Turn up at Plaça de les Botxes on a summer Saturday around ten at night and you'll find a cobla, the small wind-and-brass band that plays sardana music, setting up under the warm evening air. The dance itself is simple to watch and trickier to join: people drop their bags in the middle of the ring, link hands, and step through a careful sequence of short and long beats that everyone seems to know by heart.
There's no stage spectacle here, just neighbours and a few curious visitors forming circles that grow as the night goes on. It costs nothing, nobody minds if you only watch, and if you fancy a go, slip in between two dancers and follow the feet. The series runs through the summer, with Cobla Els Rossinyolets opening on 20 June.
