How do they see us?

Flamenco comes from Andalusia, and therefore it is more natural for people from here. Coming from a foreign country, I cannot help but wonder what the Spanish flamenco artists think about foreigners wanting to become professional flamenco artists. Over my time in Seville, I have heard and read various interesting opinions on that subject.

The truth is, gypsy or not, the people of Andalusia grow surrounded by flamenco, even in a family that has no artistic background.  Once grown up, they already have the basic compases (flamenco rhythms) interiorized and can dance, clap and often sign naturally since at most Andalusian fiestas there is a guitar, people sign, dance and do palmas. In my eyes, Andalusia is a land of fiestas where any reason is a good reason to party, so the opportunity to sing and dance comes plenty! Flamenco is part of their culture, therefore they understand it better than us and this is giving them a major advantage over us, foreigners. Not to even mention children born in a family with flamenco background. As Esperanza Fernandez put it one day, as children her and her brothers were exposed to flamenco from the early age, taken to flamenco fiestas, rehearsals and wanting or not they interiorized the complicated rhythms.  As they grew up and decided to dedicate to flamenco professionally it was only a matter of reaching out for what they have already knew and put it into use.

Nowadays, any given day of the week, there is a flamenco show somewhere in Seville which includes foreign professional artists. It still surprises many people of Andalusia as it is a pretty new concept. A few years ago it was almost impossible for a Polish girl like myself to dance anywhere in Seville but on the street. In 2007, a group of foreign flamencos created a group "Son de Afuera" and decided to make a street their tablao. Seeking jobs in a tablaos they met with rejection for a reason of not being Spanish. The prejudice that you have to be from Andalusia, or at least Spanish, to be able to succeed in flamenco still exists, but it is not as strong. People are more open.

Carmen Ledesma told us on several occasions that people of Andalucia do not appreciate us, foreigners enough because we are what is keeping flamenco academies business buzzing. It has to be true, because in every flamenco class I have attended so far there was no more than a couple of Spaniards.  In early February, I went to Bar Sol to reserve a date for my performance, and every weekend until the end of April was reserved for shows where the majority are foreigners. Recently, an excellent article has been published on this subject in NY Times. One of the most important message of this article is that “The survival of flamenco depends on its internationalization.” (said José Ruiz Navarro, a professor of entrepreneurship at Cádiz University and co-author of a study on the economics of flamenco)

On the other hand, we are criticized for our attempts and I believe there is some truth in this.  I like the way Andres Marin put it in a recent interview made by my friend Linda. He said that foreigners are perfectly capable of becoming successful artists, but as he sees it, many times we are reaching for the easy and most accessible and not really getting to the roots of this art. He made a comparison to a well and a sea. We look at the well and and think, it's nice, we like it, we are stopping right there, enjoy what we see and splash around. Yet, we do not want to explore the well, and see what is below the surface. We do not want to take the risk of finding ourselves in the darkness of the sea bottom, where there is less fish, they are not as colorful as the ones closer to the water surface and everything is different. It can get scary,  so to avoid it, we stick to splashing around. 

I have heard from many maestros here in Seville that we should focus on deepening our knowledge about flamenco rather then just copying their dancing. Above all, I have learned that there is no way to dance flamenco if you do not know of cante (signing). There is no way to dance flamenco if you do not know where that cante comes from, why is it sung like that, what emotions it transmits. The cante was first, before toque (guitar) and before baile (dancing) and we are supposed to dance to signing and interpret it using our own emotions. We should  listen a lot and become fans of the cante. And it's not only about listening to contemporary flamenco singers, but it is about starting with the roots; Chacon, Mairena, Pavon, Nina de los Peines, to name a few great signers. We should know who sang polo first, who created granaina and many more things. We should be familiar with history of flamenco. Many of us if asked where flamenco comes from say India, because that is where the gypsies come from, but flamenco does not come from there. We should know why the bata de cola used in dancing, who introduced it and why, how was the first flamenco dancing described... It is important to look back before looking forward. If we are what is the future of flamenco, we need to try harder and preserve it and continue it the proper way.

My Rockethub fundraiser has ended yesterday; however, if you would like to donate to my project the possibility still exists!!! You can do it by going to my project's profile on Fractured Atlas* website:

https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=7295



I'm offering the same small gifts as I did on Rockethub!!!

I'm working on my new blog entry about how Spanish flamenco artists view foreigners coming to Seville to study flamenco... Coming soon!!!

Thank you all sooo much for your support!!!

*Fractured Atlas is the country’s largest arts fiscal sponsor, 501(c)(3) entity, that works with thousands of artists and arts organizations to provide education and support for raising funds.