A tropotiță is one of the two main Romanian folk dance genres, the other being the învârtită. The name originates from the verb ‘a tropoti’ which means to lightly stomp the ground with one’s feet in a dance.
When dancing to this genre of music, dancers assemble with partners with which they spin taking many small steps, not crossing the feet, leading to a kind of ‘stomping’ or ‘tropotind’ motion.
Additionally, the music itself utilises a lot of triplets structured in 2/3 one note 1/3 another in order to add a jumping rhythm that inspires such dancing subconsciously.
This particular Tropotița originates from the town of Săpânța in Maramureș, in the northwest of Romania. It contains 4 unique musical phrases, which are then repeated in a series A B C D. The first phrase is the only instrumental one: there is no singing (all others have instruments and voice); it outlines the basic rhythm and structure of the piece. The second phrase contains the second part of the first one, with a modified beginning better suited to the lyrics. The third phrase is simply the second one transposed up a perfect fifth. The fourth phrase is nearly identical to the first except that 1. there are lyrics sung and 2. the ornament in the second measure is slightly reduced to simplify the singing.
To see the sheet music for this song, click here.
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