Mojiganga

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For the article of the Colombian Ska band, see Mojiganga (band). For the Dominican reggaeton group, see Mojiganga (reggaetoneros).

Mojiganga is a Spanish entertainment form of theatrical performance that mixes the entremés, dance and music. It comes from the "boxiganga" of the 17th Century, from the Spanish popular culture and from the medieval theater. Chroniclers, like Father Bartolomé de las Casas, referred to the mojiganga as missionary theater which objective was to evangelize.

According to Hugo A. Rennert, the word was used to name the street theater composed by roving actors and by the entremés that played along this performances (Hugo A. Rennert, The Spanish Stage at the Time of Lope de Vega, New York:Dover, 1963, 295-6). In Hispanic America, a derivation of the word was used in 1637 to name a street dance performed during the carnavals, in which the pantomime was more important than the dialogue, and performed by actors that portrayed animals.

Even today there's a show in Algamesí, Spain called muixeranga that features music, dance, traditional costumes and human castles.

[edit] Mojigangas

[1] Mojiganga de la Muerte ("Mojiganga of Death") by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

[2] La garapiña by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

3. A la diestra de Dios Padre ("At the Right Hand of God the Father") mojiganga based on a short story by Colombian author Tomás Carrasquilla version by Enrique Buenaventura