Gauden Bat Dance Group Chino California United States (USA)

Street

5181 Sierra Bonita Lane

Town

Chino

Town code

91710

State/Province

California

Country

United States (USA)

Email

gaudenbat@gaudenbat.com

Web

www.gaudenbat.com

Partners

22

Text

Way before any Basque Clubs were founded Basque dances were being done in Southern California on the Bastanchury and Chilibolost ranches. With the arrival of a group of Basque immigrants in the middle of the 20th-century, 1946 to be exact, the Southern California Basque Club was founded and in 1968 the Chino Basque Club followed.<br><br> It was in that Basque atmosphere that Jean-Louis Cihigoyenetche, originally from Arnegi, founded the Gauden Bat dance group in the 1960s. It began under the auspices of the Southern California Basque club and brought together young girls and boys. Prior to the opening of the Chino Basque clubhouse in 1986 the dancers had no established venue where they could practice. Today Gauden Bat has 22 members from the ages of 16 to 39 and they continue to use the clubhouse for practices.<br><br> They do dances from all over the Basque Country from Bizkaia to Zuberoa. They have performed at a number of Basque, as well as non-Basque events in Chino, Las vegas, Ontario, San Francisco, New York, Claremont, Reno, Boise and Vancouver Canada. They are also known to dance at weddings and other community events.