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|THE MORESKA DANCE Moreska is pronounced 'Moreska'. It means
'Moorish'. The word is derived from the Spanish adjective
'Morisco' or the Italian 'Moresco'. It is a matter of conjecture
whether the dance came to the Adriatic directly from Spain
through roving Spanish sailors, or from Sicily or Italy when
Dalmatia formed part of the Venetian Republic whether it was
originally a Moorish dance or a Spanish one, inspired by the
struggle of Spanish Christians against the Moors is also
debatable though the latter seems the most likely. We do know
for certain that it is one of the oldest traditional European
dances still performed, and that records exist of it being
danced in Lerida in 1156 in a form portraying a Christian and
National victory over the Moors and their expulsion from Aragon.
From the 12th century and particularly in the 16th and 17th
centuries, the dance spread to many Mediterranean countries: to
Italy, Corsica, Sicily, Malta, France and, t