El Ball de Serrallonga 

The Ball d’en Serrallonga is one of many old theatrical pieces that can be found in a several historical works. In Vilanova we also had the Ball de Rosaura, the Ball de Malcasats, the Ball dels Voluntaris d’Àfrica (African Volunteers Dance). The Ball d’en Serrallonga stood out because of its adventurous and military feel.

Although he was a simple thief Joan d’en Serrallonga gained a recognition that he did not really deserve and became a Robin Hood amongst the Catalans. He became so popular that the Catalan writer Victor Balaguer wrote a novel “Don Juan de Serrallonga and the Guillerias bandits”. The legend has been brought to the theatre and even to the cinema.

The Ball d’en Serrallonga has spread over Catalonian and many villages have their own version. This dance allows the staging in the Main Street or Town Square, tales of life, adventures, imprisonment and death of the famous thief.

The current dance is only a part of the original work, the introduction of the thieves and Serrallonga’s wife and their conspiracy to live the life of banditry. The poems used in the dance are an adaptation of some of the originals, which were poor and of a low linguistic quality.

The characters associated with Serrallonga very according to the version of the dance. The main character, apart from Serrallonga, is his wife, Joana de Torrelles. The bandits are named after famous bandits from the past (not necessarily from the time of Joan d’en Serrallonga). An example is Perot Rocaguinarda, a famous Catalan bandit.

Joan d’en Serrallonga is dressed as Cavalier of the sixteenth century in a black cape, plumed hat, shoes or boots with buckles. Joana and the bandits are dressed with in Typical Catalan dress, with the bandits additionally carrying a blanket on their backs. Joana and her son carry guns of the period and the bandits carry blunderbusses.

The current dance is performed by twelve dancers accompanied by a group of “gralla” players (short wide-bore shawm) and a snare drummer plays the music for the dance.

Prior to the revival in 1982 by the Agrupació de Balls Populars the dance was last seen in Vilanova in 1953.

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