Video�s or pics of national dances and costumes!

Girls are nice.

The jarabe tapat�o, also known as the Mexican Hat Dance in the United States, is the national dance of Mexico. In the Spanish language, jarabe means syrup, and the term tapat�o indicates something from Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The jarabe tapat�o in its standardized form was first created by Mexican choreographer Felipa Lopez, in the early twentieth century to celebrate a government-sponsored fiesta that commemorated the successful end of the Mexican Revolution. The dance tells the story of love and courtship. A charro gallops on his horse to see his girlfriend, la china (wearing the traditional china poblana outfit). They flirt in several of the figures. Then the charro throws his hat to the floor and dances around it and the girlfriend. She picks up the hat in acceptance and places it on her head. They both then dance the finale together in a triumphant manner. They both shout viva mexico at some point near the end of the dance.

The dance was further popularized by Anna Pavlova who created a staged version in pointe shoes, and was showered with hats by her adoring Mexican audiences. In 1924, Minister of Education Jos� Vasconcelos proclaimed the jarabe tapatio to be Mexico�s national dance and decreed that it would be taught throughout the Mexican public school system as a symbol of Mexican identity, designed to supersede any local dance traditions and bind together the ethnically diverse population.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarabe_tapatio"

Bulgarian traditional costume from the region of Godech.