invasion of 1974. Onthe traditionally ritualistic form of the Cypriot dance they have had a wholly negative effect. Cypriot men used to dance mostly during wedding festivities and at various junkets on high days and holidays, but a]so in coffee-houses in the evenings, on threshing-floors, and wherever men gathered together. Social convention restricted occasions when women danced mainly to weddings. In the period roughly from 1910 to the seventies, the basic dance of both men and women was the "kartchilamas" performed by a confronted pair of dancers. The "kartchilamas" consists of a series of dances that vary slightly according to the performers, the locality, or the era. These dances are essentially parts of a whole, or suite, the parts being known as the "kartchilamas" or " first", !
             "second", "third", "fourth", and "fifth" or"balos", rounded off by other dances such as the "syrtos", "zeipekkikos", and "mandra". A feast would usually end with one of the pan-hellenic dances, the "kalamatianos", a circle-dance in which all might join. Cypriot dances are mainly of the type performed by a confronted pair, invariably two men or two women, or men's solo dances displaying virtuosity and often performed with a hand-held object, either a sickle, knife, sieve, or tumbler. In their steps and general characteristics, such as the movement of the body and limbs, they have features in common with dances of the historic Greek island area (the Asia Minor seaboard, Aegean islands and cities, and the Ionian isles). Apart from these common features, Cypriot dances are distinguished by steps peculiar to certain localities, such as stamping in one spot with the feet, crosse
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