zapateado

[ zah-puh-tee-ah-doh; Spanish thah-pah-te-ah-thaw, sah- ]

noun

, plural za·pa·te·a·dos [zah-p, uh, -tee-, ah, -dohz, thah-pah-te-, ah, -, th, aws, sah-].

1. a Spanish dance for a solo performer, marked by rhythmic tapping of the heels.

zapateado

/ θapateˈaðo /

noun

1. a Spanish dance with stamping and very fast footwork

Word History and Origins

Origin of zapateado¹

1885–90; < Spanish: clog or shoe dance, noun use of past participle of zapatear to strike with the shoe, tap, derivative of zapato shoe. See sabot, -ade ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of zapateado¹

from zapatear to tap with the shoe, from zapato shoe

Example Sentences

Vanessa Sanchez and the group La Mezcla, from San Francisco, mix modern tap and zapateado to celebrate the women of the Zoot Suit Riots of the 1940s.

From New York Times

The hollow wooden stage is essential for dancing the “zapateado” — a rhythmic stomping that makes the platform vibrate.

From Seattle Times

Rarely has the zapateado of tapping shoes met with honking horns and flashing headlights in such a cacophony.

From Los Angeles Times

Female performers like the great Carmen Amaya, a star of the ’30s and ’40s, could get away with wearing trousers and dancing so-called masculine dances, full of the rapid-fire percussive steps known as zapateado, because they didn’t challenge heterosexual norms.

From New York Times

For more than 25 years, artistic director Adriana Astorga-Gainey has dedicated herself to preserving traditional Mexican dance in L.A. — like the lively percussive zapateado — and remixing it with modern and ballet.

From Los Angeles Times