Information: A dance family.

Translation: The ranch dance, or, the dance named after the ranch girl.

Pronunciation: rahn-CHAIR-ah

Region: Latin America

The Ranchera I like best is from Argentina. It was introduced by Dr. Juan Rael, a Stanford professor and his daughter Maria. It is described in the Fok Dance Federation of California Inc., Dances from Near and Far, vol. A-1 p.26. I also like the Uruguayan Ranchera introduced by Nelda Drury at the Idyllwild Folk Dance Workshop in 1981. I can't remember doing a Ranchera from Brazil.

–Bob Barckley