Xaxado: expression of northeastern history and culture
Dança Popular brasileira originating in the Agreste and Sertão regions of Pernambuco, widely practiced in the past by the bandits of the region, in celebration of their victories.
History
There are controversies about the origin of xaxado. Some researchers claim that it is a dance originally from the upper Sertão of Pernambuco (Pajeú and Moxotó regions), others that it has its origin in Portugal and some still say that its origin is indigenous.
Xaxado was spread as a war dance and entertainment by outlaws, notably from the Lampião band, in the early 1920s, in Vila Bela, currently Serra Talhada. At the time, it became popular in all the bands of cangaceiros spread across the northeastern backlands.
It was an exclusively male dance, so it was never considered a ballroom dance, even because at that time there were still no women in the cangaço. They made the lady from the gun. They danced in single file, the one in front, always the leader of the group, led the sung verses and the rest of the group responded in chorus, with lyrics of insult to the enemies, lamenting the deaths of companions or praising their adventures and exploits.
The dance that was born in the thickets of the northeastern caatinga emerged as an alternative to alleviate the boredom and the hardships of the outlaws who swarmed through the dry, thorny and dusty forests of the most arid region of the country.
Lampião, before having his own band, was a recruit of Senhor Pereira's band, and in those years he may have learned the best of his cangaceiro art. From 1922 onwards, when Senhor Pereira leaves the Sertão and leaves for Goiás, Lampião assumes command of the band, going from a simple recruit to the group's commander.
The origin of the name xaxado comes from a certain “ritual” performed by farmers at that time. Its connection with the name comes through the word sachar or xaxar, customs of the plantation of beans (typical beans from the northeastern sertão region) where a whole specific process took place to plant and harvest this vegetable. The movements performed in this plantation have a connection with indigenous rituals, this comes through the miscegenation of races, the movements performed by the farmers are very close to the dance, being known as the base movement of the xaxado dance: base, cut jackfruit and hit.
The dance was performed with rhythmic beats with the butt of the rifle on the floor. The same rifle served as a figure (female partner), considering that the dance was initially performed only by men. It was only after 1930 that the female figure entered Cangaço. The situation would change a little later with the inclusion of Maria Bonita and other women in Lampião's gang.
Because of this dissemination, xaxado is closely linked to cangaço, and even innovations in dance eventually emerged within the various cangaceiro groups.
Thus, nowadays xaxado is performed in pairs. There is also a version in which the expression Xaxado comes from an activity of the sertanejo, which is xaxar (coming from sachar – digging the earth with the hoe, weeding). Farmers weed the beans by gathering the soil with a small hoe at the foot of the stem of the bud when it is just a few days old. To remove the seed (beans) from the bagem/pod after being harvested in the fields, it is done with a stick hitting the beans. This movement is called xaxar.
Checking the foot movements of someone who is handling a hoe, clearing weeds in the fields or xaxado, is similar to those of someone who is dancing the basic xaxado.
The dance of xaxado is seen as a dance rich in its culture and extremely folkloric, which has its natural and unaltered styles. Because the music was aggressive and satirical, Câmara Cascudo considered xaxado a variant of parraxaxá – an insulting song by cangaceiros, performed during intervals between firing their rifles against the police. The rifle at the time replaced the woman, as the singer and composer Luiz Gonzaga, one of the great promoters of xaxado, used to say. The rifle is the lady.
Xaxado never became a legitimate ballroom dance. Only Luis Gonzaga got his introduction on radio, TV or in the theater. On occasions of popular festivals, especially in the Northeast, groups present Xaxado shows today. However, Xaxado is considered more of a strong object of culture than a rhythm in the strict sense. And despite the struggle of many folk dance groups, Xaxado today is losing its characteristics. Xaxado represents one of the only cultural heritages left by Cangaço, a typically Northeastern movement and part of our folklore.
The dance
The Xaxado is danced in a single file, tap-dancing one after the other. Xaxado could be danced in the simplest way with the singing of whoever took the verse in front, answered by everyone. Despite being a very simple dance, the Xaxado has some variations from mid-1926 by the Cangaceiro Medalha group: two groups were dancing, until facing each other, the two in front of the line were beating their espadrilles.
The choreography was performed with feet flat on the ground, that is, with shuffling steps, avoiding making too much noise, given that the performers lived sheltered in places ignored by the police, but pursued by them. The execution was done in single file, while the dancers carried all their paraphernalia: weapons and supplies. Some henchmen were stationed on sentries to avoid surprise police attacks.
Originally, the basic structure of xaxado is as follows: advances the right foot in three or four lateral movements and pulls the left foot in a quick, slippery tap dance. The steps are related to war gestures. They are graceful but firm.
clothing
The mobs who wore mixed and leather clothing and continually fled from police pursuits could not enjoy full freedom or enjoy themselves at will in towns and villages.
The clothes were sometimes blue so that people would confuse them with the steering wheel, at other times they were in brown and khaki tones, leather, to protect themselves from the thorns of the backwoods caatinga and always accompanied by a rifle and espadrilles (footwear) of the same material.
Rhythm
The rhythm, however, is a variant of the baião that bands of thieves danced in the middle of the forest, celebrating some victory or for other reasons.
Basically the rhythm was marked by tap dancing on the floor with the sound of the espadrilles on the floor and the beat on the ring of the winchester rifle, that would be enough for Xaxado, but, it is evident that in some cases, in the house of friends, with an accordionist and a zabunbeiro, an eight-bass bellows or even a beicho harmonica, could enhance the Xaxado by giving it a livelier, more active character, musically speaking.
Originally, xaxado did not have any accompaniment, only a predominant vocal form, with the sound of espadrilles dragged on the floor, sometimes acting as a percussion instrument, dictating the rhythm of the dance.
How to dance Xaxado
Pisada do Sertão has already taught Xaxado to thousands of children and adolescents. Below you can see videos that teach dance steps for different age groups.
Age: 5-7 years
Age: 7-12 years
Age: 12+
Instructor
Cassio Cassimiro
Physical educator, coordinator and dance educator at Pisada do Sertão.
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A Pisada do Sertão atua desde 2004 no sertão paraibano atendendo crianças, adolescentes e jovens e suas famílias em situação de vulnerabilidade social e extrema pobreza, com a missão de promover seu desenvolvimento integral por meio da cultura nordestina contribuindo para a transformação social do território sertanejo.
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