'Hop Cossack' is a famous dance very common in the Chassidic circles.

It is attributed to Rabbi Aryeh Leib Shpoler, also called "The Shpoler Zeide", who lived between the years 1724-1811\5484-5572.

The dance originates in the story of a Jew's rescue by the Shpoler Zeide.

The Jew had leased a property from a gentile, but was unable to pay the requested monthly fee. Consequently, the gentile threw him into a deep pit, and mockingly asked him to dance for him, in order that he be set free. The Jew did not possess the physical strength to fulfill the will of the gentile, but was miraculously rescued when suddenly from nowhere, a man dressed in a bear skin appeared before the gentile and danced the required dance. That man had been the Shpoler Zeide.

The night before, he had been taught all the secrets of the dance by the Prophet Eliyahu, who had appeared to him in a vision.

This tale was dubbed "The Dancing Bear".

The Shpoler Zeide was constantly searching to fulfill the commandment of redeeming captives, which was sadly very necessary during his times, as the gentile landowners would frequently imprison their Jewish lessees and throw them into deep pits as a punishment for various 'offenses'.