The folklore presented by "URBANITAS" reflects the characteristics ot the region from which it derives, ínasmuch as the dances are spritghtly and vivacious, expressing as they do the joy of living and of having fun. The selections of the repertoire are founded on original musical and choreographic executions, reconstructed thanks to painstaking and scrupulous research.

In former times our area was predominately rustic, on which account all the dances relate to culminating seasonal events of agriculture such as threshing and the grape harvest, the undertaking of which tasks invariably offered a most propitious occasion for a festival.

Among the more engaging of our performances stand out "La Piazza di Montegallo", a very vivacious dance that derives its nane from the square of a stereotypes town, constituting a symbol to indicate that each and every important festival was concluded with a dance in the town's main square, and "U Vallu Che Non Va Vé" (the Ill-Suited Dance), a dance aimed at inducing all the girls present to take part, both pretty and ugly, both capable and incapable of dancing, whose rhythm is consequently slow, with simple movements, and with an ongoing exchange of partners.

Although some of the dances included in our repertoire originated in faraway countries, they have long since become, nevertheless, deep-rooted in our local tradition. The "Mazurka", having its origin in Mazowia, that is, in east central Poland, was introduced into Italy during the Napoleonic occupation by bohemian, croatian and austrian soldiers, who at that time waged war against the armies of Murat. Popular, especially in central and northern Italy, the Mazurka was transformed by the inhabitants of the Marches, both in regard to the music and to the original movements, thus adopting itself to local tastes and culture.

The "Manfrina", a dance quite obviously of courtly ancestry originating in Piedmont, was already popular in the French court by the year 1700.
Introduced into our region at the end of that century, it slowly became an integral part of our popular patrimony, thanks to the servants of our local nobility. Executed to the accompaniment of stringed instruments, it is still danced today under the direction of a caller, who calle out the successive dance steps while the music continues to play.

With the passage of time and by virtue of meticulous and unrelenting research, it has been possible both to rediscover and to recover movements and musical styles which otherwise would have been irretrievably lost.
Thanks to such tireless efforts dances such as "Lo Sterpe" can be faithfully performed today, a dance characterized by an unusually sprightly rhythm and a rapid succession of dance patterns, and "Tre zumpi Sull'Ara", reconstructed on the basis of an old waltz.

Since in former times, opportunities for paying court to a woman were quite rare, dancing was an all-important occasion for getting together and socializing. This aspect, characteristic of all our folklore dances, is particularly evident in the "Montagnola", in which a sailor is portrayed in wooing one of our local girls as she goes to the fountain with her pitcher to draw water, and in "Vallate Vallerì", a dance with which holidays were ushered in at the home of the estate owner or of hie steward, in which all of those share-croppers attended who formed part of the métayage. On such occasione only the most proficient dancers intervened directly, who, whether out of genuine fondness or out of a sense of duty, wooed either the wife of the estate owner, or her daughter.

Of all the dances included in our repertoire the most typical and characteristic is without doubt the "Saltarello", noticeably different in its music and beat as executed in the various towns of our region, whereas in Apiro it assumes an exceptional liveliness, so much so that it has been defined the Earthquake Saltarello. It is executed by "URBANITAS" with the utmost attention being paid to detail, inasmuch as on the stage an authentic threshing-floor is constructed together with accompaning scenery, such being the setting in which the dance was performed to celebrate the end of the laborious seasonal harvest. The Saltarello is the courting dance par excellence: the couple invariably gaze at each other smiling, as they wink at each other and incite one another intermittently. Whereas the man attempts continually to get ever closer to his partner, she, on the other hand, though initially avoiding him in order to whet his desire even more, fínally, however, draws closer to him thus indicating that she welcomes the gallantry of her suitor.