It is a dance that is performed by a couple or trio of dancers, which can be made up by two men and a woman or vice-versa, or in a circle. It is therefore a social mixed dance in the sense that it is part of society and both sexes take part.
According to the various researchers, the dancing style is typical of the south of the peninsula that, closer to the culture that we call Arabic, and which gives greater importance to the movement of the arms and hands than the legs, could have been imported.
Therefore, the Fandango, whose name may have come from the Portuguese Fado, and Jota, which is to be found throughout the Iberian peninsula, may have a common origin that spread from the south of the peninsula towards the East on the one hand, and, on the other, through the West, through Portugal and Galicia, then turned eastwards along the Cantabrian coast.
The Enciclopedia Auñamendi emphasises this and also states that the dance first of all became fashionable in Bizkaia, then in Gipuzkoa, where although J. I. IZTUETA rejected it for being foreign, it reached the coasts of Lapurdi well into the 19th century.
The dance belongs to the structure known as "low", compared to those known as "High", such as the case of Arin Arin.
We can therefore find similar dances throughout the north of the peninsular, performed by a man facing two women and vice-versa, or by two couples, and even by a circle of dancers.
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BasqueUte 2 years ago