PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2006

This month's articles  
| Hold On | Live | Comparisons |

~¡HAPPY HOLIDAYS! from jaleole staff~

Manolo Punto comes to Atlanta to help dancers express themselves when the movement stops.

Flamenco has a special something that makes it undeniably an emotional experience, for those who watch and those who are in the middle of it. "You always see those great flamenco dancers getting the duende, the emotion, the tension in the dance," says Stefany Boulard, member of Perla Flamenca dance company, who has radiated her share of emotional light on stage in Atlanta.

This elusive special something could be the very thing that many aspiring dancers are in search of when they enroll in flamenco classes. It's the thing that makes flamenco dance exciting. It's the thing that turns a person from an everyday employee into an emotional hero.

Call it passion. Call it duende. Call it feeling. Call it any of those things, and you're talking about a very intangible concept. So, then, can it be taught?

Some say yes, and some say no. But, first it has to be defined. The official word for it is "recoge," a term that is often thrown around in flamenco dance classes abroad, but not as much in the United States. It comes from the Spanish word, recoger, which means to gather. A good flamenco knows what is being gathered: the tension, the emotion of the moment. Dancers respectfully take it in, toss it around in the air, then blast it to the audience at just the right moment to create a satisfying release - that special something that is flamenco.

The recoge has nothing to do with dance steps. In fact, it's actually more about what is happening when there is no dancing.

"El recoge in flamenco means to stop and hold the emotion without losing the transmission process of the dance and of the movement," says Perla Flamenca dancer Boulard. "'Recoger' is to have the emotion or the tension jump with more force, more amplitude and to give the surprise to all who watch," she explains, in a mixture of Spanish and English.

It's just like flamenco, to put dance steps out there to grasp, then to announce that the more important thing comes when the movement stops. What is a flamenco dancer left to do, when her dance class is about movement?

Try a different teacher.

French-born flamenco dancer and teacher Manolo Punto is said to be the king of the recoge. "He just makes you feel it, which is the hardest thing in the world," says Boulard, who has studied with Punto in Paris.

"In class when you try and try and try again yourself and yes at some points you can get the steps, but it is not only about getting the steps, right, it is about dancing it, feeling it in your own body and letting it rise," Boulard adds. "Manolo teaches that. He makes you feel it and then suddenly, takatakapamam!"

While Punto is one of few who will spread the notion of the recoge in Atlanta. Punto teaches a flamenco dance workshop Jan. 19 - 26, in Atlanta, focusing on the recoge, technique and much more. For more information about the workshop, visit jaleole events.

Back to top

Roswell dining spot Little Alley adds flamenco to its menu.

Little Alley Cafe Bar and Grill turns into much more than a restaurant when flamenco takes the stage. Live musicians, singers and dancers give patrons the authentic feel of the age-old art, as they wind forceful dancing and bold guitar music around enchanting song lyrics. It all happens once a month in the show Flamenco Live.

Located in Roswell, Little Alley is as personal and passionate as flamenco. General Manager Hicham Azari speaks to nearly every customer in an evening, and he glows when he talks about how he can create extraordinary moments for his customers. By marrying flamenco and the restaurant's tapas menu, Azari hopes customers will feel as if they've left Atlanta when they attend Flamenco Live. "I want my guests to live an experience, not just dine," says Azari.

Little Alley hosts its third live flamenco show this Saturday,
December 16. In 2007, Flamenco Live will be held on the second Saturday of every month. Performers will rotate to give patrons a great variety of entertainment. December's show features Caló Gitano. Jaleole readers may win a gift certificate for the shows. More details are online at www.jaleole.com/littlealley.

Back to top

Students taking Intro to Dance at Emory University receive broad brush strokes of knowledge about different dance forms by attending masterclasses through the semester. In the Spring 2006 semester, students analyzed Kuchipudi and Flamenco after studying each for just one hour. Here's what one student wrote after experiencing and dancing both forms. By Lindsey Whitlock

Kuchipudi and Flamenco are both very visually interesting dances that can be appreciated by any audience. While these two particular dance forms appear extremely different at first glance, upon further inspection several important similarities emerge.

Most interesting to me was the strong relationship between the music and the dancers in both forms.

Kuchipudi originated in and got its name from a small village by the same name in India. The dance is much older than most people realize, and was recognized in the Natya Sastra as a dance drama in the 2nd Century B.C. However, the form did not have much of a presence until the 14th Century A.D., when Siddhendra Yogi began to discipline and train dancers physically as well as mentally through religious texts, language and music. Siddhendra and his group traveled extensively to perform the dances. Through his creative integration of folk and classical dance, Siddhendra is considered the father of Kuchipudi style.

Flamenco's origins are also tied to India. Gypsies are thought to have traveled from India to Andalusia, a southern region of Spain, and brought with them this new form of dance. The original form of Flamenco was only performed in private settings among the gypsies, who were shunned by most of society and believed to be criminals or beggars. Over time, the dance became more recognized and a fad arose among people to hire these gypsies to perform Flamenco at parties. Flamenco eventually took to the stage and has since evolved to include more flamboyant movements and clothing.

With regard to execution, both dances are performed in a forceful and stately manner. Flamenco dancers began using fans with their dances because of their practicality during hot summers in Spain, but have continued to do so because of their unique visual quality and the noises they can generate when being slapped against a leg or opened and closed. I also noticed a strong sense of pride emanating from both Flamenco and Kuchipudi dancers as they pounded their feet into the ground, desirous of the sound that will result. Flamenco shoes help create sound because of their metal tips and heels, while Kuchipudi dancers are barefoot and strap bells to their ankles for this purpose. Both dances utilized multiple regions of the foot, from the heel to the toe to the entire bottom of the foot.

Neither Flamenco nor Kuchipudi has an ethereal quality, nor do they suggest anything dainty. The women performing these two dances each displayed physical strength through their erect posture as well as sensuousness through their hip and eye movements. Kuchipudi highlighted the use of hand movements to display the 67 Hasta-mudras encompassed by the dance. While Flamenco requires to distinct types of clapping styles, intricate footwork seems to draw most of the viewers' attention.

Elaborate clothing enhances both Kuchipudi and Flamenco dances. Kuchipudi costumes can be incredibly ornate, ranging from embellishments on the clothing to the dyeing of the hands and feet red so as to draw the audience's attention to their movement. Flamenco clothing is comparably less complex, but often includes a large shawl with long fringe tied elegantly around the shoulders of the dancer.

Most interesting to me was the strong relationship between the music and the dancers in both forms. Flamenco and Kuchipudi are ideally accompanied by live music, rather than pre-recorded. In Flamenco, the dancer or the singer may determine the emotional quality of the dance by speeding up or slowing down their movements or changing their tone of voice. Kuchipudi is also heavily intertwined with music as it is often trying to tell a story in the form of a dance drama.

Ultimately, I found myself more attracted to the Kuchipudi dance from in a physical sense, because it was so unlike any kind of dance I have ever tried or been exposed to before. I was so impressed by our instructor's skill while dancing on the plate. I could not imagine trying to perform those movements on solid ground, let alone while trying to balance myself. When attempting Kuchipudi, I found the dance to be highly technical and it was difficult to keep track of the detailed movements of the hands while moving my hips and feet accordingly. The 67 hand motions fascinated me because they each had a specific meaning so that the dance could be used to form sentences and thus provide a clear form of communication.

Flamenco is also a way to express oneself, in perhaps a less pragmatic sense. I felt a deeper emotional response to the Flamenco in contrast to the physical appeal of Kuchipudi. Flamenco can be performed by anyone, "with something to say," and thus many emotions can be represented by it. Practicing Flamenco after reading and hearing about the discrimination that the gypsies faced helped me better understand the sad or "jondo" aspect of Flamenco. It is interesting how traditional Flamenco incorporates both happiness and sadness into the dance, just as in life. Having the song we danced to translated for us also brought more meaning to the dance for me, since the relationship with the music is so important. I could really feel the singer's mourning of his unrequited love and could thereby dance more passionately.

Editor's note: It is important to note that the gypsies who gave rise to Flamenco were originally from India. Rather than bringing Flamenco with them to southern Spain, the art was created after they settled there. It developed from gypsies' musical expression that was deeply influenced by political, social, artistic and religious characteristics of the region.

Back to top

© jaleolé.com 2006