huayño

huayño, couple dance of the Quechua and Aymara Indians and of many mestizos (people of Spanish-Indian descent) of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. It antedates the Spanish conquest and was possibly an Inca funeral dance; today it is purely festive. A circle of dancing couples surrounds the musicians, whose instruments may be flutes, drums, harps, and guitars. The music is in 2/4 time. The melodies are rhythmic and pentatonic, i.e., built on a scale of five notes, as D–E–G–A–B–D. Couples perform various figures but do not touch; individuals may carry bright woven bands or, among mestizos, handkerchiefs, or a couple may each grasp ends of a handkerchief.