Music, dance and storytellingMiddle East
Horon
In its own language: χορόν
Line dances of Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast, danced with shaking shoulders
Horon is the shared name for many dances kept along Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast, from near Samsun to the Georgian border. Dancers form lines or semicircles and move with a fast shoulder shimmy and sudden squats, at weddings, engagement ceremonies, highland festivals and military send-offs.
When is Horon kept?
Horon is kept on no fixed date. It is danced at weddings, engagement ceremonies, highland festivals and military send-offs.
Horon is the shared name for many dances kept along Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast. Dancers stand in a line or a semicircle, shoulders shaking fast, bodies trembling, dropping into sudden squats. Communities keep it for weddings, engagements, highland festivals and send-offs of soldiers. Its name comes from the Greek choros, which means dance.
What it is
Horon covers many separate dances rather than one. More than fifty versions have been counted in a single part of its home region. Dancers stand in a line or a semicircle and move as one body. The steps call for speed and agility. Shoulders shimmy quickly, the whole frame trembles, and dancers drop into sudden squats. Some versions are danced by men alone, some by women alone, and some mix men and women in the same group. Whatever the size of the party, nobody dances on their own.
The name
Horon takes its name from the Greek word choros, which means dance, the same root that lies behind the English word chorus. The oldest record of the term in a Turkic language comes from the Codex Cumanicus, dated 1303. Along parts of the coast the word changes shape: in Ordu and Giresun provinces people say horan. Turkish speakers also use the form horonu, and in Pontic Greek it is written χορόν, or khorón in Latin letters.
Where it is danced
The dance is performed often along Turkey's Black Sea coast in the east, from the area near Samsun to the Georgian border. It belongs to weddings, engagement ceremonies, highland festivals and the send-off of soldiers. Musicians may play the kemenche, a bowed string instrument, the clarinet, the tulum, which is a bagpipe, or a davul and zurna, a drum and a reed pipe. A singer may add a türkü, or the music may stay instrumental. The dance is a familiar sight along that coastal belt.
Origins and kin
The material links horon to older war dances. According to it, horon is the Turkish counterpart of the serra, a war dance of the Pontian Greeks, and it resembles the Pyrrhic dance of ancient Greece, which was performed under arms. A set of comparable dances is named beside it: the Levantine dabke, the Assyrian khigga, and the tamzara of the Armenian highlands. The article's associated category also lists Pontic Greek folk dance and Laz folk music.
How Horon is kept
Dancers take their places in a line or a semicircle: men alone, women alone, or men and women together. Musicians set the pace with kemenche, clarinet, tulum, or davul and zurna, and a türkü may be sung over the instrumental line. The steps move quickly. Shoulders shimmy, the body trembles, and the group breaks into sudden squats. Performances belong to weddings and engagements, to highland festivals, and to send-offs for soldiers. Speed and agility count for more than ornament.
When and where
Horon keeps to no fixed date. It belongs to occasions rather than to a season: weddings, engagement ceremonies, highland festivals and the departure of soldiers for service. Wherever one of those gatherings is held, the dance has a place in it.
The dance belongs to Turkey's Eastern Black Sea region. It is performed often along that coast, from near Samsun east to the Georgian border. In Ordu and Giresun provinces the name becomes horan. The article places it beside Pontic Greek folk dance and Laz folk music, and calls the Pontian Greek war dance serra its counterpart.
What Horon means
The material does not set out a doctrine behind horon. What it shows is a dance of shared moments: weddings, engagements, highland festivals and the sending of soldiers away. Dancers hold a common line or ring rather than performing alone, and the fast shoulder shimmy and sudden squats give the whole group one rhythm. Its name comes from a Greek word for dance, and the tradition is placed beside older armed dances of the same wider region.
Questions people ask about Horon
When is Horon kept?
Horon is kept on no fixed date. It is danced at weddings, engagement ceremonies, highland festivals and military send-offs.
What is horon?
It is the name for a set of dances from Turkey's Eastern Black Sea coast. Dancers work in a line or semicircle, with a rapid shoulder shimmy, trembling bodies and sudden squats. More than fifty versions have been counted in one part of the region.
Where is it danced?
Along Turkey's Black Sea coast in the east, from the area near Samsun to the Georgian border. It is performed often at weddings, engagement ceremonies, highland festivals and send-offs for soldiers. In Ordu and Giresun provinces, people call the dance horan instead.
What music goes with horon?
Musicians may use the kemenche, a bowed string instrument, the clarinet, the tulum, which is a bagpipe, or a davul and zurna, a drum and a reed pipe. A singer can perform a türkü over the music, or the dance can be carried by instruments alone.
Where does the name come from?
It comes from the Greek word choros, meaning dance, which also lies behind the English word chorus. The term is first recorded in a Turkic language in the Codex Cumanicus of 1303.
Do men and women dance it together?
Sometimes. The sources describe versions danced by men alone, versions danced by women alone, and mixed versions known as karma horon, where men and women share the same line.
See also
AgbadzaAn Ewe music and dance, born of war songs and kept for funerals, weddings and festivals
GhazalA short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South Asia
HalayA traditional line and circle folk dance kept across Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, and Syria.
Music of TuvaluRhythmic storytelling dances and choral singing from the Polynesian atolls of TuvaluGood reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Horon", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.
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