The origin of the spanish jota came from the 1700s and it is considered the National folk dance of Aragón. The jota is a dance known throughout Spain, it is a visual representation, the jota is danced and sung with accompaniment by castanets, and the interpreters tend to wear regional costumes.

It is a quick spanish dance in a 3/8 time. For the interpretation, guitars, bandurrias, lutes, dulzaina, and drums are used in the Castilian style, while the Galicians use bagpipes, drums, and bombos.

Theatrical versions are sung and danced with regional costumes and castanets, though such things are not used when dancing the jota in less formal settings.
The content of the songs is diverse, from patriotism to religion to sexual exploits. In addition to this, the songs also have the effect of helping to generate a sense of local identity and cohesion.

Funerals and wakes are opportunities for dancing the Jota, which is often permormed in watching the dead. At the feast of Villa del Pilar there is even a festival where a lot of people dance Jota.

The steps an appearance of the dance are not unlike that of the waltz,  there is much more variation. The lyrics tend to be written in eight-syllable quartets, with assonance in the first and third verses. Due to the complexities of the dance steps and manner of singing, the jota has evolved in time. Since the end of the 19th century, heavily choreographed versions have often been made for zarzuelas, movies, contests, festivals, and other entertainments.

Nowadays there exist many modern varieties of the jota which are performed by various folkloric groups.

Non-Spanish musicians have made use of the jota in various works. For instance Georges Bizet in his opera Carmen, Mikhail Glinka a russian composer, Franz Liszt, an hungarian pianist wrote a jota for piano, Saint-Saëns a french composer and many others.

The original Jota is from Aragón but there are many others with these characteristics:
* The Jota of Alcañiz is relatively rapid with cheers, jumps and leaps and Batudas or hitting the legs while jumping.
* The Jota of Albalate is similar to that of the Alcañiz but is done much slower and not as much movement.
* The Jotas of Calanda and Andorra is also similar but much more stately and starts off slower in pace and picks up speed with a style of a Valencian dance.
* The Jota of Huesca is not as fast as the Zaragoza but is very energetic as well with many French influences throughout the dance and uses some tricky step patterns.
* The Zaragoza Jota is the most exuberant of all the Jotas. It is much more diverse than the others and vary considerably, there are no 'punteados steps', the speed varies intermittently and occasionally raising the legs, Kneels and the arms are not used.
* Jota de la vendimia is a 'wine harvest dance' from Ciudad Real, Spain. The guitar, bandurria and percussion may accompany the dancers.