This
folk dance from the
Pontic Greeks takes credit for being The Most Difficult Greek Dance In the World! Pontos is a region in the extreme northeastern part of Turkey, on the border with Adjaria in the Georgian Republic. Pontic dances are usually characterized by a very martial feeling and trembling movements in the hands, shoulders, and the upper part of the torso, and small, close-to-the-ground movements of the feet. The music for most Pontic Greek dances is usually played on a small, bottle-shaped fiddle called "
lyra" or "kementze", or on a small
bagpipe called "
tulum", with or without "daouli" (hand drum) accompaniment. Most Pontic Greeks have settled in Greek Macedonia, due to oppression by Turks during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.