Its adaptation as a dance form for the stage was a recent development. In 1952, Antonio El Bailarín invented dancing in a martinete style to use it as a colophon for the film “Duende y misterio del flamenco” (Magic and mystery of flamenco), by Edgar Neville. The choreography is centred around rotations and tap dancing, following the steps that Vicente Escudero had developed decades earlier for the seguiriya.
As for their meter, it is claimed that they were originally performed without being subject to any kind of rhythm, but today they are marked following the meter of the seguiriya:

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

Or else, in a simpler form, in five movements, in the following manner:

Pan, pan, pan, Vanilla, vanilla (and start again)

The martinete is a type of toná, as are the carcelera, whose name comes from its prison themes, and the debla, which was made popular by Tomás Pavón in 1950. This last cante is very rich in melismatic (style whereby a number of notes are sung over the same syllable) qualities, which is very demanding for the performer due to its abundance of highs and the ligature between its sections. Generally speaking, the themes of their lyrics are sad, dramatic, or even tragic. Martinete is the generic name that is given to the different kinds of tonás. It is a cante whose coplas (poetic compositions, in verse, used as lyrics) are usually made up of four eight-syllable a capella verses, without accompaniment, pitiful, monotonous, with drawn out lyrics, that usually ends with a lengthy lament.