Jota - The special dance of Aragon
Dancing is one of the most artistic and richest forms of cultural expression of the people. Music, lyrics and dances express feelings, stories, political and social ideas, and other ways of intangible cultural heritage.
In Spain, The jota is one of the most popular dances and we sing and dance it since ending of 18th century. There are many regions of the country having their own version of this artistic expression, but the Aragonese jota is, undoubtedly, the best known of them.
As we come from Aragón, and we think cultural and artistic expression is a good way to connect young people with the territory, we decided to show and tell de story about one of these jotas.
Ainhoa, one of the participants of the Aragonese group, told us her experience dancing Bolero de Caspe the most popular jota in our village: “Bolero is a tipical dance in Caspe. I learnt it when i was 3 years old because my mother taught it to me. My mother and I belong to Rondalla Capolina, an organization in charge of teach Jota to others, practice and show it in different moments of the year, during festivities and others events in my town.
Bolero de Caspe comes from Castellote ( little village near to Caspe) since beginning of 1900. It starts when one of the most richs families in Caspe (Miravete family) commissioned a bandleader to writte lyrics and music to dance at the party with their workers at the end of the field work campaign. It became popular in the middle 20th century and nowadays the Rondalla Caspolina keeps the tradition alive dancing and teaching from parents to children.
