The Sardana - a very special Catalonian Dance

The sardana (plural sardanas) is a circle dance associated with the Catalan region of Spain. The people of Catalonia occupy the northeastern corner of Spain spilling over the Pyrenees into French Roussillon. There are two main versions of this dance. The original version was the sardana curta (the short sardana). The modern and more popular version is the sardana llarga (the long sardana). The origin of this dance is unknown though it has been popular since the 16th century. Similar Iberian and Meditarranean circle dances exist but the music for this dance has its own unique patterns. It is a non-performance dance which does not require high levels of fitness. On the occasion I witnessed it I watched in amazement as an elderly genteman, who had been sitting on a newspaper placed on a step, laid his crutch aside and struggled to his feet. He then joined the circle closest to him Other circles had dancers who looked as if they were in their eighties.These older participants were enjoying a relaxing activity which helped their general health. The circles moved at the speed and with the energy levels of the majority of their participants. Some circles had predominately younger dancers and their circles moved with a lively energy. The circles can be entirely of people of the same sex, mixed or with couples only. It is considered bad manners to join a circle made up entirely of couples. When a circle becomes too large, more circles are formed. No special costume is needed, normal day wear is usual. Quite a few dancers were wearing the traditional rope espadrilles. When I first arrived to watch the dance there were just three dancers present. They put their bags and outer clothing in a pile and then formed a circle around the pile. As time went on the number and size of the circles increased. At its' height there were perhaps between 150 and 200 people taking part. People participating join hands together and with them held at shoulder height they dance with very small, precise steps, slowly round and round moving in a clockwise direction. The music for the sardana (also called sardana) is played by a cobla - a wind band. Four of the instruments the tenora, tible, flabiol and tambori are typically Catalan. Some sardanas have sung versions but these are not usually played for dancing. Many Catalans consider the regime to be distinct from Spain and there has been an independence movement for more than 150 years.The spanish dictator General Franco ruled Spain from the late 1940's to 1975. He considered the Catalan desire for independence and their national pride to be arrogant and insolent. Franco enforced crippling laws in a vain attemt to crush the traditions and language of the Catalans. Speaking Catalan was forbidden as was the sardana. Under the Franco dictatorship Catalan was excluded from state education and all other official use. To reverse this decline since 1983 there are laws which attempt to enforce, to protect and encourage the use of Catalan. This is the reason why the sardana is considered by the people of Catalonia to be a powerful symbol of national unity and identity which unites people from different walks of life and different circumstances. To read FREE EXTRACTS of "Dance to Health - Help Your Special Needs Child Through Inspirational Dance"CLICK HERE

Dance to Health is devoted to all aspects of Dance and especially Dance and Movement Therapy for Children with Learning and/or Physical Problems.The emphasis is on the health, creative and spiritual aspects of dance as a therapy.

Farewell Michael Jackson

It is still very difficult for me to accept that Michael Jackson has left us for ever. We will never know how his music might have developed.I was hoping that future work would reflect his feelings and experiences of the past ten years.

I still cannot reconcile the image of a young brown skinned, snub nosed Michael Jackson sporting an afro with his appearance at the time of his death. He underwent numerous and major transformations in his facial appearance. How much this was due to natural causes and how much due to the surgeon's knife is, in the end, of little or no importance where his performance is concerned. In a curious way his changing appearance and his style of dressing went successfully hand in hand.

Personally I have the impression that although over the years his appearance changed from boy to androgynous looking individual Michael Jackson never made the vital step from child to man in certain aspects of his life.This is a feeling which many other people have too. Perhaps it was the unselfconscious expression of "the child within" which lead in part to what many considered to be inappropriate behavior. Who knows if the expression of the "child within" prevented the star from understanding on an emotional level how adults are expected to behave towards children.

What never changed throughout his career was his wonderful, invigorating, unique energy which radiated love and an understanding of the power of music and dance to transform and influence the individual and ultimately the world.

Michael Jackson single handedly transformed the pop video with his combination of song and highly original dance. I don't know how much of the mind blowing choreography was due to him but he was a brilliant dancer - light on his feet, acrobatic, with good elevation, always aware of his position in space and with elegant "line". His seamless integration of song and dance, always right from the start, projected one unique aspect of himself - the ability to express unconditional love.

He was influenced by earlier Black performers but he added his own uniqueness to all he did. Michael Jackson went from being a "Black" performer to being recognized universally as the "King of Pop". By the time he died his appearance reflected no particular race. His appearance in the end was a symbol of fragile humanity which transcended race. Did he attempt to incorporate all races into himself, thereby becoming a "Universal Human Being".

Michael's musical generosity carried over into other aspects of life. He was keenly aware of the less fortunate and lent his name and resources to causes at a time when they were still intensely unpopular as in the case of support for anything connected with AIDS. There is also his work for children world wide. He was acquitted on all counts at his trail for child abuse.It is totally inconceivable to me that anyone operating on the energies which Michael Jackson operated on could sexually abuse a child. He was clearly disingenuous, childish, and foolish in certain aspects of his relationships with children but a pedophile - I think not..

On many aspects of Michael Jackson's life we can only speculate agree or disagree. What cannot be denied is that with his death we have said farewell to a uniquely generous entertainer lauded and loved world wide.

Quotes from People who Love Dance

Borobodur Temple, Java, Indonesia



Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen? ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. ~Ted Shawn, Time, 25 July 1955


Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays. ~George Balanchine


There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. ~Vicki Baum


To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. ~Agnes De Mille


Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. ~Faith Whittlesey


Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another. ~Author Unknown


Dance till the stars come down from the rafters
Dance, Dance, Dance till you drop.
~W.H. Auden


It is of course possible to dance a prayer. ~Glade Byron Addams


In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength. ~Martha Graham


It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer. ~Shanna LaFleur


I don't want people who want to dance, I want people who have to dance. ~George Balanchine


Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals. ~Charles Baudelaire


Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order. ~Samuel Beckett


Stifling an urge to dance is bad for your health - it rusts your spirit and your hips. ~Adabella Radici


I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living.... In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. ~Martha Graham, c.1953

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Come and See Flamenco Dancing in Andalucia, Spain

May and June are wonderful months to visit Andalusia if you want to see dancing. This is the period when "Feria" (the Spring Fairs) are held. It is a time of eating, drinking, riding in carriages and dancing.

The vast majority of women and children wear the traditional flounced Flamenco dresses and decorate their hair with combs and flowers.They look stunning. Everyone dances with totally unselfconscious enjoyment. It is beautiful to watch parents and grandparents enthusiastically encouraging children as young as two years old to dance. Older women often stand by approvingly as their husbands dance with a young woman to help her improve her technique.

"Feria" is a time when it is obvious to all what a deep and ever evolving hold dance has in this part of the world.

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1000 hands kuan yin dance(Goddess of Mercy) dance

This dance is called "Buddha with thousand hands".
It is performed by
a group of Chinese girls who are both deaf and
mute.They dance by
reading the signs given by the 2 teachers standing
at each side of
the stage, They are so famous now that they are
being invited by
countries around the world at $400,000 a
performance.

The flow of life's energies in dance is a source of endless fascination to me. Here the core energy is very strong and flows through the dancers fingers uniting them as a beautiful whole.

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