A tide of more than 700 people from 20 different groups marched in the early hours of this Friday through the streets of La Laguna to the rhythm of you cuta step that has become the Guinness World Record for Most People Dancing a Traditional Dance at the same time in the world.
This achievement, which is part of the Festival of Christ of La Laguna, was corroborated by a judge of the organization, who announced it after the participants presented a unique show that appealed to the past, but also to the present and the future of the Canary Islands.
Two of the organizers, Aníbal Llanera and Hans Coello, explained to the Efe agency that the initiative was promoted by the City Council of La Laguna to revitalize what is known as “Night of traditions”during which until a few years ago, the Plaza del Cristo was filled with parties, dances and wines around the ventorrillos, a community exercise to the rhythm of folklore.
To achieve this, Llanera said, the tajaraste was chosen “because it represents the Canaries perfectly”, as it is a pre-Hispanic genrethat is, before the Castilian conquest of the archipelago, which gives this event “a strong pride”. It consists of a dance as a couple face to face or in a squarewith a short rhythm in which the dancers make small jumps while, in this case, they advanced along Viana Street in a processional style, in which the players were placed in the middle and the rest of the participants on the sides, forming a large mass of people under the powerful pounding of the percussions.
“El Tajaraste, like has survived for over 500 yearsIt is played with many instruments, songs and types of dances (…) In this case, what is music, well we have it with drums, chácaras, castañetas and hueseras. And in the dance, we wanted to respect each version, because it has differences depending on where it comes from,” explained Llanera.
A variety of styles that gave the event more depth and beauty, but also added difficulty to the task of organize as many people at the same timeas Coello pointed out. A task that at first was “shocking”, especially during rehearsals, but that they enjoyed thanks to “the will of the people” who were “very involved” and with “enthusiasm and desire”.
