What is
The popular dance of Mallorca and the improvised poetry that accompanies it in foguerons, matances and festivals. It is not a festival with a fixed date: it is the common language of almost all festivals.
On i quan
- Throughout the island: Sant Antoni, Matances, patron saint festivities, bot ball shows.
Personatges and objects
- Balladors in pairs; sonadors (guitar, guitarró, violí, flabiol); castanyetes ; ximomba in the winter glosses.
- Page dress gipó i vestit de pagès .
- Glossators.
How is
- Ball de bot: couple dances: jota (live, sung; the bolangera is a type of jota), mateixa (fast lateral steps, especially in Levante; the one from Pla derives from the courante), copeo, fandango (with guitar and castanets), bolero (slow, of Andalusian origin).
- Musicians: flabiol and drumí and xeremies (the oldest); guitars, llaüts, bandúrrias and violins since the 19th century. XIX; castanyoles or finger snaps.
- Glosa: improvised or memorized rhymed stanza. The ximbomba cançons (4-6 verses) are sung with family and friends, especially in Sant Antoni.
- Glosat: duel of glossators.
Vocabulary
- bot: jump.
- sonador: musician.
- glosa / glosador / glosat: verse / improvising poet / duel.
- mostra: exhibition.
History
- 1343: first documented dance, the teringues, in Llucmajor.
- 1369: payment to five joglars for improvised songs in Valencia (Pere el Cerimoniós): first reference to the tradition of improvising.
- 1808-1814: the French War brings Andalusian forms (bolero, fandango).
- 19th century: the Arxiduc collects dances and music in Die Balearen ( file ).
- 1920-1960: decline.
- 1925-1940: recovery groups: Parado de Valldemossa (1925), Tall de Vermadors (1927), Aires de Muntanya (c. 1930), Aires Mallorquins (1940).
- 1977-1990: boom of groups (Obra Cultural Balear, Escola de Música i Danses de Mallorca, 1980). Música Nostra and Sis Som fill the public ballades.
- 1982: conferences at the Ermita de la Victòria (Alcúdia): manifesto for public ballades.
- 1992: Mallorcan Music and Ball Federation. 1996: Defesta separates.
- Today: Mateu Matas, "Xurí", reference of the Glosadors of Mallorca.
Protection
- Without own declaration; The Mallorcan rondalles (oral tradition) have been BICIM since 2026.
Why is it design
- Open system: fixed form (quatrain, step) and new content every time.
For the project
- Glosses on objects: ask glossators for verses for each card in the atlas.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ball de bot and gloses (folk dance and improvised verse)?
The popular dance of Mallorca and the improvised poetry that accompanies it in foguerons, matances and festivals. It is not a festival with a fixed date: it…
What are the traditional words for Ball de bot and gloses (folk dance and improvised verse)?
Some words: bot, glosa / glosador / glosat, mostra, sonador.
Sources
Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.