Spanish Traditional Dances

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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 contrapás, 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 ...

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