How many times have I heard arguments about where it first appeared. Chechens, Ingush, Kabardians - all claim that they were the first to come up with lezginka. Lezgins went furthest in this dispute, claiming that the main caucasian dance named after their people. By the way, I wrote a whole article about this. “Are the Lezgins involved in the emergence of the Lezginka dance?”, in which he argued that the Lezgins invested no more effort in the appearance of the dance than the rest of the peoples of the Caucasus.
The reason for all these disputes is very simple: every nation is trying to appropriate the status of the ancestor and founder of the most famous and beautiful, and most importantly, the ancient, dance of the peoples of the Caucasus. And in this article we will figure out where, after all, is birthplace of lezginka? Yes, I ask those who are “sick” with national swagger not to read this article further, as it can cause irreparable harm to your self-esteem, and, possibly, to your health.
If you remember, aware school geography There are two fundamental concepts: a theorem and an axiom. You can perceive the following thoughts as an axiom that does not require proof. For the first time it appeared to the world in Dagestan, therefore, it is rightfully located here Lezginka homeland. By the way, school lezginki in Dagestan the strongest in the Caucasus and in the world. traditional culture everywhere - around us and within us. Nowhere, as in Dagestan, children are taught to dance lezginka from the cradle. Folk dance has entered the life of the Dagestanis, it dictates its requirements not only to appearance(to posture, for example), but also teaches you to the rhythm - the rhythm of the perception of life. I suggest to look beautiful dance performed by the most famous in the world Ensemble of dances of the peoples of the Caucasus "Lezginka" :
I repeat once again - this is the dance of the peoples of such a diverse republic as Dagestan, the dance of all its peoples. Under its banner are also all the mountain peoples of the Caucasus - from Georgia to Chechnya. Everyone knows it, everyone loves it, everyone dances it. Lezginka accumulates, reflects and retains a lot: applied art, legends and customs, folk music and theater. In addition, lezginka is the most important element way of life mountaineers, an unsurpassed and not fully disclosed phenomenon of the unification of peoples. Lezginka- this is not just a dance, it is a standard of stateliness, beauty and nobility. He is a direct expression of a real mountain character - freedom-loving, proud and adamant. I present to you a dance with creativity - lezginka on ice:
I really hope that my article will be the beginning of the end of all disputes about where the main folk dance Caucasus. Instead of arguing, you need to learn lezginka and hone your dancing skills.
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Lezginka on a German tank:
Kadi Abakarov was born on May 9, 1913 in the village. Echeda, Tsumadinsky district poor family. He lost his father early, his childhood was difficult. Studied in schools with. Echeda, Tindi, Tsumada, Botlikh. Labor activity started on a collective farm. He worked as a foreman, ran a farm, was a chairman of a collective farm, an inspector of state insurance.
On the eve of the war, Kadi Abakarov worked as a field foreman. He and his comrades were swimming in the Andean Koisu when a boy ran up to them, who reported on the perfidious German attack on the Soviet Union.
In the small German village of Verbukh, located at the foot of the Zilovsky Heights, on April 17, 1945, foreman Abakarov showed examples of courage and heroism. Under enemy fire, he organized a group of fighters in the amount of 4 people and in an unequal battle destroyed 7 German tanks, 2 self-propelled guns and 60 Germans. Kadi himself destroyed 5 Tiger tanks and one self-propelled gun within 17 minutes. Kadi Abakarov mounted a German tank and danced a lezginka. For this fearless feat, the tamer of the "Tigers", Kadi Abakarov, from Echedin, was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.
From the memoirs of Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov:
“Zilovsky heights limited not only the actions of our tanks, but also became a serious obstacle for artillery. They closed the depth of the enemy's defense: they made it impossible to observe it from the ground. Artillerymen had to overcome these difficulties by intensifying their fire, but often firing at squares.
For the enemy, the retention of this most important line was also of moral importance. After all, Berlin is behind him. Hitler's propaganda in every possible way emphasized the decisive importance of the "irresistibility" of the Zilovsky Heights, calling them either the "castle" of Berlin, or the "irresistible fortress".
When a petition for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Kadi Abakarov was submitted to Marshal G.K. Zhukov and the commander of the 301st Infantry Division, General Antonov reported to the Marshal that it was Kadi Abakarov and his guys who had destroyed more than 100 tanks and self-propelled gun mounts near the Zilovsky Heights, Zhukov said:
“The battles were fierce, they attacked from all sides: in front of the German “tigers”, from the rear of the Supreme, so it’s not a pity to give such heroes anything. Well done hot Caucasian!”
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Lezginka on the Olympic carpet:
ABDULBEKOV Zagalav born December 29, 1945 in the village. Karata of the Dagestan ASSR, Soviet athlete (freestyle wrestling), Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1971). 1972 Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling in the 62 kg weight category, world champion (1971-1973), USSR champion (1966-1973).
Zagalav Abdulbekov performed brilliantly, who was the first of the wrestlers North Caucasus ascended to the highest step of the Olympic podium. In the decisive battle with the Turk Akdag, he created a real miracle. In order to win the "gold", he had to win at all costs on the touch, while his opponent was satisfied with the defeat on points. And Zagalav achieved his goal by pinning the Turk to the carpet with his shoulder blades. And when the referee raised his hand, in a fit of emotions that surged over him, he danced a lezginka right on the carpet.
Every nation on earth has its own language, spiritual and material culture, history, their national sacred symbols and ethnic identity. Naturally, during historical development the culture of any nation, interacting with neighboring ones, undergoes certain changes.
An essential part national culture is the folklore of the people, which contains almost all of its spiritual culture. Nature did not deprive the Lezgins in terms of spiritual culture. More than 300 folk dance and song melodies, texts have survived to this day. folk songs, hundreds of fairy tales and legends, thousands of sayings and proverbs, heroic songs “BalqIandallaz sinel kugvai rush” (“Horsewoman prancing on a rock”), “Kvantsin gada” (“Stone boy”), “Chulav kyil” (“Black head”) , the epic “Sharr-Vili, which is about 3 thousand years old and much more. The thinking and worldview of the people, their cultural and historical traditions are perfectly preserved in clothes and in the surprisingly diverse and richest Lezgin cuisine in the Caucasus. The Lezgi language has retained an extensive sectoral vocabulary, indicating the diverse activities of the Lezgins in different historical periods.
The etymology of the word Lezgin comes from the word lek (eagle, liver). The eagle was the totem sign of the Lezgins. The eagle was considered an angel who carried the soul of the deceased to heaven. The deceased was hung on a tree and watched when an angel would fly for his soul. The eagle flew in and pecked at the liver of the deceased (remember the myth of Prometheus chained to Caucasus mountains, to which the eagle flew and pecked at his liver!) If the eagle flew in quickly, then it was considered a good sign that Ra (the Sun) took the soul of the deceased. If the eagle did not fly at all, then it was believed that in life a person was committed big sin. In Lezgi mythology, the sun (Ra) is often directly associated with the golden eagle. Therefore, “eagle” and “liver” among the Lezgins are denoted by the same word “lek”. This name has also been transferred to the ethnos. In the future, due to the impossibility of adequately displaying the word LEKH in another script, in particular, Arabic, where there are no sounds “E” and “K”, LEK turned into LAK. And then, through the suffix of the place “Z” and the Iranian “stan” (“place”), LAK turned into LAKZ and LAKZISTAN, which gave the people the name Lakzan-Lakzin-Lezgin.
Many nations have their own ritual dances. The Lezgins also had and have them: the dance of hunters, the dance of the shepherd, "arasar", "zhengi" - martial dances and many others The dance "Lezginka" has preserved the echoes of distant times - pagan beliefs and rites. The whole dance in its various productions and performances was basically a special ritual before a hunt or before a fight. Dressed in clothes with feathers of eagles, the young men imitated the movements of eagles chasing prey and driving it into a trap. Then the eagle rushes at the prey and takes it. Girls acted as prey (partridge, dove, dove, falcon). This is how “lekyerin kul” was born - the dance of eagles. Over time, the dance turned into a kind of competition of young men in horse riding and courage (throwing knives), in grace and grace, speed and dexterity. Proudly spreading his arms-wings and standing on his fingers, the jigit-eagle, as if in flight, describes smooth circles around the turtle-dove girl, and then speeds up the movements in order to finally take possession of the prey. Thus, the young men showed their prowess and temperament in front of the girl, so that she would pay attention only to him, so that she would choose him from many “eagles”. And the girl, with her graceful and smooth dance-flight, showed her special treatment to the chosen one and chose the most daring, most dexterous horseman to improve the offspring of the "eagles".
Everyone liked the bold, sparkling, daring dance and quickly spread to everyone. neighboring nations. The Georgians called it "lekIuri", the Iranians - "Lazgi", the Dagestan peoples - "Lezginka". Under this name, the dance has spread throughout the world and is known in all distant corners of the planet.
The Lezgins themselves do not call it a Lezginka, because it is already clear whose dance. The Lezgins have many modifications of this dance: “Khkadardai kyul” (“Jumping, galloping dance”), “Zarb kyul” (“Quick dance”), “Avara kavkha” (“Impoverished headman”), etc.
The "fast" folk dance is mentioned in the songs and fairy tales of the Lezgins. According to one legend, a girl performed such a dance when she heard mushtulukh (good news) that her brothers defeated the enemy and were returning home. heroic song"Horsewoman prancing on a rock." The sparkling "Lezginka" was also danced by the hero of the epic of the same name Sharvili. Enemies put peas under his feet in order to defeat him when, slipping on peas, he falls ...
“Today dance at Lezgin weddings, holidays, many song and dance melodies are performed. But “fast” dances are especially popular and loved by young people. At such events, boys and girls get accustomed to each other, get to know each other. The young man with a look and a polite gesture of the hand invites the girl he likes to dance. Young people will explain their feelings in the language of dance. When the girl finishes the dance and is about to leave, the young man, as it were, blocks her way. And the girl herself chooses: to continue the dance or leave. If the girl decided not to dance anymore and leave, then the young man, putting right palm to his heart and bowing a little, thanks the girl for the dance. There is a kind of taboo in the Lezgi dance: a young man, no matter how close he comes to a girl during a dance, should not even touch her dress. This is considered a great insult and a challenge to men of the girl's kind. And such insults often ended in bloodshed and blood feuds.
During the conquest of Lezgistan by the Arabs, songs and dances were banned, although they were performed. IN Soviet period the song and dance culture of the peoples acquired a new development.
In the light of the disputes often circulated in the press and on the Internet about the origin of the Lezginka dance, about its belonging to some people, I would like to say that today the Lezgin folk dance has become a dance of the peoples of the entire Caucasus and even beyond. Of course, Lezginka has changed, cultivated. Many peoples of the Caucasus contribute to it their traditional elements, its national flavor, its innovations. Today "Lezginka" has turned into a dance of friendship between peoples, and in the person of the ensemble of the same name - she business card culture and art of the Republic of Dagestan.
And even better than arguing about the dance, it's better to master it! Dance better than anyone - and he is yours forever!
Feyzudin Nagiev,
Philologydin orimrin doctor
Every nation on earth has its own language, spiritual and material culture, history, national sacred symbols and ethnic identity. Naturally, in the course of historical development, the culture of any nation, interacting with its neighbors, undergoes certain changes.
An essential part of the national culture is the folklore of the people, which contains almost all of its spiritual culture. Nature did not deprive the Lezgins in terms of spiritual culture. More than 300 folk dance and song melodies, texts of folk songs, hundreds of fairy tales and legends, thousands of sayings and proverbs, the heroic songs “BalqIandallaz sinel kugvai rush” (“Horsewoman prancing on a rock”), “Kvantsin gada” (“ Stone Boy”), “Chiulav kyil” (“Black Head”), the epic “Sharr-Vili, which is about 3 thousand years old and much more. The thinking and worldview of the people, their cultural and historical traditions are perfectly preserved in clothes and in the surprisingly diverse and richest Lezgin cuisine in the Caucasus. The Lezgi language has retained an extensive sectoral vocabulary, indicating the diverse activities of the Lezgins in different historical periods.
The etymology of the word Lezgin comes from the word lek (eagle, liver). The eagle was the totem sign of the Lezgins. The eagle was considered an angel who carried the soul of the deceased to heaven. The deceased was hung on a tree and watched when an angel would fly for his soul. The eagle flew in and pecked at the liver of the deceased (remember the myth of Prometheus, chained to the Caucasus Mountains, to which the eagle flew and pecked at his liver!) If the eagle flew in quickly, then this was considered a good sign that Ra (the Sun) took the soul of the deceased. If the eagle did not fly at all, then it was believed that a great sin had been committed in life by a person. In Lezgi mythology, the sun (Ra) is often directly associated with the golden eagle. Therefore, “eagle” and “liver” among the Lezgins are denoted by the same word “lek”. This name has also been transferred to the ethnos. In the future, due to the impossibility of adequately displaying the word LEKH in another script, in particular, Arabic, where there are no sounds “E” and “K”, LEK turned into LAK. And then, through the suffix of the place “Z” and the Iranian “stan” (“place”), LAK turned into LAKZ and LAKZISTAN, which gave the people the name Lakzan-Lakzin-Lezgin.
Many nations have their own ritual dances. The Lezgins also had and have them: the dance of hunters, the dance of the shepherd, "arasar", "zhengi" - martial dances, and many others. The dance "Lezginka" has preserved the echoes of distant times - pagan beliefs and rituals. The whole dance in its various productions and performances was basically a special ritual before a hunt or before a fight. Dressed in clothes with feathers of eagles, the young men imitated the movements of eagles chasing prey and driving it into a trap. Then the eagle rushes at the prey and takes it. Girls acted as prey (partridge, dove, dove, falcon). This is how “lekyerin kul” was born - the dance of eagles. Over time, the dance turned into a kind of competition of young men in horse riding and courage (throwing knives), in grace and grace, speed and dexterity. Proudly spreading his arms-wings and standing on his fingers, the jigit-eagle, as if in flight, describes smooth circles around the turtle-dove girl, and then speeds up the movements in order to finally take possession of the prey. Thus, the young men showed their prowess and temperament in front of the girl, so that she would pay attention only to him, so that she would choose him from many “eagles”. And the girl, with her graceful and smooth dance-flight, showed her special attitude towards the chosen one and chose the most daring, most dexterous horseman to improve the offspring of the "eagles".
Everyone liked the bold, sparkling, daring dance and quickly spread among all neighboring peoples. The Georgians called it "lekIuri", the Iranians - "Lazgi", the Dagestan peoples - "Lezginka". Under this name, the dance has spread throughout the world and is known in all distant corners of the planet.
The Lezgins themselves do not call it a Lezginka, because it is already clear whose dance. The Lezgins have many modifications of this dance: “Khkadardai kyul” (“Jumping, galloping dance”), “Zarb kyul” (“Quick dance”), “Avara kavkha” (“Impoverished headman”), etc.
The "fast" folk dance is mentioned in the songs and fairy tales of the Lezgins. According to one legend, a girl performed such a dance when she heard mushtulukh (good news) that her brothers defeated the enemy and were returning home. The sparkling "Lezginka" was also danced by the hero of the epic of the same name Sharvili. Enemies put peas under his feet in order to defeat him when, slipping on peas, he falls ...
“Today dance at Lezgin weddings, holidays, many song and dance melodies are performed. But “fast” dances are especially popular and loved by young people. At such events, boys and girls get accustomed to each other, get to know each other. The young man with a look and a polite gesture of the hand invites the girl he likes to dance. Young people will explain their feelings in the language of dance. When the girl finishes the dance and is about to leave, the young man, as it were, blocks her way. And the girl herself chooses: to continue the dance or leave. If the girl decided not to dance anymore and leave, then the young man, putting his right hand to his heart and bowing slightly, thanks the girl for the dance. There is a kind of taboo in the Lezgi dance: a young man, no matter how close he comes to a girl during a dance, should not even touch her dress. This is considered a great insult and a challenge to men of the girl's kind. And such insults often ended in bloodshed and blood feuds.
During the conquest of Lezgistan by the Arabs, songs and dances were banned, although they were performed. In the Soviet period, the song and dance culture of the peoples acquired a new development.
In the light of the disputes often circulated in the press and on the Internet about the origin of the Lezginka dance, about its belonging to some people, I would like to say that today the Lezgin folk dance has become a dance of the peoples of the entire Caucasus and even beyond. Of course, Lezginka has changed, cultivated. Many peoples of the Caucasus bring their traditional elements, their national color, their innovations into it. Today "Lezginka" has turned into a dance of friendship between peoples, and represented by the ensemble of the same name, it is a hallmark of the culture and art of the Republic of Dagestan.
Lezginka is familiar to everyone. This dance is danced at concerts, city squares, weddings and just on the road. He inspires some, irritates others.
Dance features
The peoples of the Caucasus have many common features determined by their genetic affinity - from the famous "mountain temperament" to linguistic and cultural proximity. One of the most famous common characters cultures of the peoples of the Caucasus is the Lezginka dance, which traditionally symbolically expresses all the diversity of the mountain worldview.
The dance exists under different names among the Balkars and Karachais, Ossetians, Dagestanis, Abkhazians, Kalmyks, Kuban Cossacks, Nogais, Kabardians, Circassians, Abazins, Adyghes, Chechens, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and many other peoples.
The dance is accompanied by a rhythmic and accelerating musical accompaniment in size 6/8, the orchestra includes harmonica, daurbas ( percussion instrument), accordion, zurna, rattles, mountain violin, harp, three-stringed balalaika. Music and dance are necessarily accompanied by clapping.
Lezginka has a deep symbolic meaning – ancient foundation dance is a story about an eagle and a swan. In the form of an eagle, a man dances, alternating the pace of the dance from slow to swift, like an eagle, now soaring, now diving, and spreading his arms as if they were wings. The woman opposite moves smoothly, imitating swan article and graces, gradually accelerating, following the partner. Men compete with each other, trying to show the best dexterity and the most incredible movements at maximum speed. Lezginka can also be performed with weapons, which gives it additional militancy.
Performance techniques
Lezginka exists in many variations, and each nation dances it in an original way. Three types of dance can be distinguished, each of which is distinguished by its unique performance.
The first and most common is the male single lezginka. It is performed both at the wedding and before the fight.
The second is a female single lezginka, much more rare. Here the girl imitates the movements of a swan: the plasticity of her hands is slow and graceful, and her gaze is slightly directed downwards.
The third type of lezginka is pair dance, in which the eagle seems to soar above the swan, symbolizing a love desire.
Mythological origins
As a rule, the origin of the Lezginka is associated with tribal dances, hunting rites and ancient totemic rituals. The very word "Lezgin" is believed to go back to the word eagle (lek), which, obviously, was among the Lezgins and some others. Caucasian peoples totemic sign. The hunter's dance, which is a special rite before a hunt or a fight, imitated the movements of a totem animal - an eagle, rushing at a prey (a girl).
Over time, the ritual dance could turn into a horse rider competition. It is no coincidence that lezginka was loved and loved to be performed at weddings - in that symbolic space where the "eagles" need to conquer their "swans" by demonstrating prowess and grace.
The dance was a kind of way to show her sympathy to the partners she liked, because the girl in the dance could indicate the direction of the flight to the young man she liked, and he, in response, could try not to let her go away from him, while not even touching the girl’s dress. Obviously, the dance was perceived symbolically as an expression of love passion, and therefore it was unacceptable to cross the border of what was permitted within the framework of public space.
Lezginka, which is danced by all the mountain peoples of the Caucasus and which was borrowed, including Terek and Kuban Cossacks once inspired Mikhail Lermontov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Alexandre Dumas, who traveled around Russia, was delighted with her. “In order to move like that, you need a thousand devils in each leg!” he exclaimed. Today, lezginka is strongly associated with dancing on Manezhnaya Square, shooting in the air, and ethnic strife. In early October, 18 students were expelled from the medical college in Kislovodsk after lezginka on the street. Lenta.ru found out how the dance became a symbol of disunity between the republics of the Caucasus and the rest of Russia.
Tagir Islamov, head of the Moscow Lezginka school that bears his name, shows me recordings of performances by students from his studio on a laptop screen. Tagir came from Dagestan Buynaksk in 2008. At home, he learned to dance in the teenage section, then he studied in the main Dagestan ensemble "Lezginka". His parents advised him to give up everything: the salaries in the ensemble then were small - now, according to Tagir, artists receive about 30-35 thousand rubles, which is not bad compared to the average for Dagestan ten thousand a month. His parents suggested that he move to Moscow, and he agreed.
In the capital of Islam, he forgot about dancing - he went to work as a salesman in one of the stores, then changed several more outlets. Islamov returned to the lezginka by chance: just one day at some party he danced, enthralling his friends. They were surprised that he did not dance professionally. As a result, Islamov got a job in dance studio, hiding that he had no teaching experience, and after a while he rented a room and opened his own business. Eight classes cost him 2,700 rubles. He says that the bank is surprised when they see documents with the stamp “School of Lezginka”.
Tagir Islamov conducts "dance fights" between lezginka and breakdancing, because lezginka itself is very similar to a competition between dancers. They quickly move in circles, trying to outdo their rivals in sharpness and clarity.
Visitors to the cafe in which we are sitting, having heard the music, look around, one man does not take his eyes off us.
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Many perceive the Lezginka as a disrespect for the country's social norms shown by "newcomers" - although the owners also dance the Lezginka. Russian passports. According to a poll by the Levada Center, 54 percent of Russians are in favor of establishing barriers that would prevent people from the North Caucasian republics from migrating to Central Russia. Russians are more tolerant of the public performance of lezginka: according to a study by the Public Chamber, the dance evokes negative emotions 21 percent of respondents (38 percent are positive about it, and 39 percent are neutral).
Nevertheless, the fight against the natives of the Caucasus, dancing in the squares of Russian cities, is ready to be declared by both the liberal oppositionists and the regional authorities. In August 2013, during the campaign for the election of the mayor of Moscow, opposition leader Alexei Navalny promised to declare lezginka a violation of public order. “This is an administrative offense,” he argued on the Ekho Moskvy radio. “We will ban Dagestani youth from gathering on Manezhnaya Square and dancing the lezginka. Muscovites perceive it as a challenge to society.”
Navalny did not become mayor, but they almost stopped dancing in the square. A policeman who was on duty at Manezhnaya told a Lenta.ru correspondent that he had instructions from the leadership of the Kitai-Gorod police department to stop dancing on the square. “Please disperse, I didn’t have a chance not to disperse,” he explained. - It seems that dancing is not allowed in all squares. You understand yourself, no one needs it. “They interfere with the passage of citizens,” he used the same wording that law enforcement officers use when dispersing unauthorized actions.
IN last years Manezhnaya Square opposite the Alexander Garden and the Kremlin was the most popular place in the capital to dance the lezginka ( , , , ), the expression "lezginka on Manezhka" became common when it was necessary to speak out about the defiant behavior of "non-Russians", and the slightly altered "lezginka on Lobnoye mesto” became the title of a program article by conservative Yuri Polyakov, in which he called for a return to the Soviet model of building interethnic relations.
Contrary to popular belief that the natives of the Caucasus constantly provoke Russians into conflicts with their dances at the Manezhka, it came to a real fight only once. In June 2007, several dozen natives of the Caucasus danced lezginka, one of the dancers touched a passerby, who called for help - several dozen people also arrived. They bumped into each other and agreed to meet at the same place the next day. At the appointed hour, activists of the now banned Movement Against Illegal Immigration arrived on the square, found no one, laid flowers at Eternal fire and went for a walk around the city, but near the monument to Cyril and Methodius on Slavyanskaya Square they were attacked by Caucasians armed with rebar and bottles. A few minutes later, riot police drove up to the scene of the clashes. Both nationalists and Caucasians were brought to the department. Then they were detained for fighting, not for dancing.
But lezginka was often present as an entourage in other criminal stories, both in Moscow and in other subjects of the federation. In November 2010, 13 Chechens were detained on the capital's Three Stations Square for performing dhikr, religious dance, which is often confused with lezginka. The participants then fired into the air. In the same November, 16 people were detained in Togliatti for dancing, mostly Azerbaijanis, as well as Armenians, Russians, and one Avar. These high school students did not violate anything, no administrative claims were brought against them - law enforcement officers did this simply for prevention. In March 2011, things took a different turn in Moscow: about 1,000 people occupied Tsvetnoy Boulevard, lined up in a circle, in the center of which some of them began to dance lezginka. One of them fired a traumatic pistol into the air. When the police tried to detain him, he fired several shots at them as well. One law enforcement officer was wounded in the leg. True, four dancers who were detained in June 2013 in Pyatigorsk were also shot in the air.
Lezginka, in a sense, has become a sign of unreliability, and since tsarist times it has been customary to expel politically unreliable students from educational institutions. In October 2011, five students were expelled from the Pyatigorsk State Technological University for lezginka. An employee of the mayor's office then stated that "five first-year students staged a lezginka in front of the administration building of Pyatigorsk with shouts, profanity and insults to passers-by." The dancers were issued protocols on administrative violations under part 1 of article 20 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (petty hooliganism). A month later, the Governor Stavropol Territory Valery Gayevsky stated that “we [regional authorities] are not against lezginka, we are against disturbing the peace,” and added that he himself is learning to dance it, although he has not achieved much success.
The latest case, with the expulsion of 18 students from a medical college, also occurred in the Stavropol Territory. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Stavropol Territory, on October 8, "in evening time a group of young people with loud shouts and whistles danced lezginka. They were taken to the police station and issued protocols for petty hooliganism. After that, the police leadership sent a letter to the administration of the university "about the inadmissibility of such behavior on the part of students." Those were expelled. The head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Stavropol, Yevgeny Arnautov, then explained to Gazeta.ru that "before ... if a person was guilty, so that he would not fall further, they sent letters to enterprises where they analyzed his behavior, tried to stop him from illegal actions." The doctors, he added, "are highly cultured people, and these students did not meet these requirements."
"Ethnodancing" (in the words of the head of the department of history of Russian statehood and law of the RANEPA, doctor historical sciences Olga Litzenberger) causes idiosyncrasy among Moscow restaurateurs. In the capital, according to the Moscow News, restaurants have stopped playing Caucasian music even for money. For example, the administrator of the Sharmanka restaurant explained this by saying that they “want to avoid tension on the dance floor between representatives different nationalities, companies of Russian people did not like it. In the "Tale of the East" on Koktebelskaya Street, the administrator said that "Lezginka is too martial music, like it or not, but still a conflict arises." In some restaurants, they simply increase the cost of performing lezginka: it costs 1,000 rubles, although other songs can be ordered for three hundred.
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For Caucasians, lezginka is an obligatory component cultural heritage. “Dance acts as a connecting, cementing component of the ethnic culture of the Dagestanis,” says a study by a candidate of historical sciences from the Dagestan State Pedagogical University Medina Abdulaeva "Ethnomusical traditions in layered structure identities of the peoples of Dagestan. In her work, she notes that folk dance acts as an "ethnic identification mark of culture, a way to preserve the ethnos, a form of psychotherapeutic correction." “The collective lezginka, performed at celebrations, becomes an effective means of overcoming human disunity,” writes Abdulaeva.
IN documentary"Dagestan. From the Past to the Present" this dance is defined as "nothing but an echo of pagan beliefs and rituals, one of the main elements of which was the image of an eagle." The image of an eagle is reproduced by the dancer at the moment when he stands on his toes and spreads his arms. Probably, in ancient times, the dance was performed in a costume with eagle wings, and its very name is associated with the Lezgin word eagle "lek" (Lezgins, by the way, have for self-name, in addition to Lezgi, also the word lek). In the Lezginka tradition, dance it with weapons. During the wars, she was ritual dance mountaineers to raise their spirits, the authors of the film point out.
“In every family, this dance is something like an obligation, parents must teach it,” he said in the documentary program “Russia, my love!” head of the ensemble "Lezginka" Dzhambulat Magomedov. "If on Dagestan wedding they don’t dance lezginka, it’s a big shame. Everyone should be able to dance,” he says. Now in national republics The North Caucasus lezginka is held in high esteem. The dance is performed even in the sectors of the football stadium by Terek and Anji fans. In Chechnya, the dancers of the Vainakh ensemble are heroes
