Yarkhushta

What it is

Yarkhushta is a dance of Armenia, and it belongs to a family of Armenian dances built on clapping, known as tsap parer. It counts as both a folk dance and a martial one. Sasun, a highland district in the west of Armenia, is the place it comes from. Only men dance it. They stand in two rows, each dancer facing a partner in the row opposite. The dance moves forward: the rows come close, and the dancers clap their palms against the palms of those facing them. That contact is the heart of the dance.

Origins and history

People usually place the beginnings of yarkhushta in the early Middle Ages. Old Armenian writing refers to it: Movses Khorenatsi and Grigor Magistros name it, and so does Faustus of Byzantium. Armenian soldiers are said to have danced it before they went into combat. Part of the reason was ritual. Another part was practical: the dance was meant to push fear aside and lift the fighting spirit, so that fighting at close quarters would go better. Whether it truly began that early is a matter of tradition rather than firm record.

Music and sound

The music is deliberately loud. Two zurna or pku, both wind instruments, carry the tune, and at least one bass drum with a skin at each end keeps the beat. A player hits the drum on one side with a mallet and on the other with a stick. Researchers have looked at what this mix does. The high notes of the pipe and the deep thump of the drums together make a sound with a very wide swing between its loudest and quietest points. That kind of sound can carry dancers into something like a trance, and it deepens the rush of energy that the dancing itself brings.

Modern revival

Today yarkhushta is best known in Armenia. It is strong in places where families from Sasun settled after the Armenian genocide, particularly in villages close to Aparan, Ashtarak and Talin. In the late 1930s Srbuhi Lisitsian, a teacher at the dance college in Yerevan, helped make it popular. Vahram Aristakesian, who cared deeply about folk culture, refined the choreography in 1957, and an ensemble based in Ashnak performed it. Folk groups took it up again in the 1980s, first Maratuk and later Karin. There are also efforts to bring it into the army's programme of songs and dances.

In art and film

Yarkhushta has drawn the attention of writers and artists. Gevorg Emin wrote a poem called Dance of Sassoun, published in 1975, and other poems and works of visual art also take the dance as their subject. Two films show it: Men, from 1972, and Yarkhushta, from 2004, both produced by Gagik Harutyunyan. Recordings and videos of the dance exist as well, including performances by the Maratuk and Karin groups and an instrumental version of the tune.

How Yarkhushta is kept

The dancers are men. They arrange themselves in two rows, and each dancer pairs off with someone opposite. The rows advance toward each other, the gap closes fast, and the dancers bring their palms together against the palms of the dancers facing them, then draw back and repeat. The whole dance runs on this forward step and clap. Two pipes and at least one drum play throughout at high volume, and the sound, together with the movement, can bring on a trance-like state. In the past soldiers danced it before a battle. Today ensembles perform it for audiences.

When and where

There is no fixed date. In earlier times Armenian soldiers danced yarkhushta before they went into battle. Today it has no day of its own and is kept alive instead by folk groups, who dance it at performances, and by the effort to add it to the army's programme of songs and dances.

The dance comes from Sasun, a highland district in western Armenia, and it is kept today in Armenia. It is strongest in settlements founded by families who left Sasun after the Armenian genocide, above all in villages near Aparan, Ashtarak and Talin. Yerevan is a centre for its teaching and staging.

What Yarkhushta means

Yarkhushta carries courage. Soldiers once danced it as they prepared to fight, and the clapping gave them a beat of their own to move by. Some of the purpose was ritual, and some was to send fear away and raise the spirit for close combat. The loudness matters as much as the steps: the drums and pipes are meant to lift the dancers out of ordinary feeling and into a state close to trance.

Questions people ask about Yarkhushta

See also

HalayA traditional line and circle folk dance kept across Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, and Syria.KochariA circle dance from the Armenian Highlands, danced at weddings and gatheringsChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsApril Fools' DayAn annual day of lighthearted pranks, hoaxes and teasing kept on the first of April

Good reading and sources

• Yarkhushta on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

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.