In 2005, the Eibarrés Kontuz group created Arrate’s ezwitz-dantza, not only to dance at the local parties, but also to show something that was “of them” when they were going to leave. “It is obvious that this is a Basque dance,” said in 2010 Oier Araolaza, a member of Asparrena and creator of the dance, “but is it a tradition? Yes, of course, we are clear that ours is traditional, even if it is new.”

But creation doesn't mean a total invention. The concern took advantage of pre-existing elements to create Arrate’s ezek–dantza. However, the group gave it the freedom to leave without the burden of a certain vision of tradition. Thus, they created dance for the Basque Country of the 21st century; that is, without distinction of gender roles.

Since then, the Eibarrés model has expanded, albeit humbly. In the last decade, spade dances have emerged without gender distinction. Something that seemed more difficult has also happened: In some “etydanic” dances, “with the guarantee” of a longer journey, women have begun to participate in equality. Two notable examples were last year: The one of San Roque de Deba, which participated for the first time since 1967, and that of the bordon-dantza of Tolosa. On this second occasion it was the first time that men and women were published together, at least according to the available documentation.

Positive examples like this “are not many, let’s be honest,” says Oier Araolaza. However, each one of them has a high qualitative value for the Eibarrés: “One person alone is sufficient to demonstrate that the normalized participation of women does not lead to any harm, a break in tradition, or a loss of quality.” The need to remember this truth of Pernando demonstrates, moreover, that there is still a great deal of progress to be made.

The examples cited and similar ones, “when they scrutinize, they emerge more than they think”, do not have much influence on the repertoire of dance groups. For example, the dance of San Roque de Deba can hardly be interpreted by a group other than Deba. In any case, Araolaza has no doubt that the trends of the future will depend on what local groups do, “which open avenues of legitimacy”. The dances of Deba or Tolosa may have little weight in the decisions of the other groups, but the influence of others is evident: “If girls and boys exchange characters in Zuberoa, the rest of the groups are gradually getting closer, even if some are more rigid.”

Doors open by necessity

The normalized participation of women in the masks of Zuberoa, still completely unfinished, is also attributed to the satisfaction of a need: no to the disappearance of the dance. The lack of children paved the way for equality, not the passion for discrimination. However, Oier Araolaza believes that this interpretation requires nuance: “The vindictive attitude of a group of women was active in Eskiula in 1992. All participants were women. There was no need for all women to be women, they did so to put a claim on the table and provoke a great debate. This opened a path that perhaps would not have been just a necessity: to show that in the masks everyone can do whatever it is. Once this has been achieved, changes are easier to introduce in case of need.”

The non-loss of tradition is a priority and the risk of losing it can make it easier for women to “dedicate themselves to the things of men”. On other occasions, there is no risk of breaking the chain of tradition, but conscious bets to achieve equality, which have made women conquered or reconquered certain spaces.

Trend towards parity, low for the moment

In most cases, however, this does not happen: the spaces that have remained closed for a long time for women are still closed and there is no doubt that they are. “I want to believe that there is a tendency [towards normality],” says Araolaza, but for the time being, men and women continue to predominate in the areas of greatest prominence, although they are more, they remain largely adorned.” In the opinion of Araolaza, moreover, many proposals that have the courage to break some molds of tradition repeat stiff gender stereotypes.

Let's go back to Debbie. That is where the group of dances has led the change, and there has been little opposition in the people. “It hasn’t had much impact on the media, but Debakoa is a small important step,” the dancer Eibarresa wrote in the Yearbook of Basque Culture of Light, in the foreword to the dance section. Araolaza complains that the media focus on those places where there is little talk of topics such as Deba and where gender conflict is shown. In his opinion, “this can cause these conflicts to become entrenched and that in a few years they can be channelled, worsened and remain long.”

Partner Friendly Mutil-Dantza in Baztan

We cannot ignore the vice that Araolaza has attributed, and that is that in 2013, Baztan has undoubtedly been the “hot center”. Especially famous was the event that took place in September during the festivities of Elbet: When the mayor of Baztan, Garbiñe Elizegi, went to the plaza to participate in the dances of boys, he was welcomed with little words and insults. Elizegi himself said, in an interview given to Berria a few days later, that what happened did not give the measure of the whole Baztan, but that it was a step backwards, in most of the villages of the valley, “when we went towards normalization”.

In June, a group of baztans introduced the Plazara Dantzara initiative, in favour of equal participation. To a large extent, the desire to respond to the emergence of another group accelerated the idea you already had in mind, as Nora Salbotx, a colleague of the initiative, has confessed: “In March, the Baztan Mutildantzari Group was established. In a statement they said that the group was born with the intention of dancing the mutil-dantzak as they have always danced, that is, without the participation of women.”

Boys' dances are the Baztan variant of the dance breaks that occur in the Western Pyrenees. They tend to dance at village parties, and participation is open, that is, it's not in the hands of any group of dances. “Many baztans think that by beating them women should withdraw from the plaza and limit themselves to seeing their participation; many more and more of us do not share.”

Salbotx has stressed that in most of the villages of Baztan all dance together without any problems, but that until normality is not absolute, there will have to be an initiative like Plazara Dantzara. Last year there were only incidents in Elbet, but in Irurita, to avoid incidents, the children's dances were removed from the holiday programming. “In the rest of the places where tradition is maintained, the mutil-dantza has been paritarian.”

Bartolo and Maritxu

These are the names used by the members of Aiko Taldea in their course performances at local parties. It should not be said that they refer to the roles of mixed dances, as normally the males make Bartolo and the females of Mardex. Changes in voluntary roles are difficult to see, and when the arithmetic of the composition of the couple demands to be detached from the norm, it is more frequent to see women doing “the man’s” than the opposite.

Even so, Oier Araolaza has thought that at the level of the plaza the situation is normalizing. “In the dance of the Sanfermin era, for example, the stiff gender mark has disappeared and it is very normal to see two girls dance together; it is not so normal to see two boys, but when it happens no one is disturbed.” Water from another mill is the model chosen by dance groups, an “ideal” scene with very present gender stereotypes. And heterogeneous, of course.