Portugal is a country with a rich culture, but you will find out that each region has its own particularities. This is certainly the case with the Algarve, where you can see people’s way of living through their arts and music and confirm how different they are from other Portuguese regions. Music and dance are the cultural expressions that best reflect the soul of a people. In the Algarve, the tourist flag is the Corridinho, a cheerful version of folklore that, according to several testimonies, was born from the polka and from the mazurka. With the introduction of the accordion to these saloon dances on the end of the 19th century, players invented and reinvented the songs until the corridinho was born. The tinkle of the triangle and the sound of the accordion give way to the dancers that come on scene with a bright eye under the black felt hat ready to show how the Algarve dances the ‘corridinho’.

Corridinho is a dance with the pairs always in contact, forming a circle, 'raparigas' (girls) on the inside and the 'rapazes' (boys) on the outside. When the circle turns, the pairs progress, therefore, to one side. At a certain moment when the music peaks, the 'bailho' is struck, that is, the feet throb on the ground with more vigor, stopping the circle to continue in the opposite direction. With some variation in detail, we thus capture the choreography of the 'corridinho estremenho'.

Here in Melbourne for the first time, comes forth a young Goan group who call themselves "Dança de Amor".

This evening's dance is choreographed by Mr. Newton Marques and young Ryan Dias.