Ezpata-dantzak 2006 (English)
Sword Dance festival in Eibar
May 27-28, 2006
On May the 27th and on the 28th of 2006 a Sword Dance (Ezpata-dantzak) festival is celebrating in the 41. Eibarko Euskal Jaia (Basque Festival of Eibar).
There will be invited some of the Basque and foreign Sword Dance groups in order to take part in this festival. Our local dance group is Kezka Dantza Taldea and the association that this dance group has created called Arrateko Amaren dantzarien kofradia. What this group is going to show is the following:
- Arrateko Amaren ezpata-dantza (The sword dance on the Lady of Arrate)
It would very nice for us to come foreign sworddancers. If you want to take part in our Ezpata-dantzak festival please contact us:
Organizer:
Kezka Dantza Taldea – Eibarko Klub Deportiboa
Kezka Dantza Taldea – Eibarko Klub Deportiboa
Adress:
- Portalea Kultur Etxea
- Bista Eder kalea
- 20600 Eibar
- Spain
- Email: kezka@dantzan.com
- Tfno: +34 605 71 14 29
FAQ
[1] Where is Eibar located?
[2] What is Euskal Herria and where is it?
[3] How can I arrive in Eibar?
[4] What kind of town is Eibar?
[5] How many languages are spoken in Eibar?
[6] What kind of sword dances are danced in the Basque Country?
[7] Who is the organizer of this festival?
FAQ
[1] Where is Eibar located?
Eibar is a town of the Basque Country. Administratively, Eibar belongs to the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. It is located in the province of Gipuzkoa, about 50km far away from Bilbao and other 5o km away from San Sebastian; just in the middle way of both cities. Eibar is 20km away from the coast.
(You can click on the marker to localize Eibar and move around the map with the mouse, as well as getting near or far with the + and - keys.)
[2] What is Euskal Herria and where is it?
Euskal Herria (Basque Country ) is a region located in the north of Spain and in the Southwest of France. The Basque Country is the local area where Basque people (the ones who speak Basque language) live. Officially, the Basque Country is divided into three different areas. In Spain there are Navarre and the Basque Autonomous Community and in France there are the provinces of Lapurdi, Lower Navarre and Zuberoa.
[3] How can I arrive in Eibar?
By road: the highway A-8 joins San Sebastian with Bilbao. Therefore, if you are coming from the north you must take the highway to Baiona and then to San Sebastian, and when you arrive in Donostia you must take the highway A-8 to Bilbao. Eibar is in the middle way of both cities.
Airports:
- Bilbao (50km)
- Biarritz (80km)
- Hondarribia (60km)
By train: There are often trains from San Sebastian and from Bilbao to Eibar.
By sea: there are ferries from Plymouth and from Calais to Santurtzi (60 km) and to Santander (120km)
More information about how to get there
[4] What kind of town is Eibar?
Eibar is an industrial town. It rises among mountains and different valleys. Some years ago it had plenty of arm factories. Nowadays, most of the companies work on different issues: machine-tool, bicycle-industry, automotion…
Nowadays, Eibar has a population of 28.000 people. It is the capital of the district called Debabarrena. The town festival is celebrated every twenty fourth of June, on St. John’s festival.
[5] How many languages are spoken in Eibar?
In Eibar people speak two languages; Spanish and Basque. Everyone speaks Spanish but the 40% of the whole people is able to speak Basque.
[6] What kind of Sword Dances are danced in the Basque Country?
Most of the Sword Dances you will see in the festival will be danced with long swords. These swords are 100-150 metres long. However, in some Basque Sword Dances, instead of using swords, they use some decorated sticks.
These Sword Dancers take the sword or the stick from both sides of it and this way they are able to create different choreographic forms.
The main choreographic structure is made V-form, the sword-dancers are lined up in two rows offering their own swords to each other, and the leader is
the one who joins both rows on the top of the group. Nevertheless, in some cases the sword-dancers are lined up in four rows and then it is made W-form structure.
The sword-dancers are white dressed and they use to wear some coloured ornaments in their heads, chests, arms and waists. Very often, these ornaments are red-coloured.
In order to play this Basque sworddances we use the instruments of txistua and danbolina (the Basque flute and the drum respectively). Txistua or the Basque flute is a pipe with three holes, it is played just with one hand due to the fact that the other hand is used to play the danbolina or the drum. This way, a single musician is able to play the music and to keep the rhythm.
[7] Who is the organizer of this festival?
The group of dance Kezka Dantza Taldea is the organizer of this Sword Dance festival. Kezka Dantza Taldea is the local dance group that is made up of 30 people and they use to dance their Arrateko Amaren Ezpatadantza ( The sworddance on the Lady of Arrate) every eighth of September in Arrate.