Sevilla: Flamenco Fabulousness

Authentic flamenco, like passion, is elusive.  The more desperately you seek it and need it, the more the true-ness of it escapes you.  It’s hardly in it’s most genuine form when dinner and sangria are included!  The same with describing it.  Right now, any proper words just to convey what it is are scarce.  Therefore, I shall focus more on what it does for me.

Tonight, for starters, it brought tears to my eyes.  I was so enraptured with the dancers’ intense connection to her clapping companions, to the dance and yes, even her audience, that I was moved to tears. That, or I was despairing over ever being anywhere near such a level of dance myself! 😉  I love this dance form.  It is powerful, passionate and at times even violent.  All of the staccato rhythms of the performers’ feet and hands are complimented by the lyrical grace of the dancers’ floreos-or “flourishes”-of the hands.

I can offer words, more than sentences: Stomping, guitar strumming and picking, clapping, slapping, passion, tapping, sweat, smiles, tears, rhythms, singing, snapping, yelling, grace, emotion…shoes! Those glorious shoes…like a grown up pair of mary-janes on platforms!…and the furious pace at which they step and stomp.  It combines to create something, well, indescribable. But you know me, I keep plugging away in my futile efforts.

Tablao Flamenco

Floating Candles and Flowers

Tonight we went to an upscale performance of highly skilled flamenco artists.  The setting at Casa de la Memoria is enchanting. (This was my third lucky visit here) The intimate stage is at the center of a 3-story inner courtyard, replete with hanging vines and flowers, morrocan style oil lamps and floating candles with blossoms.  The performers are well groomed, with an amazing guitarrista, elegant costuming, powerful singers, lithe dancers and tight synchronicity.   The singer was madly belting out the canciones. It was beautiful, mesmerizing, and as I mentioned, very moving.  Is it “authentic”?  In many ways, of course.  In other ways, who cares? 😉  Remember, I am no expert, just an adoring appreciator. But there is an aspect to flamenco that to be true and pure, it should be spontaneous…and for that, you can’t buy tickets.

YouTube video | The amazing grace and power of Flamenco, performed by Celina Zambon / zamboncelina

Spontaneous Combustible Flamenco

It is said that flamenco is at it’s best when someone is compelled by passion, sorrow or sheer joy to break out into song and express these emotions..and they are soon followed by accompaniment in the form of clapping, dancing, playing a guitar and encouraging whoops and olés.  There are clubs and hang-outs where the fortunate and determined seeker will experience and observe just such a prized spontaneous combustion of flamenco.  Just don’t join in the clapping, whatever you do! This is not for the novice.  They will clap at a fast and furious pace and often in combination with someone else hitting the opposing beat counts…I mean, these are sixteenths and I think even thirty-twooths! lol I was all impressed when I could dance passably well and simultaneously ring my finger zills at a 3/4 pace…lordy…I mean…Dios mio!  I love that I study dance…because I think my jaw drops a few centimeters lower for knowing the talent and difficulty involved in the layering of such components.

Spontaneous Flamenco at Lola's

I greatly enjoy even the casual and informal gatherings of flamenco dance and music.  In fact, it’s romantic when it’s more rustic.   It reveals itself.  It’s like the best pets you’ll ever have. You don’t seek them out; they come to you. True flamenco?  Well, at its best it evokes amazement and awe and even creates a sexual tention crackling the air.  You don’t get that at a dinner show.

(All photos by G. Stark, video by zamboncelina)