The implications of rural praxes legacies in Majorcan urban dance tradition

ABSTRACT

The ball de bot, a folk dance from the Spanish island of Majorca, has generally been documented in the literature and academics from an urban historical perspective. Thus, urban traditions have been slowly imposed over an older rural praxis that urban elites considered dead. This article first demonstrates the social role of the ball de bot from a rural perspective based on living witnesses to the rural praxis. Second, we argue that the spatial perspective (from an urban-based view to a rural-based one) enables us to make a critical revision of the current conception of ball de bot. Finally, this research, beyond the specific case presented here, illustrates the importance of opening new perspectives on dance to move away from accepted historic discourse, and to reconsider rural experiences in order to improve our comprehension of dance.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnographic practice
• urban–rural theory
• Majorcan dance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In the case of the Balearic Islands, the division between urban and rural is more than just a geographic difference and has historically manifested in deep conflicts in Majorca (such as the Germanies – rural insurrections against urban owners – in the 16th century) (Duran 1982). The spatial cultural division of Majorca lies between the urban zone of the Ciutat (the city of Palma) and the rural area of the Part Forana (the hinterland). However, the municipality of Palma includes the outlying region and some rural spaces, the Fora Ciutat, which seems historically closer to the Part Forana. The Part Forana is subdivided into regional zones: the Tramuntana, or mountainous area; the Raiguer, or piedmont area; the Pla, or plains; the Migjorn, or southern area; and the Llevant, or eastern area. Some rural dances differences can be noted at the regional level (e.g., Jota de Llevant or Bolero de Ciutat).

2 Ballada in Catalan means public dance in an open place.

3 British dance ethnographer Linda Dankworth proposes a periodization of ball de bot, dividing the history of the dance form into four periods: a) from the nineteenth century to 1929, b) from 1930 to 1936, c) from 1939 to 1975, and d) from 1976 to present (see in Dankworth 2013, 34).

4 One co-author has more than fifty years of experience in Ball de Bot as a dancer and choreographer. He has actively participated in the Federació d’Agrupacions project, and it has also created more than 10 Agrupacions in Fora Ciutat and Part Forana in the last 30 years. The other author is an academic but also a Ball de Bot dancer in Part Forana.

5 Ultima hora (12/04/2019): “La mitad de la población de las Islas ha nacido fuera” [Half of Islands population was born abroad] https://www.ultimahora.es/noticias/local/2019/04/12/1072157/mitad-poblacion-islas-nacido-fuera.html.

6 Videos showing the different styles of Ciutat and Part Forana:

Bolero dels Punts better known as Bolero de Valldemossa at an exhibition by Escola de Música i danses de Mallorca https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3hNWBk11Qk

Mateixa felanitxera at a Ballada in Part Forana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpWLH1hX6EI

7 Under Spanish dictatorial rule, dance was used as political propaganda. As a result, Balearic dances were forced to adapt in many aspects (language music, clothes and also the gender dominion) to national standards.

8 We have added some samples mainly from ballades in Part Forana to get a better idea about the characteristics of the main dances in Ball de Bot:

Bolero: Santa Maria (Part Forana) in 2018, Ballada organized by Xaloc Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRZZwgXq-OY

Jota: Palma in 2022, Mostra organized by Sa Revetla de Sant Antoni (Son Ferriol, Fora Ciutat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaRYz8XybaI

Fandango: Calonge in 2010, Ballada organized by Es Revetlers (Santanyí, Part Forana), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9k_A49U4YY

Mateixa: Palma in 2010, Ballada organized by Es Revetlers (Santanyí, Part Forana). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il4BxHfch0I

Copeo: Deià in 2009, Mostra organized by Aires Sollerics (Part Forana) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2DugcH1wMk

Sources: Free access from Youtube

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hugo Capellà Miternique

Hugo Capellà Miternique, a professor of geography, writes on cultural geography perspective on topics related from landscape, risk, nature, urbanism or tourism to ethology, gender, music or food. Among his recent publications close to the present article on dance are ‘The Ibiza's Nightlife as a Bend from Marginalization to Tourism Centrality' in Stanko Pelc and Miha Koderman (Eds) Nature, Tourism and Ethnicity as drivers of (De)Marginalization (Springer, 2018) and ‘A disrupting merge perspective on gender: the case of Ibiza' in Etienne Nel and Stanko Pelc (eds) Responses to Geographical Marginality and Marginalization (Springer, 2020).

Xisco Dopico

Xisco Dopico, a professional free-dance dancer, specialized in Ball de bot, Flamenco, Contemporary and Standard and Latin dance in sport's competition.