Now, we move to a different scene:
A group of people, women as well as men, are dancing
in a circle, accompanied by musicians.
They are dressed in colorful costumes.
The women usually have red scarves which, at a certain point in the
dance, they use as if the scarves were a bullfighter’s cape. As the musicians start to sing, a man holding
up the paper- maché -covered frame representing a bull enters a space
between them. The dancers form a circle
around him, and continue on.
The dance, the song and the music continue until the
choreography is completed.
This is the “Torito pinto,” the “Little spotted bull,”
a dance especially tied to the country of El Salvador but also performed in
almost every country in Central America and many in South America. It is not performed in Spain.
This is a version from El Salvador.
Each country where the “Torito pinto” is performed has given its
own stamp to the dance. There is even a
distinct Afro-Peruvian version.
Depending on the location, the dance is done in honor of certain saints’
days, or around Christmas, and in El
Salvador, in honor of the country’s patron saint, San Antonio Abad, San Salvador
as well for other celebrations.
The song is a song about freedom. It usually has five verses. Although there can be variations on the
words, MOST of the time, the first line of the first verse goes: “Psst,
Torito Pinto, son of the Moorish cow….” (:Hishto! "Torito Pinto,"
hijo de la vaca mora…”)
In this version, also from El Salvador, they don’t
sing the song.
In many versions, the song continues on to tell the
story of a spotted bull who manages to escape and run off to freedom with his
lady love to join the wild, free bandits.
(The bandits, or “bandoleros,” are of the type of Robin Hood and Zorro –
freedom fighters.) In others, it tells
of a woman who is approached by a man, a drunk (represented by the bull). She denies him, even though her friends tell
her he is dangerous. She says that she’s
not afraid, that he won’t hurt her because she’s fearless and she always tells
the truth.
