Sardana

A circle dance

A sardana is danced in a closed ring. Dancers of all ages hold hands and look inwards, moving sideways in counted patterns of two or three steps, changing direction as the music goes. Hands rest at the hip or shoulder, depending on the step, and the choreography has small jumps that shift with the tune. Most dances are the long kind, sardana llarga, lasting twelve or thirteen minutes; the older sardana curta runs about five minutes. Two rarer forms exist: the sardana de lluïment and the sardana revessa. Several circles often dance at once, at different speeds and levels of skill.

Origins and history

Nobody knows where the sardana began. It resembles dances from Sardinia, once linked to a people called the Shardana, and the word itself first appears in writing in 1552. Between the 16th and 19th centuries a folk dance of that name spread through what is now the province of Girona, and by the middle of the 19th century it was popular in Empordà, Rosselló and Garrotxa. Three men shaped the modern form: Andreu Toron, who brought the tenora, an oboe-like instrument, to Perpignan in 1849; Miquel Pardàs, who published a teaching method in 1850; and Josep Maria Ventura, known as Pep Ventura, who fixed the metre and the size of the band.

The cobla band

A cobla is the band that plays for dancing, with eleven musicians. Five of them play woodwinds: the flabiol, a small whistle flute, plus the tenora and the tible, both from the oboe family, two of each. The flabiol player also beats a tamborí, a small hand drum. Five brass players and a double bass complete the group. The flabiol, tenora, tible and tamborí are all Catalan instruments. The double bass was once a three-stringed instrument, but the part is now usually played on the modern four-stringed one. Around one hundred and thirty cobles are active in Catalonia, most of them amateur; Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam plays outside it. Women have been allowed into cobles since the 1980s.

Meaning and identity

Catalans often speak of the sardana as a national symbol, one that carries harmony, brotherhood and democracy, because the same circle takes in people of any class, age or origin. It fits a Catalan idea that identity is learned rather than inherited. In 1924, while Miguel Primo de Rivera was in power, La Santa Espina, a sardana seen as Catalanist, was prohibited in Barcelona, and the dance became more firmly tied to Catalan feeling. During the 1940s the Francoist state restricted dancing in and around Barcelona, yet Catalans who supported Franco kept dancing it too, and others used it as a quiet protest.

Today and change

Since the 1960s the Obra de Ballet Popular has carried the Flama de la Sardana, a flame described as an eternal light, from city to city, and each host city holds the title Heir to the Sardana for that year. Catalonia's government added the dance to its catalogue of festive heritage in 2010 and gave it the status of a festivity of national interest. Five years later, the Spanish parliament voted without opposition for a People's Party proposal urging the Spanish government to seek UNESCO intangible heritage listing for the sardana; a similar move in the senate had failed in 2002 when the People's Party voted against it. Observers now call the dance rigid and conservative, and few young dancers learn it, though the Catalan government still funds training.

How Sardana is kept

At a public dance, dancers arrive and drop their coats and bags in the middle of the circle, since anyone who knows the steps may join. They link hands, face inwards and work through counted two- and three-step movements, switching direction and raising the hands to hip or shoulder as the pattern asks. A cobla of eleven players supplies the music. At a festival, several circles of different speeds and skill levels dance at once; these festival gatherings are called aplecs, while a brief public dance is a ballada. Dancers call themselves sardanistes and often belong to a colla.

When and where

Sardanes have no fixed date. They are danced mainly during festivities and at weekends, so the calendar depends on each town's own festival. The large gatherings called aplecs are tied to local celebrations, and shorter public dances, the ballades, are held on other occasions.

The dance belongs to Catalonia, in north-eastern Spain, and is strongest there, above all in the Empordà region and around Girona, where it spread between the 16th and 19th centuries. It was also danced in Rosselló, and by about 1860 it had reached Barcelona and travelled from there to Catalan towns and villages. Roughly 130 cobles are active today, most amateur; one plays in Amsterdam.

What Sardana means

Catalans often describe the sardana as standing for harmony, brotherhood and democracy, since the same circle accepts people of any class, age or background. It became a national symbol and a way of saying that Catalan identity can be learned and shared rather than inherited. When a sardana called La Santa Espina was prohibited in 1924, and when dancing was restricted in the 1940s, the dance grew closer to Catalan feeling and was used as a quiet form of protest.

Questions people ask about Sardana

See also

Christmas carolFestive songs and hymns sung during the Christmas season and door to doorCoupé-décaléIvorian dance music of club nights, flamboyant dress and money thrown to the crowdCante jondoA solemn and profound vocal tradition of Andalusian flamenco song.SegaA music and dance tradition from Mauritius and Réunion with Afro-Malagasy roots.

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Sardana on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.