11 Traditional Portuguese Dances

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4. Fandango - Ribatejo


Fandango is a musical style characterized by its dance, with frenetic movements, known in Europe, Spain and Portugal since the Baroque period, in addition to other countries such as Brazil and Mexico. Its uniqueness is characterized by lively and exhibitionist movements.
The Lusitanian fandango is preserved in several communities in Portugal. Dance and festivities appear as folkloric manifestations in several regions. The fandango arrived in Portugal in the 18th century, coming from the Spanish theater stages. The Spanish rhythm was contagious in Portugal. It arrived first in the circle of the aristocracy as a ballroom dance and later invaded taverns, in a male environment. Such influence was so significant that the fandango even reached the convents. At this moment the women were already occupying the spaces of the dances, twirling to the sound of the music and the click of the fingers. It was from then on that the fandango came to be seen as an instrument of seduction.

In general, Portuguese dance is characterized as intoxicating and virile. Fandango Ribatejano is one of the best known fandangos. In the north of the Ribatejo province, on the banks of the Tagus River, the campinos wear darker typical costumes and dance slower. In the region of the great lezíria, fandangueiros dance in rural areas, in a more agitated way, wearing more elegant and adorned typical clothes. The musical characteristics of the Ribatejo fandango are similar to those found in Alentejo. Fandango is still danced in practically all the provinces of Portugal, with different arrangements, rhythms, songs and choreographic movements. In Ribatejo alone, there are almost twenty variants of fandangos, in addition to accordions, also played by fifes, harmonicas, harmoniums and clarinets. In its various forms, the Portuguese fandango can also be just an instrumental version, being sung or not, danced in circles or danced in pairs with various combinations.

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Portugal's Ribatejo region is home to the Lusitano Horse, vast fields of flowers, the biggest forests of cork trees in the world and a true farm to table way of life.

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5. Vira do Minho

Vira do Minho is the queen dance of Alto Minho. The earrings and Minho costumes help complete the scenario. The pairs of raised arms are arranged in a circle and slowly rotate in an anti-clockwise direction.

Men advance and women retreat. The situation drags on until the voice of a dancer imposes itself, shouting 'fora' or 'virou'. They turn around inside and come face-to-face with the girl who preceded them. This movement continues until everyone changes pairs, at the same time as the wheel rotates in the same direction.

But this is just the simplest of wheel turns, as there are others with more complex markings.

And there are many names in which they unfold. Viana is famous when it comes to staging the vira. But it's not the only one.
We arrive in the region of Braga and immediately the ‘Vira Galego’ shows up, “stripped of primitive opulence”, as Pedro Homem de Mello characterized it.
We walk along the coast towards the south and Vira doesn't give up. Alongside the Vira de Minho, we will find the Vira de Seis in fishermen's lands.

The origins of Vira

The origins of Vira, which some place in the ternary of the 19th century waltz and others seek further back, in Fandango, seem to be of remote age, as argued by Gonçalo Sampaio and also Sampayo Ribeiro, who places them before the 16th century.

Tomaz Ribas considers the Vira to be one of the oldest popular Portuguese dances, noting that Gil Vicente already referred to it in the play Nau d’Amores, where he gave it as a dance from the Minho.

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This from them all is the most traditional way of the dance:





And this a footage in an internation folklore competition, with some adaptations to the traditional way of dancing it:

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6. Vira da Nazaré - Estremadura

"Don't go to the sea Toino (loser)". This is one of the most popular verses of the vira da Nazaré. As it could not be otherwise, in the land of fishermen, the sea is the one that most orders. It puts and disposes of people's lives. Its from it they depend their day-to-day.

It is it who gives them bread, joys and anguish. And to express all this, the fishermen and their women have always given priority to music and dance. Proof of this are the folkloric groups that emerged in that fishing village.

In the old days, as soon as they came from the sea, fishermen would pick up the harmonium, a pitcher and a fan to roast the sardines, a bottle and a fork, which they would put inside to give rhythm, in some ferrinhos (triangle), in the old guitars, in the flutes and in the pine cones that passed each other and left for the revelry, for the festivities of Senhora da Luz, S. Brás and Santo Amaro, on the outskirts of Nazaré.

In spite of the dangers to which they are constantly subjected, the people of the sea have an exhilarating joy that they show in their rhythmic dances. Each piece of clothing with which they stage the vira has its own meaning.

The men wear the plaid shirt and work underwear, place the cap on their head, which serves to carry tobacco, money and also to protect from the sun and the cold, and finish off with the sash on the belt, which in the work has the rope function in case someone falls overboard.

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