The dance Sardana is a group dance in the shape of a closed circle a ring or anella with alternating males and

females holding hands together and looking towards the centre of the circle. Sardanas are open to all dancers who might wish to join in the circle, the only limitation being that each incoming dancer should prudentially join the anella that better matches their dancing abilities. This attitude of welcoming all willing dancers, without any discriminating whatsoever, makes for the extremely open and popular, even democratic spirit of the sardana. Present and future The musical aspect of the sardana has improved through time in quantity and quality. Never as today has sardana music been in a better shape, virtually by all standards (number and quality of sardana compositions and compositors, musical quality of cobles and instrumentists, musical preservation and documentation, and so on). On the other hand, the dancing aspect of the sardana slowly begins to show a more troublesome face. The number of dancers is at an all-time low and their average age is, one can estimate, around fifty. Most of todays dancers began dancing at young ages, and their offspring are not always following in their steps. It is true that a significant number of dancers even young ones practice sardana dancing on a regular basis, most of them joining in dancing groups known as colles) and performing at sophisticated levels. But dancing at a more massive and popular level is clearly receding. While one can estimate the total number of sardana compositions at about 30,000 and growing it would be difficult to find today such a number of relatively active sardana dancers people who, let us say, might at least dance twice a year. To redress this situation, a growing number of individuals, associations and public administrations join efforts to preserve sardana music and dancing and launch them into further flourishing.

THE SARDANA
Music and dance

Text: Carles Snchez-Runde April 2012 COLLA SABADELL. colla.sabadell@gmail.com A.C.F. SABADELL SARDANISTA sabasardanista@hotmail.es

The sardana is the most popular dance of Catalonia. One can easily find sardana performances and dancing all across the Catalan country during weekends and holidays. Many children learn how to dance it in school, and more serious aficionados regularly partake in sardana festivals and competitions. History and tradition Despite disagreements on the origin of the term sardana, some experts agree that the word sardana (also appearing as cerdana in tradicional sources) comes from the Catalan county of Cerdanya, located by the current Spanish-French border. The earliest written reference to a sardana is found in the 17th century, in a religious regulation banning sardana dancing during Catholic liturgical services in the cathedral of the Northern Catalan city of Olot. However, chances are that rudimentary forms of sardana were already danced before. Note that at that time, the southern Catalan speaking counties currently in France (the Roussillon and the Vallespir) belonged to the Catalan crown, which explains the strength of sardana followership in the Southern Catalan territories in France (what we call Northern Catalonia as opposed to the Spanish Catalonia). During the 19th century, sardana dancing spread from the Northern Catalan counties (and Andorra) to Barcelona and, once established in Barcelona, Southward to the rest of the Catalan country. At about the same time, the sardana adopted two of its characteristic traits: its musical duration became longer (from the two minutes of the primitive, short sardana to the current 10 minutes of the long sardana), and the reorganization of the band of instrumentists (known as cobla) performing the music. Short sardanas used to be performed by three musicians, playing three or four instruments. With the changes introduced by Pep Ventura in the mid-19th century, cobles ended up gathering eleven musicians playing twelve instruments. Another important personality of that time was Miquel Pards, a dancer and

choreographer who published in 1850 a method to learn sardana dancing that became the unofficial standard. We can differentiate sardana music and sardana dancing. Purists tend to stress that the heart of the sardana lies in its peculiarity as a musical composition, and that dancing the sardana is sort of a secondary addition. It is true that the dancing depends on the music, and not the other way around, but in actual practice both blend naturally in its popular followership. The music Cobles include the following instruments: one little flute and a timbrel traditionally called flabiol and tambor jointly performed by the same musician, four oboe-style Catalan wind instruments comprising two tibles and two tenores, two trumpets, one trombone, two saxhordlooking fiscorns, and a contrabass. On special occasions one finds twelve-musician cobles, with an additional trumpet or trombone. Sardana compositions consist of two types of movements, known as shorts and longs (curts and llargs), respectively comprising two and four compasses. Each curt and llarg forms one tirada, and standard sardanas include ten tiradas. A brief flabiol solo introduction precedes the ten-tirada series. The series ends with a brisk repetition of the tiradas last note simultaneously performed with all the instruments.