Tamzara

Tamzara is a folk dance native to Armenian Highlands. In Armenia the dance originally had a ritual character, it was a wedding song and dance. Now "Tamzara" has lost its former ritual significance, when it was performed during almost all community events and parties. It is today performed by Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijanis (in the regions of Sharur, Nakhchivan and parts of Iranian Azerbaijan), and Greeks. In post-Soviet Armenia, tamzara dance is gaining more and more popularity among all strata of the population.

This dance was also especially popular in the formerly Armenian-populated regions of Erzincan, Erzurum, Kigi, Arapgir, Harput, and Malatya. There are many versions of Tamzara, with slightly different music and steps, coming from the various regions and old villages in the Armenian Highlands. According to Folk Dance Federation of California, Inc (July, 2001) Tamzara is performed by Armenians not only in Armenia, also in the countries of Armenian Diaspora.

History and description
The meaning of this dance, which is famous in the villages of Charchibogan, Chomakhtur and other villages of Nakhchivan's Sharur region, is "Gizili tanbatan" (half golden) in word-by-word translation. Tamzara is included to the repertoire of the folklore dancing collectives respectively. The women dancing used to dress luxuriously and adorn themselves with golden accessories, including rings, ear-rings, bracelets, chains and others.

In 2018, Azerbaijani-style Tamzara, along with Yalli and Kochari, was inscribed into the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

Style
All Tamzaras have the unique rhythm, with the two accented beats at the end of each measure. In addition, the melody to most Tamzaras is very similar, though there are exceptions. Like most folk dances of the Armenian Highlands, Tamzara is done as a line dance or circle dance, with a large group of people with interlocked pinkies. However one version of the Tamzara is done by a man with one or two women standing shoulder to shoulder facing the same direction with their arms around each other's waists.

Tamzara is one of the most popular Armenian folk dances to have been preserved in the United States by the Armenian-American community.