The old Bosniak Karadjoz dance from Sarajevo is probably the most elegant men’s dance from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Very little is known about this dance. It was last recorded in the 1950’s by Hajrudin Hadžić Hadžija in the Vratnik district of Sarajevo.
The term Karadjoz came into the Bosnian language from Ottoman. In Ottoman and modern Turkish kara means black, and göz means eye. The term Karagöz is also used as the name for the Ottoman shadow theater, which was very popular in Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina, too, especially among children. It seems that the dance got its name from the main character of this Ottoman puppet shadow theater. The puppet Karadjoz is usually made with the longer right arm, because the puppet usually makes more gestures with this arm. Likewise, in the dance, dancers use exclusively their right arm to make long gracious movements while their left arm remains calm on their lower backs.
The melody of this elegant dance, which was once played on saz, is composed of two themes of completely different rhythms. One theme is extremely slow while the other one is extremely dynamic. Analogously, this kolo is danced with two different sets of steps. This very fact makes this dance both very attractive for dancing, as well as observing. As in all Bosnian slow line-dances (kolanja), in the unhurried part of Karadjoz the slowness and grace are combined in perfect harmony. On the other side, the lively part of the dance brings out the vigor, complexity, and challenge of refined foot-work so characteristic of Balkan folk dances.
Sevdah has been working on this dance for the past year and we hope to master it during this autumn (2005.) In the meantime, we hope to acquire new Bosniak noblemen’s costumes so that we can present the Karadjoz dance to our audience in its real light.