The “jota” dance in northern Spain

“A LO PESAO Y A LO LIGERO’ is a documentary directed by Aitor Sánchez Smith, produced by Vereda Studio, and sponsored by the Regional Society for Education, Culture, and Sport. The medium-length film is a retrospective of the jota as a dance style in Cantabria, from its dominant presence as leisure and enjoyment in its last golden years of the past century, through a progressive process of folklorization and loss of presence in our contemporary everyday life, and up to its protection by declaring it a Representative Manifestation of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Today we ask ourselves: What is the jota today? What future awaits it? In what ways can it be preserved?
In the documentary, we will find different answers to these questions in the testimonies of some of Cantabria’s historic tambourine players, researchers and experts on the subject, dancers, and residents of the region’s villages.”