Flamenco!

Flamenco has always meant a lot of different things to me since I have been raised in a Latin family and have always understood that some of my Spanish roots consisted of all types of Spanish dance. It was a great experience being able to see the Museum of Flamenco in Sevilla and learning all about the history of the beautiful and artistic dance. The most unique part of the lecture given by the German owner, Kirk, was the fact that it all started in the very city we are exploring! Sevilla, or the province of Andalusia, is the birth area of the very famous dance known as flamenco. Several theories have also contributed to the start of the dance but the fact is that today it creates a 5.1 million Euros in business revenue.

The traditional song and dance of the Gypsies actually developed over several centuries. It had several different influences such as Gypsies from India, the Moorish, Andalusian and several other roots. The dance was seen as early at 206B.C. being danced on the streets. From the VIII to the XV centuries, when Spain was under Arab domination, their music and musical instruments were modified and adapted by Christians and Jews, and later by gypsies.

The Indian’s that brought the traditional worship dance to Spain came through Asia Minor at the time. There is no record as to why these Gypsies were escaping from India. The Gypsies arrived in Spain in the year 1425. These groups in turn were persecuted at the end of the Arab rule and during the Spanish inquisition so that Flamenco was born and thrived as a voice of protest and hope and as a cultural and emotional expression of the subjugated masses. As of the 18^th century flamenco was no longer allowed so to be able to continue the passionate dance that gypsies used it in the 19^th century as a tourism café experience.

Flamenco consists of three aspects: singing, dance and clapping. The actual castanets were created and taken from the island of Crete. The hand motions and movement came from the Indian worship dances. Music and dance fall into three categories: 
jondo or grande (profound or deep) intensely sad and dealing with themes of death, anguish, despair or religious sentiments; 
intermedio (intermediate) less profound but also moving, often with an oriental cast to the music; and 
chico (small or light) with subjects of love, ribald humour and happiness. These different versions help express the movement through musical tension as well as facial and gesture expression. I feel that each of these differences creates a storyline for the dancer.

Individual genres include the light bulerías; the more serious soleares and its lighter descendant, the alegrías; the fandangos grandes, a serious adaptation of a lighter non-Gypsy genre; the malagueñas, an offshoot of the fandangos; and cantos grandes such as the siguiriyas gitanas and saetas. As we all visited the Museum of Flamenco we were able to learn our own min routine with one of the instructors. She explained to us that all flamenco dancers interpret the music in a different way and therefore will create their own personal style to the dance.

Both text and melody of these songs, like the flamenco dance, are improvised within traditional structures such as characteristic rhythms and chords. Zapateado, intricate toe- and heel-clicking steps, characterizes the men's dance; the traditional women's dance is based more on grace of body and hand movement. Our dance instructor also explained to us that hip movement is a huge factor to the beauty of the dance. Also the reason they do the feet tapping is originally to count their ballads for timing.

“Flamenco is very much alive today in Spain at the grass roots level in Andalucia at weddings, parties and social events as a cultural expression where young and old, male and female participate equally. At the same time Gypsies and non-Gypsies alike are performing Flamenco on stages far away from its birthplace and over the years it has become a highly polished art form with countless aficionados worldwide.”

 

http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/flamenco/