Africa-Press – Cape verde. The first edition of the batuco volta dance competition starts on June 16th in Assomada, in the municipality of Santa Catarina, in the interior of Santiago, and expects the participation of 15 female competitors.
The information was provided to Inforpress today by the project’s mentor, Lucília Monteiro, indicating that so far ten female competitors have registered, but she did not rule out the possibility of including males in the competition if there is interest on their part.
The competition, which is in partnership with the Santa Catarina City Council, according to this cultural activist, aims to enhance, publicize and preserve this cultural manifestation in Cape Verde, which, she noted, is “very strong” in that municipality, which has “a good number ” of batucadeira groups.
“Torno (batuco dance) is the movement of the body (called txabeta), where we feel joyful with each movement (…)”, he defined, hoping that batuque, which is considered one of the oldest manifestations in Cape Verde, is preserved not to die.
The competition, which starts on the 16th of June and ends on the 28th of July, according to Lucília Monteiro, will be played in six sessions, three of which will be elimination rounds, two semi-finals and one final.
He added that in each session two groups of batucadeiras will be on stage to provide support so that the competitors can “da nu volta” (batuco dance, in Portuguese).
Regarding the prizes, he informed that the first four classified will receive monetary prizes worth 30, 20, 15 and 5 thousand escudos, each.
After the batuco dance competition, Lucília Monteiro said that she will organize a batuco festival called “batuco de li” (batuco from here, in Portuguese), as part of the festivities of the municipality’s day and its patron saint Santa Catarina, marked on the 25th. de Novembro, which will only feature the participation of batucadeira groups from this municipality in Santiago.
Batuco is a Cape Verdean musical genre, traditionally performed by women, which is based on percussion, singing and dancing.
It is a cultural heritage of Cape Verde, mainly on the island of Santiago.
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