MUSIC
The person credited as being the founder of the music was an
amateur musician named Jose Luis Perez. He was the one who wrote the pericon in
1885 and it premiered in the summer of 1887 by the band of the National School
of Arts and Crafts, which was directed by Gerardo Grasso. The most popular
version of the pericon was a version written by Gerardo Grasso, which premiered
the same year.
CHOREOGRAPHY
There are thirty-four figures in the choreography.
It includes relations (dialogue) and ends with the men and women forming a representaion of the national flag out of their scarves. The women holding the blue scarves, and the
men holding the white scarves, represents the stripes of the flag. The
bastonero couple has a yellow scarf which symbolizes the sun on the flag and of
their country. More figures were also added to the choreography. The most
important figures and the figures that every dance must have are called: two
wheels for the basket, swing or rock, the streets, molinetes, the mirror,
demand, chain, giant wheel, waltz, relations, the bridge of scarves/handkerchiefs,
and a representation of the flag.
*Relation: funny dialogue spoken in rhyme phrases during the dance
*Bastonero:the person giving the command in the dances, he serves as the master of
ceremony. The bastonero is also usually the oldest man or the man with the most
experience.The bastonero says aura when giving instructions. Aura is a modified
version of the word ahora, which means now. Arua is used to tell someone to
make the new figure now, so that they all do it at the same time.
