Danza de tijeras

Danza de tijeras

Scissors dancer
Genre	Folk dance
Origin	Chanka people, Peru

The Danza de las tijeras (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdansa ðe tiˈxeɾas]; English: scissors dance; Quechua: Supaypa wasin tusuq, also Galas, laijas) is an original dance of Chanka origin from the south of the Andes, in Peru. The dance consists of two or more dancers, followed by their respective orchestras of a violin and a harp. The dancers dance in turns, doing explicit moves and challenging steps, such as dancing with just one foot.

The places where this dance is most influential are: Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Junín, Apurimac, and Lima.

UNESCO designated the Danza de las tijeras intangible cultural heritage in 2010.^[1]

The scissors dance can be of different types, for example, the greater or competition dance, the smaller dance or "Qolla alva" which is danced at night; and zapateos, executed in the Christmas festivities. In the competition dance, two dancers (also called "danzaq" or "tusuq") dance by turns challenging each other to overcome the risk of the steps they perform, this competition is known as "Atipanakuy", "Hapinakuy", "Tupanakuy" among others.^[2]