Hatchet dance from southeastern Poland, Tatra Mountains area.
Zakopane Mountain Ethnic Folkdance Festival, September 1984
From JVC Video Anthology of World Music & Dance Vol 21 Europe 1
The notes accompanying this video are given below:
Zbójnicki — hatchet dance, southeastern Poland, Tatra Mountain area
Zakopane Mountain Ethnic Folk Dance Festival
September 1984/Zakopane, Poland
Extending from southern Poland to eastern Slovakia and the western Ukraine, the Carpathian Mountains have provided a vast grazing area for sheep since ancient times. These mountains have also nurtured a unique culture. Dances featuring groups of men are performed in this area, and the zbójnicki is one of these. This dance is danced exclusively by men, from four to sixteen in number.
Accompanying this dance is a light, quadruplemeter, repeated melody, played by violins and a
contrabass. The dancers bring together the hatchets they are holding, bend their knees and leap,
stamp their feet, and dance with vigorous body movements. The word zbójnicki is said to derive from the name of a chivalrous bandit named Zbojnik, who in legend protected the persecuted poor people in the Carpathian Mountains. Zbojnik also frequently figures in folk songs, and the zbójnicki is the dance he is said to have danced around a campfire while singing songs of battle.
