kaprosh dance mystery

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

Some time ago in a Yizkor book about a shtetl in the Ukraine, I read about a 
dance that I had never heard of before called Kaprosh.  Here is what the yizkor 
book has on it:    
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Rozniatow/roz103.html
"He was a good conversationalist. He was able to tell stories and gather around 
him interested people who would drink up his words with thirst, words that were 
spiced with humor and jokes. Despite his Hassidic appearance, he did not 
hesitate at weddings to be at the head of those who entertained and danced in 
front of the bride and groom. He speedily removed his outer cloak and hat, and 
with a kippa (skullcap) on his head he began to sing and dance "keitzad 
merakdim, keitzad merakdim" [14]. Accompanied by the enthusiastic group of 
singers and dancers, he would speedily arrange the well-known "Kaprosh" dance. 
He would direct it and issue the orders. Woe to the dancer who was not able to 
remove his shoe quick enough after been issued the command, or to take out his 
fringes from the four corners. He would have to pay good money to the band. "

I asked many Yiddish speakers and klez musicians if they knew of this dance and 
nobody did.  So I contacted Andriy Nahachewsky, a professor at the University 
of Alberta in Edmonton who is an expert in Ukrainian village dances and he had 
heard of this dance.  The one he knows of was called kopirush and was a men's 
dance game played like follow the leader.  The leader has a towel or belt and 
if someone fails to follow the leader, the leader hits the person with a towel 
or belt.  This dance was done in Canada by Ukrainians in the first half of the 
20th century and isn't done anymore.  Not sure if it is still danced in the 
Ukraine.   Apparently there is specific music used for this dance and it may 
have been notated by someone named Roman Harasymchuk.

What I'm wondering is if anyone on the list has come across this dance  or its 
music before. It might be fun to reconstruct it and start doing it again.  


Helen Winkler
winklerh (at) hotmail(dot)com
Helen's Yiddish Dance Page
http://www.angelfire.com/ns/helenwinkler
Calgary Folkdance Fridays
http://www.cadvision.com/winklerj/cff.html