The mining palo of Almería and the Levante, a metred cousin of the free-rhythm taranta, danced with heavy, dragging weight and a brooding minor-inflected guitar sound.

What tempo is the Taranto danced at?

The Taranto is typically danced at Approximately 60-100 bpm, with a free-tempo opening.

Dance History›Flamenco›Taranto

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Taranto

Q: Where did the Taranto originate?

The Taranto originated in Almería and the Levante mining districts of Almería, Jaén and Murcia, Spain in the 1860s.

Q: What time signature is the Taranto danced in?

The Taranto is danced in 4-beat compás in the tangos family, slow and heavily weighted, often preceded by a free-metre taranta introduction; the danced sections frequently resolve into tangos or tientos for the closing passages.

Q: What is the character of the Taranto?

The Taranto is characterized as brooding, heavy, laborious and dark; evoking confinement, mining work and endurance.

Also known as: Tarantos, Cante minero, Taranta bailable

OriginAlmería and the Levante mining districts of Almería, Jaén and Murcia, Spain

Era1860–1940

Rhythm4-beat compás in the tangos family, slow and heavily weighted, often preceded by a free-metre taranta introduction; the danced sections frequently resolve into tangos or tientos for the closing passages

TempoApproximately 60-100 bpm, with a free-tempo opening

CharacterBrooding, heavy, laborious and dark; evoking confinement, mining work and endurance

History & Cultural Context

Taranto comes out of the mining country of Almería and the wider Levante, where Andalusian labourers moved between the pits of Almería, Linares and La Unión and carried cantes with them. Emilio Lafuente Alcántara first documented the taranto as a miners' song in 1865, and early singers include Pedro el Morato, El Cabogatero (1810-1880), El Ciego de la Playa and Juan Abad Díaz 'Chilares'. It differs from its parent, the taranta, in one decisive respect: taranta is cante libre, sung without fixed metre, while taranto holds enough of a compás to be danced. Antonio Mairena, who called the taranto the Sistine Chapel of flamenco singing, argued it must originally have been sung freely, with the guitar arriving later to shape its nuances. The guitar uses the distinctive taranta position with its dissonant open strings, giving the palo its unresolved, mineral colour. Carmen Amaya is credited as the mother of the taranto dance, which emerged around the 1940s; her heavy, weighted attack set the template of dragged steps and abrupt, effortful accents that evoke work underground.

Cultural Significance

The cantes mineros are flamenco's clearest industrial repertoire, made by migrant Andalusian workers in the lead and iron mines of the Levante. The Almería-Linares mining railway carried singers and styles between provinces, and the Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas at La Unión, running since 1961, exists to preserve them.

Characteristic Movement & Technique

Dragged, weighted steps; low centre of gravity; angular arms and clenched hands; heavy single golpes rather than rapid rolls; sudden freezes. Dancers often begin motionless through the free-metre taranta before the compás enters.

Partnering Dynamics

Solo. The free opening puts the dancer entirely at the singer's disposal until the compás establishes itself.

Competitive Context

Taranto and the wider cantes mineros are the core repertoire of the Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas in La Unión, Murcia, held annually since 1961, whose top cante prize is the Lámpara Minera.

Regional Variations

Almería is the reference; related Levante forms include taranta (Linares), cartagenera and minera (La Unión and Cartagena), and murciana. Only taranto is reliably danceable.

Common Misconceptions

That taranto and taranta are interchangeable; the first has compás and the second does not. That the danced taranto is ancient — it dates from around the 1940s and is credited to Carmen Amaya. That the mining cantes are Gitano in origin in the same way seguiriya is; their milieu was mixed Andalusian labour.

Peak Popularity

1950s

80% estimated global awareness

Signature Figures

Pedro el Morato
El Cabogatero
El Ciego de la Playa
Juan Abad Díaz 'Chilares'
Manuel Torre
Antonio Mairena
Carmen Amaya

Notable Codifiers

Carmen Amaya
Antonio Mairena

Taranto Music & Tempo

Drawn from 15 Taranto tracks in the LODance music library.

Example tracks at practice tempo

Tarantos Con Guitarra 72 Por Minuto — Solo Compas72 BPM
Tarantos Con Guitarra 95 Por Minuto — Solo Compas95 BPM
Tarantos Sin Taconeo — Rafael Campallo
Tarantos — Rafael Campallo
Ritmo de Tarantos — Rafael Campallo
Tarantos Sin Guitarra — Rafael Campallo

Browse & play all 15 Tarantotracks in the Music Library →

Who governs Taranto

Federations, councils and examining bodies with a recorded role in this style. No single organisation can tell you this — each one knows only itself.

Instituto Andaluz del Flamenco (IAF)Heritage body · SpainRecognises Taranto

Taranto on screen

Films and television where Taranto appears, with the sequences worth watching for.

Los Tarantos (1963)1 sequence indexedCarmen Amaya's family-circle taranto

Poster artwork from TMDB.

This site uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.

What to Wear

Attire guidance for Taranto and other Flamenco dances. Each card below is sized to the moment — class, practice, social, or competition — because the wardrobe shifts as the stakes do.

Reading the cards

Class — group instruction; comfort first.

Practice — rehearsal; dress like the dance.

Social — public dance floor; smart casual to formal.

Competition — judged events; rule-bound costume.

In Class

Shoes are the instrument, not an accessory: proper flamenco shoes are leather with clavos — nails hammered into the toe and heel — which is what makes zapateado audible and correctly pitched. Character shoes and tap shoes are not substitutes; tap plates are the wrong sound and too loud for a flamenco room. A sturdy hard-soled shoe with a low heel is acceptable for a first class or two, but never bare feet — you need the sound, and studio floors give splinters. Wear a practice skirt (falda de ensayo) with genuine weight and a wide hem so you can see and feel where the fabric is, or fitted leggings and a fitted top so the teacher can read your hip and knee alignment. Hair back and off the face.

Social Dancing

Flamenco is not a social partner dance, so there is no equivalent of a milonga or a salsa night; the closest thing is a juerga or a fin de fiesta at a peña, where people take turns dancing bulerías and everyone is in normal clothes. Sevillanas is the genuinely social form — danced in couples at ferias and romerías, where the traje de gitana is worn at the feria and plain clothes everywhere else. If you're attending a tablao as an audience member, dress as you would for any small theatre; nothing is expected of you.

Competition

Flamenco is not a competitive form and has no scored rulebook. The equivalents are the tablao, the peña, the theatre and the classroom, and what they call for is craft equipment rather than costume. A bata de cola is a working garment with a weighted, structured train — a beginner's usually has three ruffles in front and five behind, and a light one is actually harder to control because the fabric flops instead of landing when you kick it. The mantón is a large fringed silk shawl (at least 52 inches square before the fringe) whose weight and swing are the whole technique. Both take dedicated study, and neither is decoration.

Shoes

Leather flamenco shoes with clavos — nails hammered into the toe and heel — are the instrument, not an accessory: without them zapateado has no volume and no pitch. Heels run around 5–6 cm on the standard women's model and roughly 4 cm on a men's boot, over a leather sole with a rubber pad, laced or strapped so the foot is locked in for percussive work. Character shoes and tap shoes are not substitutes; tap plates are the wrong timbre and far too loud for a flamenco room. A hard-soled, low-heeled street shoe is fine for a first class or two, but never bare feet — no sound, and studio floors give splinters.

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In Practice

Serious practice means shoes and a weighted skirt every time — technique that only works in leggings collapses the moment there is fabric to manage. A falda de ensayo with real weight teaches your hands, hips and eyes where the skirt is, with leggings underneath so the teacher can still read knee and hip alignment. Practise on a surface that can take clavos: a wooden board or a tarima at home, never tile or concrete, which destroys both the nails and your joints. Hair back and off the face, since the head and gaze are part of the technique.

Common Pitfalls

✗Substituting tap shoes or character shoes — the sound is wrong and tap plates are unusably loud in a flamenco room.
✗Dancing barefoot: no sound, and studio floors will give you splinters.
✗Practising zapateado on tile or concrete, which wrecks the clavos and your knees, ankles and hips.
✗Buying a bata de cola that is too light because it seems easier — an underweight train flops instead of landing, and teaches you nothing.
✗Training only in leggings and meeting the skirt for the first time in performance.

Price Range

Budget: Beginner nailed shoes roughly $60–125 (Miguelitos and similar sit near the bottom of that range), a simple practice skirt $50–90. Some schools keep a loaner box of second-hand shoes for new students — ask before buying.
Mid: Semi-professional nailed shoes roughly $150–250 (Senovilla, Arte FyL), a proper weighted falda de ensayo, a real silk mantón at roughly $120–150, an abanico under $20.
Premium: Professional and custom shoes from Menkes, Gallardo or Begoña Cervera at roughly $250–450 and up, and a bata de cola from $400 upward — buy the skirt version for training, not a dress. Budget for re-nailing and re-soling as a recurring cost, not a one-off.

Key Terms

Clavos: Nails hammered into the toe and heel of flamenco shoes. They make the percussion audible and tuned; a shoe without them is a different instrument.
Zapateado: Percussive footwork. It is why the shoe, the floor and the surface you practise on all matter more here than in most styles.
Falda de ensayo: Weighted practice skirt. The weight is functional — a light skirt flops instead of landing where you throw it.
Bata de cola: Skirt with a long weighted train, typically three ruffles in front and five behind for a beginner. A working garment with its own technique and years of study behind it, not a costume.
Mantón: Large fringed silk shawl, at least 52 inches square before the fringe. Its weight and swing are the entire technique.
Tarima: Wooden platform built to resonate under zapateado — what a flamenco floor is supposed to be, and why concrete is not an acceptable substitute.

Quick Tips

•Suede-soled shoes allow controlled sliding and pivoting — essential for most partner dances.
•Avoid rubber soles on dance floors; they grip too much and can cause knee injuries.
•Bring a separate pair of clean shoes for the dance floor to keep it in good condition.

Evolution of Dance Attire →Shop the look · Gear Guide →

Sources & Further Reading

Cultural & Historical Context

Taranto emerged from Almería and the Levante mining districts of Almería, Jaén and Murcia, Spain during the 1860s—1940s. Understanding the cultural roots, musical traditions, and social circumstances of this era enriches appreciation for the dance's characteristics and significance.

Formative Influences

Codifiers & Standardizers:

Carmen Amaya, Antonio Mairena

Signature Movement Vocabulary:

Pedro el Morato, El Cabogatero, El Ciego de la Playa, Juan Abad Díaz 'Chilares', Manuel Torre, Antonio Mairena, Carmen Amaya

Primary Source Documents

The Library of Dance contains public-domain primary sources for dance history. Copyrighted modern syllabi are indexed with purchase links to their respective copyright owners. Search by dance name or codifier to discover primary source documents.

Last reviewed: September 2026 — This dance profile synthesizes historical research, cultural documentation, and contemporary practice knowledge to provide authoritative context.