Čerešničky

Čerešničky is a simple women’s circle dance choreographed to the popular Moravian folk song, “Čerešničky, čerešničky.” Moravia is a historic region in Eastern Europe which has now been absorbed territorially by the Czech Republic, but the Moravian culture persists today. The dance is often incorrectly listed as being “Slovakian” or “Czech.” This is most likely a result of changes in territorial control and border changes. Additional ethnic confusion comes from the home of this dance in the Zlín Region in the southwest of Moravia, where four different ethnographic regions overlap: Wallachia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Haná.

The dance lends itself to a couple of variations from the original notes. A variation I prefer over the boring original bar 3 is to touch R to R instead of touch in place (when traveling to the L). There’s also the “hopscotch” variation for bar 3. Watch Boulder’s Hora Romanesca for all the “good” variations (except the inside-out performance variation & they don’t do arm swings).

Some groups start to the left (RLOD), as described in notes, and then there are the righties. Dunav does the dance as I would expect, but starts to the right. There are also arm swings forward on the down beat (1) and back on the secondary (2) for the Main bars 1 & 2, then forward for bar 3 and back for bar 4. There are no arm swings for the Chorus. Dick Oakes’ notes also says to add a head turn in the direction of travel (1) and back to center (2) for bars 1 & 2.

There is a “coda” for the ending of the dance that some recordings include (performance version), but not generally. Many coda variations, including a couples variant are described in the original notes. The Karen Faust video is the only one presented showing a coda.

Basic Dance Outline

Main
Step (L to side), Close (R), Step, Close, Variation
Repeat in opposite direction

Chorus
Rita, Rita, Key Step
Grapevine, Grapevine, Key Step

The dance alternates Main-Chorus with alternate variations each time Main is done (unless leader-called). All steps are done facing center. Key Step finishes the Ritas and Grapevines, always RLOD.

Key Step: R in front of L, Step L to side, Close R w/ click, Pause.

Bar 3 Variations (Odd # times through, choose one)
* These start with the same foot (per direction, i.e. L travel = L foot) as bars 1&2
Boring Touch: Step (L to side), Touch (R) in place, Close
Better Touch: Step (L to side), Touch (R) to side, Close

Bar 3 Variations (Even # times through, choose one)
* These start with the opposite foot (per direction) as bars 1&2
Lift Across: (for L travel) Lift(R up & down) while Heel(L) across(R), Lift + Heel to side, Close
Hopscotch: (for L travel) Lift(R up & down) while Heel(L) across(R), Jump both wide, Jump both closed