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Whirling stilt dancers of Anguiano return after two-year pandemic break

Video. Whirling stilt dancers of Anguiano return after two-year pandemic break

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The Dance of the Stilts is a folk festival, held every year in Spain, in the town of Anguiano (La Rioja) from 21st to 23rd July. The event returns this year after a two-year break due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

This stilt dancing has been going on in the village of Anguiano since the 17th century. The show begins with a mass in commemoration of the Virgin of the Magdalena. Then eight young people equipped with 50 centimeter high stilts and wide skirts hurl themselves down a cobbled slope, turning on themselves.

The dancers will have to turn down some steps and cross the narrow ‘Cuesta de los Danzadores’ street (Dancers' Slope street), which is quite steep and dangerous.

To the beat of the music and the sound of castanets, they reach the plaza, where they are greeted by the crowd, who act as a mattress and stop a possible fall.

To avoid a dramatic fall of the stilts, these young people help themselves with the skirt, which acts as a bell and is what allows them to remain stable and not lose their balance.

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