ADanceIndependent states
Kara Zhorga
"The black ambler" — a cheerful Kazakh dance imitating a horse's ambling gait and a rider's gallop, now the dance of mass flash mobs.
In Kara Zhorga ("black ambler") the dancer moves shoulders, arms and feet rhythmically like an ambling horse, miming holding the reins, cracking the whip and swaying in the gallop.
The dance was preserved among the Kazakhs of China and spread widely again in Kazakhstan in the 2000s through returning compatriots (kandas). It is danced to a fast dombra kuy.
Today Kara Zhorga is performed at weddings, holidays and mass dance events involving hundreds or thousands of people, and it is also loved by the Kyrgyz.
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Updated: October 2, 2026