Spanish traditional dances
Spanish traditional dancesTraditional Dances of spain
Sevillanas
Sevillanas is believed to be an old Castilian folk dance. It is a very popular dance for couples of all ages. You will see it danced frequently by Women wearing a long dress with frills, normally it has short-sleeves and it is two-coloured like a green dress with white frills. The Men wear black trousers and a white shirt with frills on the chest.
During the summers, in all Andalusia great flamenco festivals are celebrated in which programmes of several hours of length are offered. Generally they are developed in open-air places. Throughout all the year, the only places we can attend flamenco spectacles are the 'tablaos' (they're like platforms). It exists numerous schools to learn 'sevillanas'.
The first feria of the year is held in Seville during April and is certainly one of the largest, but in each small town in Andalusia rides itself on its own week long festivity. Young couples have the opportunity to dance, and the older people and children are there just to have fun. The whole family goes out together to enjoy the festivities, often until very late into the night.
It is danced by series of four, each with a different dance, with a short interval between one and another. The most important movements are the walks and the end because the singing, the music and the dance stop together and the dancers stay in an elegant position due to the gallant dance.
Sardana
The Sardana is a Communal dance intimately bound up with Catalan national consciousness. It is danced by men and women who join hands alternately in a closed circle. As they dance to the music of tenores and tabales which are shawms and small drums, their faces remain solemn and dignified. The basic pattern of the sardana is a series of long and short steps; the precise combination is determined by the leader, who signals the steps with a hand squeeze that is passed around the circle. The music is first slow, then rapid. The sardana developed in the 19th century from the contrap�s, a similar dance with a broken circle.
The origins of the sardana, a typical Catalan dance, are very difficult to establish. The oldest document where the word appears is from 1573 and was written by the bishop of Girona. In it he forbids the minstrels to sing and dance the Sardana. Around the year 1700 "cerdana" or "sardana" were words to refer to certain dances which people did not know how to dance.
The sardana celebrates the group: its ring is a symbol of brotherhood, of mutual interdependence, of democracy. Participation is very important in the sardana, anyone who decides entry must be admitted, regardless of dancing ability or lack of acquaintance with the group.
As we approach the end of the century, the sardana is...
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