Pontos
Greeks had lived along the southeastern coast of the Black Sea from ancient times until they were re-settled in the 1920s, mainly into Macedonia. Because many were moved into new villages, some remote and isolated from their neighbours, they have been able to preserve some of the traditions they brought from Turkey, including their unusual music and dances.
Pontic dances tend to be performed with a trembling, almost jerky movement. Steps are simple, with almost no variations, and done on the balls of the feet, with a slight bend to the knees. Some popular dances are Tik, Dipat, Letsina and Serenitsa, all of which are accompanied by the characteristic shake of the shoulders.
By contrast, dances whose name starts in Omal - "smooth" - do not have this trembling movement (the second part of the name indicates the area from which the dance comes, e.g. Omal Trapezoundas from Trebizond). Most dances move to the right, with the exception of Trygona, and hands are sometimes on the neighbours' shoulders, as in Kotsari, sometimes clasped at shoulder height, as in Dipat, and may be lowered and then raised to straight above the head, as in Omal Kerasoundas.
A spectacular Pontic dance, often used as the finale to a performance, is Serra - a knife dance performed by two men. It is basically a series of improvisations with the men moving round each other, stamping, shaking their shoulders and wielding their knives. For the climax, one dancer is "killed" and the other performs a dance of triumph around his lifeless body.
