It is one of the deepest and most solemn dance forms, as befits its cante. It is sober, rough, pathetic and ceremonial, and it does not allow space for easy adornment. It is performed with a slow, faltering meter. The fundamental step involves walking rhythmically, with the steps making blunt, loud and sharp impacts, with the bailaor (flamenco dancer) moving backward and forward on the same spot. Its solemnity is also expressed when it starts up with its opening, which usually takes the form of a long walk. It combines punteado (a kind of percussion using the feet) steps with desplantes (series of hard stepping movements that end, or climax, a series of steps, or section of the dance) which are, in this case, strong double-quick steps, and include the escobilla (part of the dance involving the zapateado (stepping movements with the toe,sole and heel of the foot that produce a rhythmic combination of sounds)) in the central section of the dance. It can be danced by men and women alike, and requires great temperament. The first bailaor dancing in this style, or at least the one who made it popular, was Vicente Escudero and, later, Pilar López introduced castanet-playing.
It follows a twelve-beat mixed or alternate meter. The measure is somewhat complex:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Nonetheless, flamenco artists teach beginners in this art in a simpler form, in five beats, using the following method:

Pan, pan, pan, morcilla, morcilla (and start again).

Musically, it is not related to the Castillian seguidilla. It is a form of singing that is dramatic, powerful, sombre and desolating, which is considered one of the most characteristic styles of the jonda essence of flamenco singing. It appeared in the late eighteenth century and its practice became more widespread at the start of the nineteenth century. Seguiriyas are derived from primitive tonás and have three main places of origin: Cadiz and Los Puertos, Jerez and Triana (Sevilla).
It is a four-verse cante (song), the first two and last of which are usually comprised of seven syllables, with ten syllables in the third one. Some have three verses, the first and third of which have six syllables, and the second, eleven. In this case, the second syllable is repeated when it is sung.