Choros (dance)

Not to be confused with horos (ὅρος), a boundary marker.

Choros, khoros or horos (χορός, romanized: khorós) means "dance" in the Greek language. This word occurs in the names of numerous Greek dances, which may be literally translated as "dance of..." or "dance from...". Sometimes the word may be omitted, e.g., both "Hasapikos choros" ("Dance of butchers") and Hasapiko may be seen in use.

A chorostasi

Overview

In Ancient Greece, dance and song were inseparable parts of celebration and theatre. In fact, the word choir originates from choros as well (see: Greek chorus/khorus/horus).

Many Greek villages have a flat place Chorostasi/Khorostasi/Horostasi (Greek: Χοροστάσι, romanized: Khorostási) where dances, weddings and other events take place. The term chorostasi denotes "threshing floor", i.e., the place where the threshing of wheat was done, and after the end of harvesting it was clean and empty and hence a natural place for celebration. Therefore, it is claimed that chorostasi gave both the name choros and the circular arrangement of the movement in the dance.

The dances horo (Bulgaria) and hora (Romania) (both from Balkans), and choron/khoron/horon (Turkey) altogether with choros have an ancient origin.

See also

• List of dances sorted by ethnicity