Because of the work of Gerediaga Elkartea, I often had to go to Bilbao. At the end of the duties, the penultimate stop was the seat of the Federation of Dantzaris de Bizkaia, on Euskalduna Private Street, to visit Jon Gaminde, Iñaki Irigoien and Jon Pertika. In one of these days, in 1995, Iñaki told me in a RSVAP bulletin that an English journalist named Edward Bell Stephens published in a book his experiences of the first Carlist War, in which he reported the girl's marriage at the San Miguel Festivities in 1837 in Iurreta. The Basque Provinces: The book Their Political State, Scenery, and Inhabitants; With Adventures Among the Carlists and Christinos was published in London in 1838 by Edward Bell Stephens. After several laps, I finally found Edward’s book in Madrid at the National Library of Spain. On a Friday take the bus in Bilbao and to Madrid, to the National Library, get the documentation and go home. The book was written in English and, being my English and that of Txirrita, Rosa Lejardi translated the pages of that book about Iurreta into Spanish.

 

It was worthwhile, as was done in 1972 with the Dominican, to try to recover this sokadantza. He proposed it to the dancers of Iurreta, who were initially unable to meet this challenge, but were finally encouraged to make an attempt. From the beginning, the girls in the dance group and also the impulses didn't want the ladies' sokadantza to be a copy of the boys' sokadantza. He had to have his own personality. Joseba Agirre Iketza and Antton Mari González-Otalora started preparing and teaching dance to girls. They both decided with the girls who instead of Txistu would dance singing the San Sebastian coplas picked up by Humbolt in the early 19th century.

 

In aurresku:

 

I scorched the shoes
without shoes, I stopped
at Bermeo with the clothes
of the old.
It's true, eight schillings, three schillings paid for bread ...

 

And in the palm of your hand:

 

This is San Sebastian, now he dances by the baggy,
we almost go in half...

 

During spring and summer, Iketza and Anttome did a great job of getting girls to learn both songs and dancing. They spent many afternoons doing in Iurreta. It wasn't about transmitting dance from one generation to another, it was about recovering what we knew about sokadantza and sokadantza losing with the data obtained. In these cases you realize that the more you know, the less you know. Finally, after several hours of work, the girls were willing to take the sokadantza out. As for clothing, from the beginning, it was clear to the girls that, if they could, they did not wear gorulari clothing. There was no time to make new clothes.

How do you solve it? Well... the path of always. Approach Basurto and ask Jon Pertika of the Beti Jai Alai dance group to leave on 15 August some of the clothing they used in the Begoña aurresku.

 

The girls decided to make the aurresku by Ziortza Elortza. Ziortza suffered an accident a few days before the San Miguel Festivity, and his sister Esti, who had made his place on the rope, took his place. The day of San Miguel in 1995, in the afternoon, after decorating with the costumes of the group of dances Beti Jai Alai de Basurto, responding to the call of the txistu of Karmelo Barruetabeña, being Estibaliz Fernández-Otalora, Ziortza Aldekoa Otalora, Agurtzane Jaio, Arromiza The aurresku danced by singing “Shocked Alpargatas without shoes...” and then with the song “Hau da San Sebastian...”. José Javier Abasolo Tiliño presented in the aurresku to José Antonio Artze, poet, researcher and Basque musician invited in the Bargundia village of the Zamalloa. After dancing in bulk and rounding, when the girls went back to the txosna to make the typical codend with their boys, we realized that the girls of Iurreta had recovered another part of the plaza.

 

In other words, it is also possible to go a long way with small steps.