Paraguayan bottle dance
File:Danzas Tradicionales De Paraguay (210378445).jpeg, Spain]]
The Paraguayan bottle dance ({{langx|es|Danza de la Botella}}) is a traditional folk dance from Paraguay in which performers dance with glass bottles balanced on their heads.{{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Allan|title=Paraguay|publisher=Children's Press|date=1970|page=59}}
History
The origin of the bottle dance remains unclear. One theory is that the dance was derived from the galopa folk dance, which consists of dancers performing with jugs on top of their heads, with dancers replacing jugs with glass bottles.{{cite web|url=https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/articles/a-guide-to-south-americas-most-iconic-dances/|title=A Guide to South America’s Most Iconic Dances|work=Culture Trip|last=Marshall|first=Euan|date=November 15, 2017|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}
Performance
Bottle dances performances feature female dancers wearing nineteenth century rural costumes that includes an ankle-length skirt.{{cite book|last1=Jermyn|first1=Leslie|last2=Jui Lin|first2=Yong|title=Cultures of the World Paraguay|publisher=Benchmark Books|date=2010|page=107}} Performances are typically accompanied by music from the Paraguayan polka genre.{{cite book|last1=Nettl|first1=Bruno|last2=Porter|first2=James|last3=Stone|first3=Ruth|last4=Rice|first4=Timothy|title=Garland Encyclopedia of World Music|publisher=Routledge|date=1999|page=461}} Bottle dance performances tend to be largely improvised with basic moves consisting of dancers with outstretched arms holding the ruffles of their skirts while maintaining the impression that there aren't any bottles.{{cite web|title=El Baile de la Botella (danza del Paraguay)|url=http://artigoo.com/baile-botella-danza-paraguay|publisher=Artigoo|accessdate=April 26, 2020|language=es}} The dance can be perform by individuals, pairs, or groups with each dancer balancing one or two bottles but more advanced dancers are able balance ten or more bottles on their heads.{{cite web|title=DANZA PARAGUAYA|url=https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/suplementos/escolar/danza-paraguaya-299064.html|date=August 23, 2011|publisher=ABC Color|accessdate=April 26, 2020|language=es}}{{cite web|title=Culture|url=http://www.embaparcorea.org/eng/sub05/sub02.php|publisher=Embassy of the Republic of Paraguay to the Republic of Korea|accessdate=April 26, 2020}} The bottles used by dancers are usually decorated with a tricolored ribbon resembling the Paraguayan flag or with flowers.{{cite web|title=La danza paraguaya|url=https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/suplementos/escolar/la-danza-paraguaya-393309.html|date=April 23, 2012|publisher=ABC Color|accessdate=April 26, 2020|language=es}} Also, when a dancer performs with multiple stacked bottles, she uses bottles designed to attach to each other but do not attach to her head.{{cite book|last=Morrison|first=Marion|title=Paraguay|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|date=1987|page=57}}
In popular culture
The twentieth and thirty-second seasons of the American reality show The Amazing Race featured a task in which contestants had to perform the bottle dance while in Asunción.{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/recap/amazing-race-season-20-episode-3/|title=The Amazing Race recap: Pyramid Scheming and Dancing on Broken Glass|work=Entertainment Weekly|last=Lynch|first=Joseph|date=March 5, 2012|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://tvline.com/2020/11/04/amazing-race-recap-season-32-episode-4-non-elimination/|title=Amazing Race Recap: Lost and Found|work=TVLine|last=Caruso|first=Nick|date=November 4, 2020|accessdate=November 5, 2020}}
During the second season of Got Talent España, one contestant, Belén Torres, auditioned with a bottle dance performance that concluded with her dancing with a stack of five bottles.{{cite web|title=Paraguaya sorprende con baile en programa español|url=https://www.hoy.com.py/espectaculos/paraguaya-sorprende-con-baile-en-programa-espanol|date=March 26, 2016|publisher=HOY|accessdate=April 26, 2020|language=es}} Three years later, another contestant, Erika Vega, auditioned during the show's fifth season with a bottle dance performance that concluded with her dancing with a stack of ten bottles.{{cite web|title=Joven paraguaya arrasa en España con la "Danza de la Botella"|url=https://www.hoy.com.py/virales/video-joven-paraguaya-arrasa-en-espana-con-la-danza-de-la-botella|date=November 9, 2019|publisher=HOY|accessdate=April 26, 2020|language=es}}
See also
{{Portal|Paraguay}}