Khumkhuma (Teen) & Tin Tin

In 2016, on Tom’s annual sojourn to Armenia, he managed to teach Khumkhuma to the right folks, and the dance has made a resurgence under a new, modified Roman transliteration of the Armenian name Խամ խամա: “Kham khama.” There are now several dozen (lots!) Armenian «Խամ խամա» uploads to YouTube.

The song is about a guy who’s too drunk to “score.” It is sung in first person, and the section of the dance with backwards movement represents how the male singer/dancer cannot get across the room to speak to an attractive woman, because he is too drunk and about to pass out. [source]

There are several variations of styling depending on the music used, dance presenter, or even the particular year that Tom Bozigian presented the dance. Just have fun, because the guy singing is really drunk, so he wouldn’t notice and doesn’t care!

Purchase CDs and DVDs from Tom Bozigian here. More interesting background info at Folkdance Footnotes.

Khumkhuma/Teen vs. Tin Tin

It took me more time than it should have to figure out that Tin Tin is actually a different dance than Khumkhuma/Teen. The problem is that the tunes, Khumkhuma; Teen; and Tin Tin, Tini Mini Hanim, can be used interchangeably for either dance, and the dances are not much different. What really messed me up is that our group in Fort Collins does the original 1978 Teen with R ahead LOD instead of R to center, and you would think I was trying to do an entirely different dance, judging by the reaction they give to my modern Khumkhuma stepping R to center. I was trying to find a major change that Tom Bozigian made in teaching the basic step (not just the styling, which it is documented Tom has changed frequently over the years), but it turns out it was something small and part of Tin Tin.

Tom Bozigian and John Filcich taught the dance “Tin Tin” in the 1970s, before the 1978 introduction of “Teen” at the Stockton folk dance camp. The origin of the dances are the same: Detroit in the 1960s, but Dick Oakes adds that he learned Tin Tin from Frances Ajoian in Fresno, California a decade earlier. Oakes classifies Tin Tin as a Kurdish dance and Teen/Khumkhuma as an “Armenian variant.”

The dance is only 8 bars, so it doesn’t take much to be proportionately different, but it mainly bars 2 & 3 that are a different take on the halay step movement. Tin Tin videos are not to be found on YouTube. However, there is what appears to be a children’s version called “Tini Mini Hanim” that’s similar to Tin Tin, but moves forward and has chugs and more stomps (see the Tin Tin section below). Somehow, Tin, Tin, Tini Mini Hanim (Oh My Tiny Little Lady) became a Turkish children’s song, also going by the title “Şeftali ağaçları” and a dance sprung forth. Folk Dance Musings describes Tin Tin dance steps and quotes Ron Huston as saying Khumkhuma and Tin Tin are the same dance, but the June/July 1971 Let’s Dance and Dick Oakes provide descriptions for Tin Tin that are different than Tom Bozigian’s Khumkhuma description.