Sardana | Cultural Heritage. Goverment of Catalonia.
Sardana Music and identity in the most popular Catalan dance
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As a social and popular phenomenon, the "festa sardanista" stands out for its ability to capture audiences and dancers. Just a floorboard in a square and a dozen chairs for the "Cobla" musicians.

In the popular Catalan folk dance, characterised by a circle formed by dancers holding hands, the music and melody are as important as the choreography, and have reachd a symphonic value all their own.

Most theories agree that the Sardana has its origin in pre-Roman or Greek dances and that the current dance is an interpretation of the "contrapàs", a liturgical dance from the nineteenth century.

The person responsible for its modernisation and popularisation was the musician Pep Ventura, who during the nineteenth century, changed the structure of the Sardana and introduced the tenor ensemble. Its character identity can be attributed to the leader of the Regionalist League, Francesc Cambo, who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, made the Sardana the "national dance of Catalonia".

Currently, there are 5,000 "sardanista" activities across the territory, including gatherings, dances, performances, concerts, composition contests and membership competitions.