Counting Odd Meters: 7/8, 9/8 and 11/8 for Balkan and Greek Dances

Odd meters stop feeling odd once you stop counting to seven, nine or eleven in one run. Dancers count short groups, quick and slow, and the feet follow. This guide writes out 7/8, 9/8 and 11/8 for the dances you are most likely to meet.

How do you count 7/8, 9/8 and 11/8?

You count them in groups of 2 (quick) and 3 (slow), and you step on each group. Here is each meter written out, with the group breaks marked:

Unlike an 8-count, the bar is uneven on purpose. According to Wikipedia, this additive way of building a bar from alternating twos and threes is called aksak, from an Ottoman word meaning "limping". The slow group is the longer one. The "limp" is the step that takes it.

Step by step

7/8: slow quick quick (3+2+2)

Kalamatianos is the Greek dance in 7/8. Wikipedia describes the beat as subdivided 3+2+2, which gives three steps per bar. Say "slow quick quick" and step on each word.

The dance has 12 steps over 4 bars, according to the same page. Its steps match the syrtos, but the syrtos is slower and sits in an even 4/4. If you already know the syrtos, you know the footwork. Only the count under it changes.

The same seven pulses can be grouped differently. Wikipedia lists 2+2+3, 2+3+2 and 3+2+2 as the rotations of seven. A dance in 2+2+3, such as the Macedonian lesnoto, counts "quick quick slow" and starts the long step later in the bar.

9/8: quick quick quick slow (2+2+2+3)

Daychovo horo is a Bulgarian dance in 9/8. Wikipedia counts it 2+2+2+3, quick quick quick slow. The basic pattern lifts the right knee on the first beat, then takes three steps in place. The lifted knee alternates on each repeat.

It's also a circle dance with a leader, who calls variations that the circle answers. Each one takes about four measures, so your count has to stay steady while you listen for the call.

11/8: quick quick slow quick quick (2+2+3+2+2)

Kopanitsa is a family of dances from western Bulgaria in 11/8. Wikipedia gives the pattern as quick-quick-slow-quick-quick, with the slow beat on the third count. Gankino, from northern Bulgaria, is a close relative.

Count it as five steps, not eleven: two quick, one slow, two quick. The slow step in the middle is your anchor, so find it first.

Reading the groups against each other

Lay the three meters side by side and a pattern shows. Each one is made of the same two building blocks, a quick of 2 and a slow of 3. Seven has one slow and two quicks. Nine has one slow and three quicks. Eleven has one slow and four quicks. Once you can say "quick" and "slow" in time, a new odd meter is only a new order of the same two words.

That is also why the rotations matter. The slow group can sit first, as in kalamatianos, or last, as in daychovo, or in the middle, as in kopanitsa. Before you learn the steps, say the quick and slow words through once and notice where the slow one lands.

Find the 1 in the music

In an uneven bar, the 1 is the start of the first group, and the long group is your landmark. Listen for the beat that feels held a little longer, then work back to the start of the bar. Our guide on how to find the 1 in the music covers the general method.

Watch the speed, too. According to Wikipedia, musicians often speed up kopanitsa during the dance as a challenge to the dancers. Keep counting groups and the tempo change is easier to ride.

Common problems

• Counting to 7 as one run. Break it into 3+2+2 and say the group names out loud.
• Rushing the slow group. The 3 is longer than the 2s. Give it its full length.
• Mixing up 3+2+2 and 2+2+3. Same seven pulses, different place for the long step. Check where the long beat falls before you commit.
• Losing the leader's call in daychovo. Keep your own count going while you listen, and join the new variation on the 1.

Practise it with Count Studio

Drill it in three passes, and keep each pass short. First clap the groups and say "slow quick quick". Then add the feet in place. Then travel in the circle or line. Start with 7/8, because it has the fewest groups, and move on to 9/8 and 11/8 once the quick and slow words feel automatic. If a count falls apart, go back to the clapping pass; the feet only follow what the voice already knows.

Count Studio's count library has the meters from this guide: 7/8 as 3+2+2 and as 2+2+3, 9/8 as 2+2+2+3, and 11/8 kopanica as 2+2+3+2+2. Tempo in the library is counted in eighths, so you set the speed of the pulses and the groups follow. See the dance tempo chart for how tempo is read across styles. Count Studio is coming November 27 to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Bottom line

Count odd meters in quick and slow groups, never in one long run. Seven is slow quick quick, nine is quick quick quick slow, and eleven is quick quick slow quick quick. Find the long group, step on each group, and the meter stops being odd.