Ehun Alargunen Dantza (Basque)

Dance Structure	(A x 2) + B repeated throughout the music.
Formation	Open circle. Fortress-hold.
Music Structure	3 counts/bar, 4 bars/phrase.
Music Speed	96 counts/min.
Alternative names	'100 alargunen dantza' is the original official name. 'Ehun Alargunen Dantza' is the widespread name. Presumably with '100' spelt out to look less glaring. 'Ehun Alargunen' is the name I first came across it as.
Music	'100 alargunen dantza' by Thierry Biscary.
Choreographer	Patxi Laborda.
Source	Sally Fletcher & Maureen Felton in Ipswich, UK. They had learnt from post-lockdown online classes from Burnaby, USA, where Jacques from Quebec, Canada, & Stacy from Oregon, USA, taught it. Probably they got it from Roberto Bagnoli, Italy. Confirmed against official choreography video.

Disclaimer: Mistakes are quite likely in the notes and no guarantees are made as to accuracy. There may be other versions of the same dance or other dances with the same name. Music may differ, particularly in speed, introduction and duration, between performers. The division into parts, bars & counts might not be standard. These notes of the dance are freely distributable (under GPL or CC-by-sa) in so much as the note's author's contribution but the choreography and/or collection were by other people and so their copyright might apply to the dance itself. Better than using notes, go to a dance class where it is taught.

A quiet moving (in both senses) distinctive dance that solemnly commemorates the deaths at sea of over 100 fishermen from the fishing town of Bermeo, 1 in 10 of all fishermen there, in a storm in 1912. Bermeo is in the Spanish half of Basque Country and is the main Basque fishing town. The music is beautiful. The timing can sound odd for a couple of reasons but, provided that the dance leader starts on the right count, it fits so naturally that it is easy to follow.

(It is not related to the more internationally famous sinking in 1912, that of the Titanic.)

The following 3 paragraphs can be skipped if you are a "normal" dancer/dance-leader, not a music or terminology geek! Just keep them in reserve to answer such people in your classes. They are NOT NEEDED for simply leading, following and enjoying the dance.

The first odd bit about the music is that the dance is clearly in 3 count figures but they turn out to not be counts 1-2-3 of bars but counts 2-3-1: ending on the strong beat. This feels so appropriate that some prominent notations number it 1-2-3. I myself am not a natural with beats but I was present when Stefan Freedman, a famed Circle Dance choreographer who is a natural with music, first came across it & said it was on beat 2. I subsequently spent quite a bit of time comparing it to the sheet music score and indeed it is on count 2. (Note that that score is in 9/8, with 3 beats being equivalent to one of my counts. I guess that was to save a mass of 1/3 note triplets notation as many beats are divided into notes &/or rests in 2:1 ratio.)

The second odd bit about the music is that it is highly syncopated with rests on starts of counts 1 or 2. Indeed the dance starts on a 2/3 count rest! I'd never before lead a dance that starts on a rest. However, it is just the music. The dance itself is perfectly regular and much simpler.

The prominent distinctive figure in this dance is step across infront, replace weight on the other foot and lift the foot that was infront. This is called a "Mazurka step" in some teaching & notation of this dance but I've called it "across-replace-lift" instead as that terminology as it is usually used fast lively step-step-hop Polish dances and so feels not fitting to from the atmosphere of this dance. Albeit (taking into account the different start beat) it is technically the same step. But very different styling. So I've called it "across-replace-lift" instead.

I recommend that you watch the official music/dance video of 100 alargunen dantza even if you have no intention to dance it. It is beautifully arranged & filmed with 100 young women in various black summer dress coming together in the old town to join the traditional style dance with Contemporary dancers in the centre representing the sailors. Very delicate & emotional.

Style: Soulful, respectful & mournful. Subdued & small flat footed steps. Stunned sad flat expression. Emotional. Quiet.

Introduction

Summary: Start on the rest immediately after "ko".

Start on 2nd count of second bar. This count starts with a rest! Start immediately AFTER "ko". Bar 1 of music is count 1 = rest, count 2 = 2/3 rest then "Ber-", count 3 = "-mio-". Bar 2 is count 1 = "ko", count 2 = 2/3 rest then "-ko". Start on that count.

Part A

Summary: R across-replace-lift. R side, L close, R side. L across-replace-lift. L across infront, R side, L across infront.

Start

Facing the centre of the circle. Weight on L foot.

2	R across infront.
3	L in place.
1	R lift.

2	R side.
3	L close.
1	R side.

Repeat bar 1 on opposite feet (L across infront, R in place, L lift).

2	L front across.
3	R side.
1	L close.

Part B

Summary: As Part A but double length by doubling both existing across-replace-lift & adding one after both travelling bars.

Start	Facing the centre of the circle. Weight on L foot.
1-2	Repeat Part A bar 1 (R across-replace-lift) twice.
3	Repeat Part A bar 2 (R side, L close, R side).
4	Repeat Part A bar 3 (L across-replace-lift).
5-6	Repeat Part A bar 3 (L across-replace-lift) twice. (Thus there are 3 of these in succession, but it feels more like 1 finishing off the previous sequence followed by 2 starting this sequence because of the bar boundary and because of the symmetry of bars 1-4 to bars 3-4.)
7	Repeat Part A bar 2 (L across infront, R side, L across infront).
8	Repeat Part A bar 1 (R across-replace-lift).

Note that going from Part B back to Part A causes there to be an additional place where R across-replace-lifts are done in succession.