The right way to 'Slavic spin'

Spinning plays a role in dancing in many Slavic countries. One Ukrainian dance studio near Washington, D.C. shows Morning Edition how they do it.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Viral videos on TikTok are debating the right way to Slavic spin. That's a dance move which goes by many different names in Slavic countries, and as you can imagine, requires one to spin.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

One TikTok user who goes by the name Blond@school posted a video with the caption, OK, I'm taking on the Slavic challenge.

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FADEL: She spins with her arms on her waist, leading with her shoulders. She's got over 200,000 likes.

MARTIN: Another user with the handle Sophbeen received more than 600,000 likes for her spin.

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FADEL: To get to the bottom of the inspiration for this trend, we visited the D.C. Music Academy to talk to some pros.

SOLOMIA GOROKHIVSKA: If you want, our real dancer will show you the right spin.

FADEL: That's Solomia Gorokhivska. She's the cofounder of a school in Fairfax, Virginia, that teaches Ukrainian music and dance. She says that in Ukraine, the spin goes by the name prepadanya (ph).

GOROKHIVSKA: This is one of the main features of Ukrainian dance. This is part of the big dance compositions.

MARTIN: Dance instructor Viktoriia Baliakina demonstrates.

GOROKHIVSKA: In Ukrainian dance professional, we start prepadanya in third position. This called third position.

MARTIN: Her feet are crossed, toes pointing out. And she begins to spin.

GOROKHIVSKA: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And turn, and turn, and turn, and turn. Five, six, seven, eight.

MARTIN: It works best with music, of course.

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FADEL: The crew at the D.C. Music Academy have seen the viral Slavic spin challenge online but point out that there is no right way to spin. Every country, every village even, has their own way of doing it.

MARTIN: Gorokhivska says her school teaches a Ukrainian way to do it.

GOROKHIVSKA: It's very exciting. It's very energetic, very powerful. If you need to lose weight, you dance Ukrainian dance. If you want to be looking beautiful, you dance Ukrainian dance. If you have to cheer up yourself, you dance Ukrainian dance, and you spin. And all these elements that make your body be very fit and your mind is just so, so spiritual.

FADEL: I would give it a spin, but I might get dizzy.

MARTIN: Me too.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.