The Sardana
The origins of the sardana, a typical Catalan dance, are very difficult to establish. The oldest document where the word appears is from 1573 and was written by the bishop of Girona. In it he forbids the minstrels to sing and dance improper songs. In 1594 Lope de Vega wrote El maestro de danzar ( The Dance Teacher), in which he mentions the word twice. A declaration from Vich (a city of Catalonia) forbids the "cerdanas" in 1596. At the beginning of the 17th century, the "sardana" appears as a court's dance from Barcelona. It was danced in nobility's houses and in the Diputació (local government from the city). Around the year 1700 "cerdana" or "sardana" were words to refer to certain dances which people did not know how to dance .