Combat Hopak
{{Short description|Ukrainian Cossack martial art}}
{{Infobox martial art
| image =
| image_skyline=
| aka = Бойовий гопак, Boyovyi Hopak, Boyovyy Hopak
| imagecaption = Combat Hopak team during Chungju World Martial Arts Festival in 2001
| name = Combat/Boyovyy Hopak
| focus = various
| hardness = Full contact, Semi contact, Light contact
| country = {{flagicon|Ukraine}} Ukraine
| olympic = No
| creator = systematised & codified by Volodymyr Pylant in 1985
| parenthood = Hopak and other traditional Ukrainian dances, Ukrainian folk wrestling, Ukrainian fistfighting, Cossack combat
| descendant arts = Asgarda
| famous_pract = Kateryna Tarnovska (founder of Asgarda)
}}
Combat Hopak (also Boyovyy Hopak, Boyovyi Hopak from Ukrainian Бойовий гопак) is a Cossack martial art from Ukraine. It was systematised and codified in 1985 by Volodymyr Pylat (a descendant of a Cossack family from western Ukraine). It can be trained in light, semi and full contact formulae. Combat Hopak includes techniques of traditional Ukrainian folk fist fighting, folk wrestling, Cossack sabre fencing, and Cossack war dances like the Hopak and the Povzunets (Cossack dance centered around crawling and squat position movements) and the Metelytsia.{{Cite web|url=http://hopak.org.ua/node/8|title=ІСТОРIЯ РОЗВИТКУ ШКОЛИ БОЙОВОГО ГОПАКА Центральна Школа Бойового Гопака|website=hopak.org.ua|access-date=2016-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620090915/http://hopak.org.ua/node/8|archive-date=2016-06-20|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-05-14/combat-hopak-ukraines-martial-art-based-traditional-dance|title=Combat Hopak: Ukraine's Martial Art Based on a Traditional Dance|website=Public Radio International|date=15 August 2013 |language=en-US|access-date=2016-06-10}}{{cite news|title=Ukrainians Restore National Culture Through Ancient Cossack Dance Hopak|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2UsRIWbgOE|agency=Worldwide News Ukraine}}{{Cite news|title=Ukrainian Hopak: From Dance for Entertainment to Martial Art|author=Yuliya Pivtorak|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/congress-on-research-in-dance/article/ukrainian-hopak-from-dance-for-entertainment-to-martial-art/11FE9632C947D1663532123655CFEBBA|agency=Cambridge University Press}} Combat Hopak practitioners wear traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts, wide long cloth belt and Sharavary. Combat Hopak fighters also wear shoes like practitioners of Savate and perform kicks while wearing them.
Ukraine
In Ukraine, schools of Combat Hopak are present in most parts of country.{{cite news|title=Curiosities of Western Ukraine. School of combat hopak in Ternopil|url=http://uzhgorod.in/en/in_pictures/2017/curiosities_of_western_ukraine_school_of_combat_hopak_in_ternopil}}{{cite news|title=Combat Hopak Makes a Comeback: Traditional Martial Arts In Ukraine|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66FO2ohOPQ}}{{cite news|title=Fighting and Dancing With the Cossacks|url=http://fightland.vice.com/blog/fighting-and-dancing-with-the-cossacks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610202216/http://fightland.vice.com/blog/fighting-and-dancing-with-the-cossacks|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2013|agency=VICE}} Students of this martial art take part in tournaments in cossack free fighting, kickboxing, wrestling, and MMA formulas in Ukraine.
Outside Ukraine
It has schools in Poland,{{cite news|title=Public Polish Television news about Combat Hopak school in Warsaw|url=http://wiadomosci.tvp.pl/23416378/sztuka-walki|agency=TVP 1}}{{cite news|title=TVP Rzeszów news about Combat Hopak presentation in Rzeszów|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33qpJ9KeaDk|agency=TVP Rzeszów}}{{Cite web|url=http://uatoday.tv/society/ukrainian-combat-hopak-takes-off-in-poland-590141.html|title=Ukrainian combat hopak takes off in Poland|website=uatoday.tv|access-date=2016-06-09}} Canada,{{Cite web|url=http://www.bhopaktoronto.ca/about-us/|title=About Us {{!}} Toronto School of Ukrainian Martial Arts|website=www.bhopaktoronto.ca|access-date=2016-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508111925/http://www.bhopaktoronto.ca/about-us/|archive-date=2016-05-08|url-status=dead}} the United States,{{Cite web|url=http://hopakchicago.com/english.htm|title=The School of Boyovyi Hopak in Chicago|website=hopakchicago.com|access-date=2016-06-09}} Germany,{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/hopak.berlin/|title=Combat Hopak in Berlin|website=Facebook |access-date=2016-06-09}} Portugal.{{cite web|title=Contact section at webpage of Central School of Combat Hopak|url=http://hopak.org.ua/contacts#portu|website=Central School of Combat Hopak|access-date=2016-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620090847/http://hopak.org.ua/contacts#portu|archive-date=2016-06-20|url-status=dead}}
Combat Hopak team was representing the style during Chungju World Martial Arts Festival in 2001.{{Cn|date=February 2022}}
In 2019 representation of Combat Hopak toured France.{{Cite web|url=https://lyonukraine.org/2019/08/05/art-martial-dukraine-hopak-de-combat-presente-en-france/#more-3342|title=LE HOPAK DE COMBAT, un art martial ukrainien, présenté en France}}
Subtypes of Combat Hopak
Combat Hopak can be trained in 4 ways:
- Оздоровчий (Fitness) — as a form of gymnastics for health improvement
- Фольклорно-мистецький (Theatrical) — preparations of forms for stage shows and presentations
- Спортивний (Sport) — as regular contact sport for kickboxing, wrestling and MMA sport tournaments
- Бойовий (Combat) — military grade hand-to-hand and weapon combat.
Systems - descendants of Combat Hopak
- Asgarda (officially formed in 2004){{cite web|title=History of Asgarda martial art (English version)|url=http://asgarda.com.ua/en/our-history.html|website=Webpage of School of Asgarda martial art|access-date=2016-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825125402/http://asgarda.com.ua/en/our-history.html|archive-date=2016-08-25|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=The Warrior Women of Asgarda|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4wmW8fKrwk|agency=VICE}}{{cite web|title=Asgarda, Amazons of Ukraine|url=http://www.planet-mag.com/2009/art/jenna-martin/asgarda/|website=Planet mag}}{{cite news|title=Fight club|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/7987322/Fight-club.html|agency=The Telegraph}}{{cite journal|title=Ukraine : des femmes qui font mâle|journal=Le Figaro|date=3 August 2007 |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2007/08/03/01006-20070803ARTMAG90488-des_femmes_qui_font_mle.php}}
In popular culture
- Choreography of dancers in Ruslana's entry in Eurovision Song Contest 2004 included elements of Combat Hopak. Also video clips aired during Eurovision Song Contest 2005 intermissions were including presentations of Combat Hopak by adepts of the style.{{Cn|date=February 2022}}
- Ukrainian group Tartak video clip for their song "Nashe Lito" includes practitioners of Combat Hopak presenting technique.{{cite video|title ="Nashe Lito"|author=Tartak|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpZX41ptPW8}}