Kurdish dance

The tradition & historical record

Kurdish dances (Kurdish: Govend, Dîlan, Dawet, Helperkê, Şayî; دیلان, گۆڤەند, داوەت, ھەڵپەڕکێ, شایی) are a group of traditional dances among Kurds. It is a form of a circle dance, with a single or a couple of figure dancers often added to the geometrical center of the dancing circle. At times musicians playing on a drum or a double reed wind instrument known as a zurna, accompany the dancers. Often there are dancers twirling handkerchiefs who lead the half-circled group of dancers. The dancers, generally women, but also, on occasions, men, wear traditional Kurdish clothes. The Kurds dance on several occasions such as Kurdish festivals, birthdays, New Years, Newroz, marriage, and other ceremonies and the dances have several names which often relate to local names and traditions. Its noteworthy that these folkloric dances are typically mixed-gender which distinguishes the Kurds from other neighbouring Muslim populations. On March 3, 2023, Iranian police shut down a sports centre over mixed-gender Kurdish dances. ¹

Kurdish dances are each performed with a specific melody and style, some of which are named as follows: ¹

Şêxanî Bagiyê Şamîranê Til Mercan Lorke Evdîşo Koçerî Rewendî Bêriyokê Milanê Axişte (Serhed Region) Dim Dime (Urmia to Duhok) Akmelî Lo Mîro Baso Lê Gulê Hicrokê Navçeliyê Çoxo Eyşokê Mîrkut Geliyê Başkala (Suka Hewlêrê) Zêrînê Reyhanî Sûrçiyanî Herkiyanî Hey Borî Welato Emer Axayo Siyarkî (Swarkî) Hoy Narê Hey Dîlan Meraan Axa Kurtê Helize Nalbendan Sê pê Royne Daxe Geryan Çepî Sê car ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Kurdish dance”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Kurdish dance is group of dances among Kurds, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²