Searching for my flamenco style...

One of the most difficult thing to achieve in dancing flamenco is to find your own personal style as a dancer. I've been thinking about my style... Do I have one?

As Carmen Ledesma said, a bailaora has her own style when you see her and know exactly that is has to be her and nobody else. She also said that these days most flamenco dancers dance alike.

Manuela Carrasco has a style, Israel Galvan has a style, Carmen Ledesma and La Farruca as well, and they are not the only ones who have their unique styles of dancing; yet, are a minority. Many bailaoras, even the ones that are internationally acclaimed, copy the styles of others. I look back at all the shows I have seen and agree with Carmen that most of the dancers I have seen were copies of one another. They were doing remates in the exact same places, everything was very predictable and similar. We are taught that here you need to do remate and here you cannot but what I'm seeing is that you have to find originality within a patter rather than sticking to it hopelessly.

Moreover, many dancers think that flamenco is about theatrical gestures, tragic mimics and impersonating gypsies. This has the most horrible outcome in my opinion, especially if a bailaora carries a dramatic face throughout an alegria. Yes, there is some theater in flamenco but it's more according to Stanislavsky's method where a performer, in order to express the required emotion, has to feel it first by going back to their happy or sad memories. Otherwise the acting is false. Same applies to flamenco which is about expressing your own emotions; it is a very personal dance. So my first conclusion is that adding your personal emotions makes the dance more unique and defines a style.

Yet, it's not only about expressing through the face. The style applies also to the manner of movement. I'm starting to see it more and more as I study with different artists. Last year, Carmen kept repeating the following to me: "Agachate! No puedes estar tan recta bailando!" (Lean forward! You cannot be so erect while dancing) I was listening and applying to her suggestions. This year I have a class with Nazaret Reyes and all I hear is: "No te agachas! Tienes que bailar mas recta!" (Don't lean forward! You have to dance more erect!) I was confused at first, but then I realized it is a matter of personal style and they just dance differently. Choni, for example, never tells me to bend down or be more straight but tells me to play more with the upper body and  I see her "vueltas quebradas" as more of a game of shoulders than a turn with "cambre." I think a personal style of body movement is even harder to achieve than expressing emotions and I am definitely not there yet, and I have no idea how long it takes to develop a style. Moreover and sadly, I do not even think that everybody is capable of developing their own style because otherwise there would be more unique bailaoras out there. The first step in finding my style is to learn different styles and see what is most natural for my body and what feels best and then go from there and experiment.

A Year in Sevilla

I've been thinking about writing a blog for a while... And finally, I decided that all the amazing things I have experienced while living in Seville and studying at the Centro de Arte y Flamenco de Sevilla are worth sharing and documenting. My first year in Sevilla has passed and it was an absolutely unforgettable experience. My dream has come true and there I was in the heart of Andalucia living flamenco. Flamenco is not just a dance, a song, and music, it is a culture and a way of life. I didn't understand what it meant before and I still have a lot to learn, but I feel I am closer than before...

I've learnt to listen to cante, I've learnt to hear the guitar and appreciate more flamenco. During my first week in Seville, I went for a flamenco performance to Pena Torres Macarena. It was a Friday, a typical cante night which me and my new flatmates weren't aware of yet. I was somewhat disappointed with the performance and as I set there, I tried to appreciated it but couldn't concentrate. It's because I didn't know how to listen. It took many hours with my amazing cante teacher Esperanza Fernandez and her father Curro for me to start truly engaging in cante and live the emotions with the cantaor.

Some of the highlights of my life in Seville:

1. I've made awesome new friends and studied with great teachers:

Photo by John Flury

2. I performed in the Teatro de Aracena at Festival Solitario with other students of Centro de Arte y Flamenco de Sevilla under direction of Miguel Vargas. I learned what it meant to rehearse in a professional dance company. To perfect one 5 minutes dance of martinete, it took what seemed to be hundreds of hours of rehearsing...

  It was still a fun experience!

3. I partied at the Feria de Sevilla in an excellent crowd:

4. I have seen so many amazing flamenco performances in tablaos, penas, teatros and festivales. Whenever I was lacking motivation after hours of studying I could regain it easily by watching an inspiring show. 

5. I have traveled through Anadalucia, and among many other things, I admired the Alhambra and Mezquita, strolled along Albaicin, Sacromonte, Cadiz, Jerez, and Malaga. Still a lot to see... but at least by discovering Andalucia I came to understand what some flamenco letras (lyrics) talk about and it started making more sense! 

6. I discovered my passion for cante flamenco. I had never imagined I would love signing so much.  In the year to come I am planning to work more on my voice.

7. I got to live in the wonderful city of Seville!!  The city with almost no rain and beautiful sun every day. Every morning I was raising the blinds in my window and I couldn't believe, another sunny and cloudless day! I loved it! The city bustling with life where people are on the streets having fun all day and night long. Well, unless it's too hot and it's time for a siesta. And that leads me to siesta, what an amazing idea! Finally, no need to drive anywhere or posses a car, just bike and walk everywhere.