Kopanitsa

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Kopanitsa is a common name for a type of lively folk dance from western Bulgaria written in 11/16 metre. Some dancers count the steps in terms of "quick" and "slow", the pattern being QQSQQ, or counted as 1-2, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2.

The term kopanitsa seems to be especially used in the Shopluk region of western Bulgaria, which includes the towns of Sofia, Pernik, Radomir and Kyustendil. Common names are Shopska Kopanitsa, Graovska Kopanitsa, Divotinka Kopanitsa (from the village of Divotino), etc. There is even a village named Kopanitsa not far from the town of Pernik.

The term kopanitsa is also found in western Thrace and the Sredna Gora regions east of Sofia (Ihtiman, Panagyurishte, Pazardzhik) and even as far east as Plovdiv.

The term gankino (Ganka's dance) seems to be used mostly in northern Bulgaria (particularly in the western and central parts) and also refers to dances in 11/8.

In western Thrace, dances in 11/8 metre are often called Krivo (or Krivata), a term which means "crooked" or "uneven".

Dances in 11/16 similar to kopanitsa or gankino can also be found in Macedonia (Sedenka, Pletenica, Skopsko, etc.) and Serbia (Kopačka) using other names. It is not the same as the Serbian Kopačka, which is actually a kopanitsa.