Cachua

The cachua (qachwa, qhaswa, kashua, kaswa, kachura) (ˈqɑt͡ʃwa or ˈχɑt͡ʃwa, diminutive form cachuita) is a Latin-American baroque dance form found mainly in Peru. It still exists today as a circle dance.^[1]

Dancing a qhachwa, Sarwa district, Victor Fajardo Province, Peru

The term comes from the Quechua language qhachwa, meaning "round dance", via Spanish. It was also applied to some villancicos to Spanish texts with cachua rhythm, such as two examples in a report submitted to Charles IV of Spain c.1788-1790.^[2] It is in rapid unsyncopated 2/4 time.

References

1. Willi Apel Harvard dictionary of music 1969 Page 118 "Cachua. Term (also cachina, kashwa, kjaswa, etc.) in the Quechuan language meaning "round dance." Chronicles of the early 17th century indicate that the cachua was popular before the Spanish conquest and describe it as a dance in which men and women formed a circle "while around them wove the dancers."
2. Appel "A report sent to Charles IV of Spain between 1788 and 1790 includes a collection of melodies from northern Peru, which is headed by two Christmas songs subtitled cachua. The present-day cachua is also a circle dance, performed by ......"