Kiyiz

Origin and history: Kiyiz is a Kyrgyz folk dance that dramatises the making of felt (kiyiz), one of the oldest and most important crafts of the nomadic Kyrgyz. Felt-making — including the celebrated ala-kiyiz and shyrdak carpets inscribed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list — is traditionally women's work, and the dance grew out of and celebrates this craft, drawing its choreography directly from the stages of felt production. It was inspired by the makers of tush kiyiz, the decorative felt hangings of the Kyrgyz home.

Cultural and social context: The dance honours the labour, artistry and communal cooperation of Kyrgyz women. It belongs to a family of Central Asian labour-imitation dances that transform everyday productive gestures into stylised movement, preserving and dignifying traditional craft knowledge.

Character and feel: It is industrious, warm and communal, building from busy shared activity to a proud display of the finished work.

Technique and movement: Dancers run on with light steps, then mime picking up wool, trampling and pouring water over it, and tamping the felt with sticks. The movement vocabulary — walking from the heel, stepping, sweeping the arms upward with a sharp downward drop of the hand as if kneading the felt, and turns with the hands bent in front of the body — reproduces the real motions of felting. When the imaginary carpet is complete the dancers display it and settle into artistic poses.

Music: It is performed to Kyrgyz folk instrumental music, in which the plucked komuz is central.