing of Armenian youth.

The lecture was accompanied by a number of videos that made it more vivid.

Source: http://www.aztagdaily.com/archives/100571