General Information
The Sardana dance is one of the most famous dance of Barcelona and Catalonia. Like other national dances, it is characterized with relatively calm circles that allow people of all ages to participate in the celebration.
The origin of the dance is unclear – apparently, like many dances, it originates in an agricultural cult or one of the ancient European gods. The prevailing argument is that this is a dance to the Solar deity – the sun goddess.
What is clear is that from the beginning of Spain, the dance served as a national symbol and therefore religious and royalist organizations also acted against it. For example, during the 16th century there are references to the fact that the Council of the University of Olot forbids the Sardana dance, the Church of Girona forbids the entry of migrating singers who sang Sardana, and same was in other churches throughout Catalonia. These prohibitions were known until the 17th century when the dance became popular. Over the years, it almost disappeared and reawakened only in the 19th century with the national awakening.
There are many different types of Sardana dance – fast, slow, large circles, small circles and etc. There are amateur dancers and there are also professionals. There is no need to give further information about the rhythm and the steps – you can just see the videos and understand how simple this dance is.