#32 Another Observation - Flamenco

Hi Everyone I want to share what I have learned about Flamenco, you have to remember you are hearing this from a woman who loves dance. I wanted to see flamenco while I was in Spain that I only saw it once in person before I came here. I saw it three times while I was in Spain. The first time I went to a club in Seville and it was good, but even the locals said it wasn't the best. The best flamenco in Seville was at clubs that had shows that cost a lot of money. I met someone who told me the best flamenco they saw in Spain was in the gypsy quarter in Granada so I made it a priority to go there when I was in Granada. It was excellent and I saw the difference between the show in Seville and the one in Granada. Then I went to the Ballet Flamenco de Madrid's presentation of Carmen. I saw Carmen over 40 years ago at the Lincoln Center in NYC as an Opera. I went with a friend who was as uncouth as I and we left during the third act. We had enough of screaming French, which they thought was singing. But oh, when I saw Carmen this time. Flamenco was supposed to have come from the gypsies and the gypsies were supposed to have come from India. So the hand gestures look very Indian with the rotation of the wrists. But here's what Wikipedia has to say: Flamenco is a genre of Spanish music, song and dance from Andalusia, in southern Spain, that includes cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance) and palmas (handclaps). First mentioned in literature in 1774, the genre grew out of Andalusian and Romani (another name for Gypsy) music and dance styles. In recent years flamenco has become popular all over the world and is taught in many countries: in Japan there are more academies than there are in Spain. (I like this fact! Just like Hula, the Japanese love dance, too.) On November 16, 2010 UNESCO declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. I found this online if you would like to see Flamenco and then some of the things I tell you about you can actual see. Almost 2 million people have watched this video. Copy and paste this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqxJMCQxb_Q First there is the ATTITUDE. I made that caps because it is an attitude. Notice the woman as she gets up to dance. And then it is not just the dancing that is making the clicks, like we are used to with tap dancing. The noise is also the other dancers and singers clapping their hands and the musicians also tap their instruments or tables to add to the clap sound. Other aspects to flamenco are the musicians, and the singers - you have to have one like this YouTube that sounds like he is pouring his heart out in a song. It can be a woman or a man that sings, I've seen both. And the dancer can be man or woman also. But they have to have THE ATTITUDE like they are angry or suffering. The dancers are also very suggestive. They rub their own bodies, and pull on their clothing, both women and men show skin with the woman lifting her dress and the man undoing his shirt, women also spread their legs, notice how this dancer was sitting when the video first starts with her legs apart, you should have seen the dancers in Carmen. If you ever get the chance to see Flamenco, don't miss it. It will just pull you in with the emotion and sensuality of it. Enjoy the YouTube I listed here. I've also added some more photos from Granada. They love the color red; notice the man has red shoes. And I saw castanets used only once and that was in Carmen for one dance. I think it must be like the implements we use in hula; not something used often. Also, the Spanish say "Ole" at the end when they watch Flamenco, like they do for bullfights. If it is a way of saying Well Done, I wonder are they saying Ole for the bull or the bullfighter? Love, Marie The photos are of two different female gypsy dancers who both wanted to show some skin, and the other two are of the male gypsy dancer who had his mojo going.