The Armenian national dance "Kochari" may be included into the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, as a universal value, Hasmik Poghsoyan, Minister of Culture of Armenia told reporters on May 16. An application for it has already been submitted and the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris will discuss it this year.
"Kochari" was extant in Armenian Highland and is the most popular dance in Armenia nowadays. Armenians used to dance "Kochari" with its different variants and regional peculiarities from ancient times, it is connected with the worship of rams. The origin of the names is connected with the root word "khoy" the ram, which is not castrated (goch, khoch, khoy).
This beloved dance type is very attractive with its picturesque beauty and strong, masculine dynamics. There were versions of "Kochari" in almost all the regions of the present and historical Armenia, which were created according to the climatic and natural peculiarities. They were very original, unique, usually very different from each other, but always having the same pantheistical movements on the base- jumps, sharp movements of the body forward, and finally that special movements which reflect the battle of the rams.
"Kochari" was used in the Ballet "Spartacus" by Aram Khachatryan and even performed by the Armenian soldiers near Reichstag in 1945.
Earlier, Armenian lavash, Armenian national epic poem "David of Sassoun," the art of "khachkar" and duduk music were included into the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.