The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Gopak

(Ukrainian hopak; from hop, an exclamation uttered while dancing; from it come the verbs hopati [to stamp] and hopkati [to jump]), a Ukrainian folk dance, mainly for men. It includes jumps, prisiadkas (steps executed by extending the legs alternately forward from a squatting position), and turns and often is of a grand, heroic character.

The vocal and instrumental melodies of the gopak are also often performed as independent musical pieces among the people. Folk melodies of the gopak and the genre itself have been used in many works by Russian and Ukrainian composers—in Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera May Night, Mussorgsky’s opera The Sorochintsy Fair, Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazeppa, Gulak-Artemovskii’s opera The Zaporozhian Cossack Beyond the Danube, Lysenko’s opera The Aeneid, Pu-gni’s ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse, Solov’ev-Sedoi’s ballet Taras Bul’ba, Khachaturian’s ballet Gayane, and Svechnikov’s ballet Marusia Boguslavka. One movement of Shtogarenko’s symphonic suite In Memoriam of Lesia Ukrainka bears the name gopak.

A. I. GUMENIUK

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References in periodicals archive

It was exciting, and always got the crowd going, with much clapping, expostulation and dancing of the gopak. Then someone from the crowd would leap up onto the stage and remonstrate angrily with us, over the microphone for all to hear, that we dared to play Russian/Soviet, melodies at a Polish dance.

The music of the Polish diaspora

But these are minor quibbles, I suppose, for folks looking for a serviceable new digital recording of the Pictures, with three good couplings in "A Night on the Bare Mountain," the Prelude to Khovanshchina, and the Gopak from Sorochintsy Fair to boot.

John Puccio reviews ... (The Music)

7 Goodmans karaoke machine, pounds 149.99, Argos; disco ball, pounds 65, Room; shades, pounds 10, Flying Duck; folding table, pounds 100.98, Gopak; stools, as before.

Interiors: Shopping: Party pack; Forget all that holly and ivy business, what good-time gals like you need to do is transform your pad into a party palace. Let the seasonal shenanigans commence

These, of course, included such classic Moiseyeviana, all present in that first 1958 outing, as The Partisans, with its startling images of horsemen and wartime combat, the amusing pomposity of Old City Quadrille, the delightfully surprising Two Boys in a Fight, and finally, the ceaselessly amazing powerhouse virtuosity of the Gopak.

Just Plain Folk

Time for tea, right Table, pounds 71.05, Gopak; black and chrome chairs, pounds 45 a pair, Flying Duck; red diner chair, pounds 120, Kitschen Sync; trolley, pounds 99, Room; wall phone, pounds 48, Flying Duck; clock, pounds 35, Russell Callow Clocks; apron, pounds 9.99, Rushbrookes Textiles; fabric blind, pounds 13 a square metre, Sodahl Fabrics.

Interiors: The look: cafe come home; And how to get it: give your kitchen a taste of the great British cafe. We're talking bright and breezy 1950s-style here, not your local greasy spoon. But we wouldn't say no to a fry-up

3 Folding table, about pounds 100, Gopak; Place chairs, pounds 39 each, Heal's; jug, pounds 49, Tavs Jorgensen for Dartington Pottery.

Interiors: Makeover: chef's special; Everybody loves a gorgeous kitchen. Even if a Pot Noodle is as gourmet as you get, there's something fabulous about all those lovely shining surfaces and go-faster appliances. So here's how to get one - from scratch

The concluding Gopak, the best known of all Russian folk dances, with its deep knee bends, powerful kicks, and high jumps, lacked the fire I remember from the last time I saw the Moiseyev.

MOISEYEV DANCE COMPANY

7 Table, about pounds 100, and bench, about pounds 62, both Gopak; tablecloth, pounds 12, Habitat; Roma cutlery, pounds 25 per setting, Doulton for Viners; PS cabinet, pounds 69, Ikea; mugs, pounds 1.25 each, Spoils Kitchen Reject Shop; Cuba dinner service, pounds 27.99 for 20 pieces, Rayware; red side plates, pounds 4.95 each, The Pier; picture, from a selection, Fraser Cunningham/Phil Waterman.

Shopping: sleek and teak; interiors; Dark wood and high-gloss colours make eating chez vous the funkiest option around. TV dinners will never be the same..

With his rough-hewn elegance, Andrew Drost, formerly of Boston Ballet II and Ballet South, made a striking debut in Gopak, Rostislav Zakharov's variation (staged by Bujones) on the Ukrainian folk dance.

Ballet Mississippi