Dance of the Black Sea Circassians by Kabardinka

The choreography performed by the Ensemble of Kabardinka is a collection of various Circassian dance figures and influenced by the Western Adyghe tribes Ubykh, Natukhay and Shapsug who once used to populate the Black Sea coasts of the Northwest Caucasus for thousands of years with their Abkhazian cousins before they were completely exiled from the region by Russian Empire in 1864. They lost more than three quarters of their populations during the Circassian Exile. The aggression and the later actions against the native people of the region by Russian Empire are considered the first modern systematic genocide by many historians and it was a role model for later genocides committed by different countries around the world although the only country officially recognizing it is Georgia. Today most of Circassians live outside of their native homelands scattering around the world. As a result Ubykh language went completely extinct in 90’s and other ethnic groups/languages are waiting for the same fate. Th