Corridinho

{{Short description|Portuguese folk dance}} {{Cleanup bare URLs|date=September 2022}} The '''corridinho''' is a form of Portuguese folk dance, namely in the Algarve<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://folclore.pt/corridinho-e-baile-mandado/|title = Corridinho e Baile Mandado no Algarve|date = 11 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| url = https://www.academia.edu/2540364| title = (PDF) Música Popular e diferenças regionais {{!}} Susana Sardo - Academia.edu| journal = Raízes e Estruturas. Coleção Portugal Intercultural| date = January 2009| last1 = Sardo| first1 = Susana}}</ref> region. The origin of the dance itself is unclear and believed older, although it gained popularity in the 1800s. The name derives from ''correr'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dicionario.priberam.org/Traduzir/EN/correr|title = Tradução de correr para inglês}}</ref> ''to run'' which partly describes this type of dance. The dance was performed in a round (''dança de roda'') in the open air. The oldest musical instruments recorded were small flutes or fifes (''pífaro''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dicionario.priberam.org/p%C3%ADfaro|title = Pífaro}}</ref>) and harmonicas, (''harmónica''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dicionario.priberam.org/harmónica | title=Harmónica }}</ref>) until the accordion was implemented and dominated ever since.<ref>https://sapientia.ualg.pt/bitstream/10400.1/933/1/Raimundo%20%26%20Vieira_Música%20Tradicional%20no%20Algarve_atas%2C6°CongressoAlgarve%2C1990.pdf{{failed verification|date=May 2025}} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>

Corridinho has left a legacy and is still popular in some former Portuguese colonies like Goa,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa|last=Pinto|first=Jerry|date=2006|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=9780143100812|location=New Delhi|pages=17}}</ref> Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mangalore in India and a small part of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where it is called ''Baila''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.serendib.btoptions.lk/article.php?issue=50&id=1288|title=What the Portuguese Left Behind: The Cultural Influence of the First Colonials|access-date=2020-04-17|archive-date=2019-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621050017/http://www.serendib.btoptions.lk/article.php?issue=50&id=1288|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Macau<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.doc-dmc-macau.com/entertainment/|title = DMC Macau {{pipe}} Destination Management Macau {{pipe}} Asia Top MICE destination}}</ref> China, it is known as Portuguese-Macaense folk dance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0HeCgAAQBAJ&q=what+do+you+call+folk+dance+of+macau&pg=PT113|title = The Portuguese in the Creole Indian Ocean: Essays in Historical Cosmopolitanism|isbn = 9781137566263|last1 = Rosa|first1 = Fernando|date = 14 October 2015| publisher=Springer }}</ref> The ''Branyo'', a folk dance of the Kristang people in Malaysia, derives from the Corridinho, and further developed into the popular Malay ''Joget'' dance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRHYk6Izi0IC&q=joget+dance+portuguese&pg=PA101|title = D'Albuquerque's Children: Performing Tradition in Malaysia's Portuguese Settlement|isbn = 9780226734989|last1 = Sarkissian|first1 = Margaret|date = 15 December 2000| publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref>

In Portugal today, the dance is mainly found in the southern region of Faro in the Algarve<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dicionario.priberam.org/corridinho|title=Corridinho}}</ref> and is often performed by the ''ranchos folcloricos'' (folk groups) as part of the municipality's tourist attraction.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh03DwAAQBAJ&q=corridinho+dance&pg=PT986|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Europe|last1=Rice|first1=Timothy|last2=Porter|first2=James|last3=Goertzen|first3=Chris|date=2017-09-25|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351544269|language=en}}</ref>

The corridinho is considered a product of history and performance that represent Algarvian contexts (e.g. Algarve life depicted in plain sound and loud talking).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Co-Creation and Well-Being in Tourism|last1=Correia|first1=Antónia|last2=Kozak|first2=Metin|last3=Gnoth|first3=Juergen|last4=Fyall|first4=Alan|date=2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319441078|location=Cham, Switzerland|pages=187}}</ref> It is danced by couples who always move together. They form a circle with the girls inside and the boys on the outside. By rotating the circle, the pairs move side by side. Corridinho is composed of three parts: o corrido, o rodado e an escovinha (the run, the rotation, and cropped). The "Run" starts with a circle, made up of pairs of men and women. When the music starts, the pairs begin to spin. To start the "Rotation", the beat gets more lively and intense, the pairs begin to perform a "fast-paced waltz". When said is done, the dancers return to their original positions and can either end there or continue. The "Cropped" is a shorter version of the dance done again after a complete round cycle.

Although bearing some resemblance to the polka and mazurka,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.portugalnummapa.com/corridinho/|title = Corridinho|date = 16 December 2014}}</ref> corridinho is a very traditional Portuguese dance where people challenge each other's fitness and enjoy social entertainment in groups.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Portuguese folk dances Category:Circle dances