Bosmat

Hebrew: בושמת. Circle dance in short lines by Moshiko Halevy, 1980.

The dance was created in honor of Moshiko's first grandchild, Bosmat, daughter of his first son Uriah, whose dance is Debka Uriah (known in the US as Debka Habir). The dance Bosmat begins with sliding steps to the right, the same steps that end the original stage choreography of Debka Uriah.

Moshiko tells the story this way:

I was staying in a suburb of Tokyo with Fusae, the agent that used to invite me to give sessions in Japan, and with her husband of the time. I had a free day and I wanted to go to Tokyo. I had asked the post office in America to forward letters to Fusae's address. That day I got a letter from my ex-wife saying that Bosmat was born and describing how beautiful she was.

I left the letter at Fusae's home and decided to go visit Tokyo. I took the suburb train to Tokyo, and the train was so quiet you could hear only the sound of the wheels of the train, chutikuta chutikuta chutikuta. It was like a metronome for me, keeping a rhythm, and I started singing tunes. I didn't know how I was going to remember this music---it was only morning and I wasn't returning until the afternoon. So I started humming the melody in my brain trying not to forget it. When I got back from Tokyo I took my flute immediately and tried to play the melody. The adrenalin in my body was so strong that I couldn't sleep. So when I completed the melody I started writing the words, and when I finished writing the words I started thinking about the dance. By 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning I finished the melody, the song, and the dance. What happened was that I started the dance the way that I ended the choreography of Debka Uriah---these are the first steps of Bosmat.

Styling notes:

1. Hands are held up, with forearms parallel to the floor, throughout. (Many drop hands to a normal handhold in the second figure only, but Moshiko doesn't dance it that way.)

2. In the first figure, both turns are over the free foot. That is, first turn left to face out, and then turn right to face center.

3. The first figure of Bosmat is called in a few venues. Just before the turn to face out, the line leader calls a number, and the dancers turn in groups of that number. For example, if the leader calls "two" then the dancers turn in pairs, if the leader calls "three" then the dancers turn in groups of three, and so forth. After each turn there is a new leader unless the call is "one", which instructs the dancers to turn individually as usual. (Murray Spiegel initiated this variation at Hora Shalom.)

Bosmat, feeling the love, during Shmulik Gov-Ari's tribute to her grandfather, January 30 2022

Links

Lyrics (Hebrew)
Bosmat at israelidances.com
Video at Rokdim