“At Andanças we come together as one timeless family, both with the friends we make there and in the family we then rediscover. A familial hug shared in the midst of dancing, smiling and many more joyous moments.”
Andanças is a festival organized by PédeXumbo Association for the promotion of popular music and dance as the primary means of learning and exchange between generations, knowledge and cultures. Always up-to-date, Andanças aims to revive the social habits of “living” the music and to resume the practice of popular dance events. Andanças implements this focusing on traditional dances, from Portugal and from all over the world, always considering the recovery of musical and choreographic traditions, but also mixing them with contemporary elements.
At Andanças it is possible to learn more than fifty different types of dances:
A result from the synergy between people around the world, who are eager to share their knowledge. From Portuguese, African and American dances to the various European dances: From Hungarians, gypsies, Baltics, Belgians, Italians, Basques, Catalans, from Poitou, the Balkan, Galicia, the Mediterranean region, etc. Besides encouraging the curiosity for diversity, Andanças is trying to remind, that the popular music is (also) a synonym of identity and often a symbol of survival.
Every year since 1996, Andanças unites people from all over the world in a spirit of sharing, meeting and sustainability, as an alternative to other summer festivals. It provides room for dancing, making music, and to experiment, but also for sharing and exchanging ideas for a better world.
THE 4 PILLARS OF ANDANÇAS
DANCE AND MUSIC
we want to sustain and extend the experience of social dances as a festive expression of social cohesion, learning from each other, keeping the tradition alive and recreating it, at Andanças, which by now has a life of its own, and which is contagious.
VOLUNTEERING
we want to keep Andanças independent of political, commercial or financial ends; we want a place, where everyone feels motivated to contribute to a common goal,
not paid for their work, but compensated in a fair and creative way, no matter if individuals, companies or public institutions.
COMMUNITY
we want to continue establishing an Andanças community, with the people, our partners and the citizens, and we want to take part in the local development.
SUSTAINABILITY
we want to keep our aesthetic and ethic principles, and we want to create a place free of pollution, for our participants to experience and spread good social, economic and environmental practices.
ANDANÇAS BLOSSOMING IN THE HEART OF CAMPINHO
In 2021, Andanças Festival found a new home at Campinho. This is a village in the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, overlooking the Alentejo plain and its cork oaks and holm oaks, just 3 kilometres away from Alqueva’s famed water mirror.
That very same year of 2021, we started “A Caminhar para o Andanças”, that is, “Walking to Andanças”, in a special edition designed to get to know the region and lead us towards the future of the festival, where we swapped seeds and promised to sprout in this new land. Thus, the next year, Andanças sprouted at Campinho, bringing back with it the four pillars of the festival – Dancing & Music, Volunteering, Community and Sustainability – and the big family of Andantes. A challenging edition that embraced the whole village and was in its turn embraced by this community! An embrace that also reached hundreds of new dancers, bringing new people to the Andanças spirit.
And together we promised to blossom! After the 2023 edition, we will meet again from August 14 to 17, 2025, counting on the partnership of the City Hall of Reguengos de Monsaraz, the Parish Council of Campo and Campinho and the Association Gente Nova de Campinho.
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ALENTEJO, CAMPINHO E CAMPINHENSES
Campinho, in the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, is the official rendezvous point for the Andantes. Amongst the plain of cork oaks and holm oaks, in the yellow and undulating summer landscape, the village of Campinho is 3
kilometres away from the calm and idyllic waters of Alqueva, the largest artificial lake in Europe. And yes, it’s very hot in the Alentejo in August! All Andanças lovers should come prepared with a hat, sunscreen and light scarves to protect their skin from the Alentejo sun
«And why Campinho? Why did Andanças move to a village in the Alentejo countryside, where the heat closes in fast and the shade has to be earned?»
Cultural decentralization, and the inland region of Alentejo specifically, are at the top of the priority list for the programming designed by PédeXumbo, as well as the development of the communities and territories it populates with its projects.
Andanças has found a new home in a place which if not inhabited, not even seasonally, will grow more and more isolated. And a lifeless territory by default will not bring about any life. Due to its history, as well as the projects that it puts forward throughout the year, Andanças will contribute in a positive way to this municipality. Surely this contribution is only valid if it is developed in the medium term, in a collaborative process, acting as a catalyst for the development of the region. As a global village, where participants are invited to interact and share, the festival gives them the opportunity to be a part of this process; not only through the programme the participants come to enjoy, but also through sharing with the community and experiencing the place with its many ways of living. Andanças gives the opportunity to reflect about how it is to live in the inland region of Alentejo.
In 2025, the festival will take place from August 14 to 17 and will return to the streets and and venues of Campinho, in an edition for 1500 participants. From the main enclosure to the camping site, from the Children’s Space to the Health Space, from the ticket office to the Andanças Canteen, from the alleys to the squares to be filled with music and Andantes, you will find all the services of the festival in this Alentejo village. And you will also find the bakery, cafés, restaurants, taverns, grocery stores and the locals from Campinho, who are eagerly awaiting the return of the Andanças spirit to their streets.
FOUR DAYS TO DO
Andanças is much more than just a festival dedicated to social dancing, it is a utopia which temporarily becomes reality, an annual milestone for aficionados and an unprecedented experience for beginners. At Andanças, where everyone is a participant, no one merely watches, everyone comes to do. The festival offers four days of a programme with several activities for all ages throughout the day. Music and folk dancing are once again the privileged means of learning, interchange between generations, knowledge and cultures. Four days to dance, on a journey to various corners of the world, with the many moments of learning and sharing moments that the festival has accustomed us to. With four main stages, the programme includes dancing, relaxation and instrument workshops, dances, concerts and shows, from plays to performances. Special highlight for The Children’s Space, with activities for families.
The “Paralelas” Space will not go by unnoticed, with its many arts and crafts. During these four days, lovers of travelling and walking will also have the opportunity to know the region with the local programme suggestions, showcasing the gastronomy, handicraft and local customs.
