The Maskaradak of Zuberoa are some of the oldest--and most difficult--of Basque dances.  The plural 'k' ending designates the two groups of the performance as the gorriak ("reds") and beltzak ("blacks"), though generally only the five of the principle gorria performers are featured.
 

Potential Zuberoa workshop (Fall 2012 at the earliest) __Proposed two person team coming here to work on improving (not teaching from scratch because it simply isn't efficient for the limited time they are here) what current groups are doing with the Zuberoa Maskarada.  Again it will span a few days for concentrated work on these intricate steps. __Hosting requirements:  take care of room and board cost of instructors while with you; their flights will be covered by a Basque Government grant.  It's likely we will again use a regional rotation; not every club who wants a workshop can have it in its hometown. __Agreement vs. Clarity.  Not all will agree as to where and when these workshops will take place and for whom; instead we'll go for clarity.  These are arguably the most difficult of Basque dances.  It is not realistic to expect to learn these quickly, thus it would likely be a wasted effort to bring over a set of European instructors to start from scratch because of the time it takes to build the physical motor skills to have a foundation.  Thus the proposal is that these workshops be geared to assist dancers & instructors that have already been working on these.  The hope is to maximize their time with us to make improvements and take our dancing to a higher level.  Ados?

From the smallest of the seven Basque provinces, Zuberoa, comes some of the more complicated and splendid Basque folk dances.  With the end of winter, it is traditional that some of the small towns in Zuberoa organize the unique "Maskaradak" or Carnival celebration.  The dances are only a portion of the day-long performance which includes music, song and dance.  The five principal dancers from the "maskarada" are the "txerrero," who prepares the way for the others by sweeping the path with a horse's tail; the "katusaina" or the cat-man character who snaps a wooden apparatus that represents a cat's claws; the "kantiniersa" or canteen carrier which is a recent addition from the Napoleonic period in France; the "zamalzaina" or hobby-horse character that represents a stallion; and the "entsenaria" or standard-bearer.  The dances are centuries old, and they are believed to be an ancient pagan fertility rite. 

A typical size group to put on the entire Maskarada with the Reds & Blacks.

When possible, the dances are played with the Zuberoa style of txistu called the "xirula" and keeping the beat is the "ttun-ttuna"

The five principle "red" characters are (L-R):  Txerreroa, Gatuzaina, Zamalzaina,  Kantiniersa & Entsenaria
 

Zuberoa
Though the smallest historical region, it has some very unique folk traditions.