Frelighe Kreis (the circle of happyness).
This is a very cheerful dance that wants to bring luck to our spectators; Indeed the dancers want to communicate to our audience many serenity and happyness.

Stearne Polka (The Polka of the Stars)
This Dance had been inspired by the beautiful moon-nights and by the shining stars that we can see between our beautiful mountains. The boys made up a ring that represents the moon while the girls represent the stars that dance around her. When the moon disappears also the stars have to return back to their place. Somethimes also the stars don't find the way to go back home.

Pairische Polka
This Dance wants to remember the ancient austrian origins of Sappada, still bound to Tyrol and Bavaria because of his traditions.
In our village we speak an old german dialect, and it is one of his particularity, because it is the only village in the province of Belluno in which it is mantained (for more than 1000 years) this tipe of dialect.

Schbaaf
On the hats of the male dancers of the group is there real feather of the capercaillie. This became the symbol of the group Holzhockar. In our village the boys that ready for the military call-up, look for an hat like this to have a party to remember his age, 18 years old. The feminine contemporary have to decorate this hats with flowers and ribbons, ready to partecipate at the end to the same party.

Kneidl Draan (making gnocchi)
This dance wants to remember the work of the housewife in the kitchen, and above all those movements she makes to knead the bread, the meal, the eggs to prepare this good type of "gnocchi". They can be served with sauce, soup, or melted butter. The secretof this course is the main ingredient: the "speck". At that time you was very lucky if you had a piece of smoked flesh in the cellar. That's why it was sipped and was eaten only in the most important days.

Fensterle (the smaal window)
The dance remember those wonderful moments in which the belovers talk eachother only with signs through the windows and decide to meet for the following day. Indeed in this dance you will see this window, create with the crossing of the dancers's arms, through which they smile and talk eachother.

Pairische (The dance of the land-worker)
This dance wants to remember the first work of our ancestors when they arrived in our valley, that is the sheperd and the land-worker. This is one of the first dances through which the group wants to honour this hard work in the fieelds.

Kreuz Polka (Cross Polka)
This is also one of the most ancient dances of the tradition and it can be notice in the simple movements of the dancers. The name means Cross Polka because the steps and the movements are weaven, forming different shapes.

Steinbeckar (The stone that wakes up)
Long time ago the jung boys had only one possibility to stay with girls: they went under the windows of the girls, they throw a smaal stone on the glass without wake up the parents of his beloved and they could finally talk toghether. In the dance can be seen the fist of the man that hide the stone, and the crossing of the arms of the two dancers creating the window, through wich they atlk and smile.

Suntachpolka (The Polka of Sunday)
This dance want to remember the day off, sunday, when everybody met in the squares of the village to talk and dance. They needed just a accordion to join everybody in the dance and this dance, made up by 7 figures of seven steps each, right to remember the sevn days of the week. So on sunday all toghether to dance the Suntachpolka.

Miilrot (The Millwheel)
One of the most spectacular dance of the group Holzhockar is right this, the millwheel. Every village had oncehis own mill and the famerstook their products to be milled. The wheat was milled by big wheel, moved by water. The dancers represents with their movements the gears of this big wheels that jostle each other.

Pantl Tonz (The dance of Ribbons)
This dance wants to remember two particular moments of the year: the arrival of spring and the end of the haymaking-time. The spring is for everybody one of the most beautiful and awayted periods; especially in Sappada it announce the end of a long season of snow and cold and the rebirth of nature. All this induced the all village to give a party in the square and to make " the Dance of Ribbons ". In this occasion the good weaving of the ribbons meant that the season would have been favourable for the harvest. It was repited in Autumn when the barns were full of fodder and you could peacefully wait for the long winter . In this occasion too the good weaving of the dance meant a quiet and not to cold winter.

Spazierpolka
This is a cheerful and choreographic dance presented for parades through the stretts of the villages or to begin processions.

Marschier Pairische
This dance remember the typical musics from Austria; it is said that the core of this dance had been imported by the persons who had emigrated abroad that worked in this place in the '30s.

Lauter Poch (The Calm River)
In the valley of Sappada are there The Springs of the Piave River, the holy river for the italian nation; The group Holzhockar wanted to dedicate this dance to his river. With harmonious movements the dancers imitate the flowing of the clear water

Siebenstritt (The dance of seven Steps)
This is one of the most ancient dances of the group; easy movements to create different figures of seven steps each.

Buntsh (the equalizer)
In ancient times there was no water in the houses and everybody had to go at the fountain. It was used an equalizer with two pails full of water. It was placed on the shouders, so that the transport was more easy and less laborious. It was a women's task, and it is known that women transform very easily, an hard work in a party or in a dance. This dance wants to remember one of the oldest tools used at home.

Waltieger (The dance of the hunter)
The first hinabitants of our village were hunters and this dance wants to remember the moments in which they celebrate their comeing back home.

Konschkrittn Polka
This dance is dedicated to the boys who are 18 years old. In Sappada indeed, during the all year, the conscript are the main characters of the fairs (they are always presents), of the big solemn-occasions, where they have to carry on the shoulders the Holy-Mary and the other saints venerated in the festivities. In all these occasions they are with the girls of the same age, but above all with their hat with the "sbaaf", the tail of the capecaille. But women were always more than men, so what did men do? They take two girls each and began danceing along the streets of our village with many stopover and many drinks in every house. The problem is that Sappada is 5 kms long and the stopover are many, and therefore it is always more hard to come back home.

Bintmiile (The dance of the winnover)
This dance, very typicall, wants to remember a tollo that was used by our ancestors in the cultivations of cereals (in Sappada there were only barley and oats). This toll, actionated with the hands thanks to a crank, was used to twist the product and to be able to separate the grain from the chaff. In the dance you can notice this rotating movement in which the dancers interlace, separate and come back together again.

Holzhockar (The wood-Cutter)
The group take his name right from this dance, which represents the work of mountain-people, the work of the wood, one of the most important resource of Sappada. Of course every group of wood-cutters has someone who sharpen the tools, the hatchet and the saw: the HOLZHOCKAR have theyr kneif-grinders. But while the others work, they have even time to enjoy


THE FOLKLORISTIC GROUP HOLZHOCKAR RECENTLY DECIDED TO INTRODUCE TWO NEW DANCES THAT UNIFY TRADITIONAL DANCES WITH THE PLATTLAR.

MODARTONZ ( the dance of scythes):
till today, in Sappada we go to cut the hay using the new agricultural machines.With this dance we want to remember the work made by our ancestors long time ago: indeed at dawn, men went on the mountains with their scythes to cut the grass in the steep fields of our mountains, then, in the morning, their wifes reached them taking food and carring their rakes to help their men in this tiring work. When it get dark, and the hay was dry, it was gathered in big sacks and taken in the village by the men, to be deposit in the barns. This dance is dedicated to them, to our ancestors, that with effort but also with happyness, gathered as more hay as possible for their animals.

PLODARTONZ (the dance of Sappada):
This dance remember three big events of the life of our ancestors: the first one is the time in which the joungs met eachother, the party for spring and the birth of new loves, then the work of the agricultural laborer and the knocking of oats, that was made in the courtyards in front of the houses in a beautiful sunny day and, after work, the party with a symbolic dances that wants to thank God for the abbundant harvest and that join everybody toghether in a moment of happyness and friendship.



Mälchar Plattar (The plattar of the milker)
The Plattar is a dance made just by men. They beat with the hands, the leather-trousers and the sole, trying to remake the crack of the whip, with the echo that came just bak from the pasture. Some of them enter quietly in the cattleshed, some else don't want to enter, so the shepherd push them, drag them, he falls and get up again, then finally, tired, he obtain a big pail of milk.

Hinterperglar Plattar (The Plattlar behind the mountains)
In summer, the young sheperds performed in this dance to be heared by the friends spread in the valley that are nearby. The echo of the mountains broke the silence of the night and joined the sheperd in a single choir.

Hochstodlar (the Barns)
In the barns on the mountains was very frequent to meet to talk toghether for a while. In this occasion the joungs performed in this plattlar to cheer up the old people looking at them.

Klakkilan Plattlar (the Plattlar of Bels)
This plattlar want to remember those summers, when the sheperds were on the mountains with the flocks. Every cow and every calf had a smaal bel whose sound spread all around in the valley. In autums, when everybody went down to the village, the sheperd used to decorate the animals with flowers and smaal branches crossed toghether. The animals paraded through the streets of the village to be admired: so the party could start and everybody danced the Plattlar of Bels.

Knoppe (The plattar of the Miner)
The Holzhockar group wants to dedicate this plattar to the first inhabitants of Sappada that were miners and extracted iron. Northwards our valley is there the Monte Ferro (i.e. Iron Mount), and at the slope of the mountain are there the entrancesof the old mines. Knoppe, literary translate, is the mine's boy, that is that young man that with the lantern, lit the bottom of the mine, so that the expert miners could dig and go on with the work. The badge of our town is a miner, working in the bottom of a mine. Knoppe, the dance of miner is dedicated to our ancestors, and to theyr work, so hard and dangerous.

Panke Plattar ( The Plattar of the bench)
As you certainly know, in the evening, the youngs don't want to go to sleep, unlike the old people who prefered to go to bed very early. This plattar was invented by the boys to keep awake the old, sit near the front door, with the pipe, hungling because of theyr tiredness: keep them busy meant to postpone the time of the retreat. So that's the plattar of the bench, full of exercises and jokes.