MISIRLOU Greek
PRONUNCIATION:	mih-sihr-LOO
TRANSLATION:	A girl's name
SOURCE:	Monte Mayo, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, taught Misirlou in 1948 at the Oglebay Folk Dance Camp in Wheeling, West Virginia.
BACKGROUND:	Misirlou, the tune, was published as sheet music in the 1930s by Nicholas Roubanis. In the 1940s, the Mitchell Ayers band recorded the tune. "Dick Dale and His Del-Tones," as well as "The Beach Boys," recorded the tune in 1963; and other surfer bands subsequently put it into their repertoires. Misirlou was featured in the opening scene of the movie Pulp Fiction. In 1945, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, women's musical organization asked Professor Brunhilde Corsch to organize an international dance group at Duquesne University to honor America's World War II allies. She contacte Mercine Nesotas, who taught several Greek dances, including Syrtos Haniotikos (from Crete), which she called Kritikos, but for which they had no music. Because Pittsburgh's Greek-American community did not know Cretan music, Pat Mandros Kazalas, a music student, suggested the tune Misirlou, although slower, might fit the dance. The rest, as they say, is history. Misirlou is danced all over the world, even by the local Pittsburg Greeks.
MUSIC:	Festival Records "Kolo Party" (LP) FLP 1505; Festival Records (45rpm) F-3505; Festival Records (45rpm) F-4804; Folkraft (45rpm) 1060x45; Kolo Festival (45rpm) 804.
FORMATION:	Open cir of mixed M and W with hands joined and held at shldr height in "W" pos, leader at R end.
METER/RHYTHM:	4/4
STEPS/STYLE:	Rather than having the quick-actions of a Haniotiko Syrto, Misirlou has more of a languorous quality.
MEAS	MOVEMENT DESCRIPTION
	INTRODUCTION
	No action.
	THE DANCE
1	Step in place R (ct 1); pause (ct 2); touch L fwd (ct 3); bring L around in back of R with a circular movement (ct 4);
2	Step L across in back of R (ct 1); step R swd (ct 2); step L across in front of R (ct 3); pivoting on L to face RLOD, bring R around in front of L, keeping R ft close to L calf with R knee raised (ct 4);
3	Moving in to the L in RLOD, step R (ct 1); step L next to R (ct 2); step R (ct 3); rise on ball of R, raising L knee slightly with L ft close to R calf (ct 4);
4	Still facing to the L in RLOD, step L bwd (ct 1); step R next to L (ct 2); step L bwd (ct 3); pivot on L to face ctr (ct 4).
	Repeat entire dance from beg.
	VARIATION FOR MEAS 4
4	Still facing RLOD, step L bwd (ct 1); pivoting to face ctr, step swd R (ct 2); step L across in front of R (ct 3); pause (ct 4);
Copyright © 2003 by Dick Oakes