The sardana is the traditional dance of Catalonia and one of the strongest symbols of Catalan identity. It is danced in a circle, holding hands with arms lowered or raised to shoulder height, and anyone can join the circle, respecting the alternation of men and women and without separating a couple.
Origins
Circle dances are very old in the Mediterranean, but the modern sardana was born in the nineteenth century in the Empordà region, around Figueres and the Costa Brava. The musician Pep Ventura (1817-1875) of Figueres gave it its present form, lengthening the pieces and fixing the line-up of the cobla, the small band that accompanies it. At the end of the century, with the Renaixença movement reviving Catalan language and culture, the sardana spread throughout Catalonia as a national dance.
The cobla and the music
The cobla consists of eleven musicians: the flabiol, a small flute played with one hand while the other beats the tamborí, a little drum hanging from the arm; two tibles and two tenores, double-reed instruments with a powerful, distinctive sound; two trumpets, a trombone, two flugelhorns and a double bass. Each sardana begins with a short flabiol prelude, followed by sections of slower short steps (curts), arms lowered, and long steps (llargs), arms raised. Dancers must count the bars carefully, because the number of steps changes in each piece: this is why the circle requires concentration and harmony.
Meaning
For Catalans the sardana represents unity and equality: a circle without a leader, open to all, in which no one stands out. The poet Joan Maragall called it "the most beautiful of all the dances that are made and unmade". Under the Franco dictatorship, which repressed Catalan language and symbols, dancing the sardana in the square also became a gesture of cultural affirmation, although the dance was never completely banned.
Where to see it
In Barcelona it is danced every week in front of the cathedral, in Plaça de la Seu, usually on Sunday at noon and Saturday evening (times may vary with the season), and in Plaça de Sant Jaume during the Mercè festival in September. In the Empordà, in Figueres, Girona and Costa Brava towns such as Tossa de Mar and Lloret, there are aplecs, sardana gatherings, and cobla concerts at summer festivals. See also Spanish dances and Spanish traditions.