Chilili is a partner set folk dance choreographed by Eddie Navio and high-risk juveniles sentenced to the San Francisco, USA, Detention Diversion Advocacy Project (DDAP) circa 1996. The music is the traditional Andean (Bolivian) folk song “Chililín,” which is an indigenous peoples’ planting song, sung in the Quechuan language. “Chilili” as danced by international folk dancing groups is neither representative of the Spanish nor indigenous dance styles of the area, but there is a nationally-recognized traditional dance associated “Chililín” that celebrates the mink’a community work of planting, where the clanking of the plow oxen bells makes the tinkling sound “chi-li-lín.” In this case, the dance is a simple non-choreographed village step “Calcheños,” which can be danced to several songs, including the analogous end-of-season harvest songs.
The music recording used by folk dance groups comes from the French folk group Los Gringos who focused on interpretations of Andean folklore tunes, especially from Bolivia. Los Gringos, or more likely the record pressing agents, get the credit for somehow dropping the final “n” in “Chililín” with their 1979 release of “Chilili” on the 45 rpm EP Danses de Bolivie under the French label Unidisc.
| Dance Name: | Chilili |
| Original Script: | (Quechuan language) originally, unwritten |
| Pronunciation: | CHEE-lee-lee(n) |
| Translation: | The name of a planting celebration. Onomatopoeia: the sound of oxen bells “tinkeling” |
| Aliases: | Chililín |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| Region: | San Francisco |
| Ethnicity: | mixed European & Americas |
| Music Genre: | Andean Folk Caiza “D,” Bolivia region |
| Choreographer: | Eddie Navio & youths of DDAP |
| Taught in USA: | France and Yves Moreau (2007) |
| Year: | ca 1996 |
| Dance Type: | Partner | Set |
| Dance Category: | Non-Ethnic Social |
| Native Presence: | Not Likely (in Boliva) |
| Skill Level: | Beginner |
| Energy Intensity: | Moderate |
| Song: | “Chililín” (traditional) |
| Recording: | Los Gringos Danses de Bolivie 1979, Unidisc |
| Time Signature: | 2/4 |
| Pattern: | step, step, step, touch |
| Introduction: | 2 measure of instrumental |
| Dancer Formation: | Contradance Set: 2 long opposing lines of partners, any gender. Dance does not progress; only switches sides |
| Hand Hold: | none |
| Starts: | R w/ R |
| Styling: | light & happy |
| Date Taught: | 3/11/2025 |
| Teacher: | David |
| Published: | February 14, 2026 |
| Updated: | February 14, 2026 |
Simple Dance; Complicated History
International folk dancers have a very Eurocentric repertoire, no matter where you dance. It’s very tempting to round out that dance list with anything remotely connected to the Global South and call ourselves world ambassadors of dance. But it takes more than just geographically-appropriate music to make a culturally-accurate dance. However, even though the international folk dance “Chilili” does not pass for a Bolivian folk dance, it does indeed pass as a modern social dance created with passion and human expression. I say that’s much better than dancing a mediocre, accurately-styled dance that no one ever danced in the country the choreographer claims it to represent and feeling smug about authenticity.
A shout out to Don Buskirk over at Folkdance Footnotes for his extensive research into the “real” Chililín and his updates when the mystery of the origin of Chilili had been solved. If you have some spare time, dig into his extensive video analysis and translation rabbit holes, including lyrics to several different versions of “Chililín.”
The first discoveries
There are two articles from international folk dance (IFD) publications that chronicle the origins of the IFD “Chilili” and the traditional Chililín planting dance. The first was written by Alan P. Knoerr, “‘Chilili’ is not a Bolivian Dance, but Chililín is a Bolivian Song,” Folk Dance Scene March 2022, Vol. 58, No. 2: 18-21. Knoerr traced the origin back from the 2007 introduction of Chilili to the IFD community in USA by Yves Moreau at the Stockton Folk Dance Camp. Moreau learned the dance from Italian dance instructor Silvio Lorenzato, who learned it from Swiss instructor Adrian Gut. Unable to contact Gut, Knoerr surmised that perhaps Gut was the choreographer and proceeds to contrast the IFD Chilili with Bolivian folklórico recreations of Chililín. The article is very informative and well documented. Knoerr, like Buskirk, analyzes YouTube videos and burrows down translation rabbit holes.
In any case, “Chilili” is not the indigenous dance that authentically accompanies the indigenous song Chililín. Video evidence demonstrates that the indigenous dance which does so is found in more than one locality in the Potosí region of southwest Bolivia, is associated with more than one song… Such dances do not have a fixed choreography and encompass variations governed by the dancer, their community, and the circumstances in which they’re dancing.
The big reveal
Gigi Jenson of California took on the quest and found the missing connection from Europe back to USA. She published her findings as “SPEAKING OF DANCING: The Three Chililis,” Lets Dance! October 2023, Vol 80, No. 8: 10-11. It was Luc Vandenheede living in Belgium who witnessed the dance when visiting a sister in San Francisco, California in 1996 or 1998. He talked to Eddie Navio at a performance of Chilili, who shared with him a low-quality recording on cassette tape. Vandenheede found a good quality music recording by Los Gringos and went on to introduce it to IFD at the Werelddance festival (Netherlands?)
What Chililín is, however, is a day of collaborative labor within a village where a family hosts a day of work with their neighbors and friends, providing food, drink, and childcare. It also includes a ceremony asking Pachamama (Mother Earth) to bless their efforts with a resulting bountiful corn harvest. Using traditional farm implements, the plowing is done by oxen who often wear little bells hanging from their horns. The tinkling sound created is “chililín, chililín”.
Gigi Jenson
Some Notes About the IFD Chilili Dance
The dance defies tidy categorization. The opposing line of partners would lead to classification as contradance or at least a non-called form of choreographed English country dance, but there is no progression in the line and partner interaction is minimal. I liken it to a Sacred Circle dance, expect for that part about not being a circle and having partners…Perhaps the youths creating the dance had come across Spanish folkloric contradanza in Latin America and this is their interpretation? Regardless, it’s a social dance that has made it into the hearts of international folk dancers, even though it doesn’t stick a pin in the dance map for South America.
In Alan P. Knoerr’s correspondence with various teachers of Chilili, Silvio Lorenzato, who taught the dance to Yves Moreau, indicated that the dance notes Adrian Gut wrote had several differences from what he taught to Lorenzato, including foot stamps instead of touches coinciding with the hand claps. With a dance having a history such as this, each individual dancer can do as desired and not worry over “authenticity.”
The dance sequence in short
The Los Gringos music is unique in that it has eight counts between between 32-count verses (there isn’t a chorus) while most other recordings only have four counts (you’d have to cut the center snaps and haul across!)
- Start w/ R to the R, Reaching high with a clap, then L to the L, clapping Low. Repeat. (8 counts x2)
- Same motion as before, but moving towards your partner’s R shoulder (in) with shared finger snaps instead of claps, then away (out) with a low clap. Repeat. (8 counts x2)
- Cross sides with a final partners’ R shoulders in plus ¼ CW turn towards partner in the center and a shared finger snap. Finish the side change with a CCW ¼+½ turn away from partner and an immediate L Low clap: no time to dally! (8 counts)
- Have fun!