PUBLISHED FEBRUARY, 2009

FEBRUARY 2009 articles | No Words | Year In Review | Fronteras |

An Atlanta flamenco dancer reaches new ground in class with guest teacher Manolo Punto. By Rachel Gorwitz

Manolo Punto teaches a flamenco dance workshop in Atlanta February 27 - March 8. Manolo offers multiple levels of technique, as well as choreography. His classes will be accompanied by singer/guitarist Cristian Puig. The two will perform at Ibiza Restaurant on Saturday, March 7, along with local percussionist Jerry Fields. The show is at 8 p.m., and admission is $25 advance / $35 at the door. Workshop details >> Show details >>

Not surprisingly, French-born and Madrid-trained flamenco dancer and teacher Manolo Punto is most comfortable conversing in French or Spanish. Consistent with his vibrant and animated personality, the words come quickly when he speaks --- too quickly for me with my rudimentary knowledge of these languages to catch more than a few of them as they fly by. So you might imagine that the week-long workshop I took with Manolo two years ago was incredibly frustrating with little to take away from the experience. Not so! Amazingly, my experience was just the opposite.

Although I didn't understand in a literal sense much of what Manolo said, I never once felt in doubt of what he was trying to communicate. In fact, for the first time, I started to break through barriers I had created for myself by my tendency to over-think and over-analyze everything, and I started to just absorb the rhythm and the expression.

There is something about the way Manolo communicates when he teaches --- his expressions, gestures, and perhaps most of all, the way he vocalizes the sounds and impulses of the dance --- that make any words of explanation almost irrelevant. And by the sounds of the dance, I don't mean just the sounds created by the footwork --- although that is part of it --- but also the "sounds" of what you are feeling in your body during those critical moments when your feet are not moving --- those moments that, when they work, are the most dramatic and intense of all.

In a flamenco world divided into "counters" and "feelers," I have always been a "counter." I believe that understanding the rhythmic structure of a phrase really increases the precision of your dancing. However, I'll admit that I've taken it to extremes --- being so focused on the counts that I could never just listen to, absorb, and experience a piece of choreography without first dissecting it and mathematically understanding it…that is, until Manolo's workshop.

Interestingly, Manolo never instructed us not to count, and it wasn't a deliberate decision I made. In fact, it wasn't until well into the workshop that I realized the numbers I had been clinging to had somehow been replaced by Manolo's voice inside my head singing the sounds and impulses of the dance. Somehow, without words, Manolo had transmitted to me a more visceral understanding of the rhythm and emotion of the dance --- a real breakthrough in my flamenco education.

Recently I had a chance to "talk" with Manolo via email about his flamenco development and style, how flamenco uniquely allows him to express himself, and his philosophy of teaching. Manolo does not come from a family of flamenco dancers or musicians, although his parents always loved the art and took him to many performances. One performance that had special significance to him was that of Camarón de la Isla, who Manolo considers to be his first flamenco teacher.

As Manolo grew up, he started listening more and more to recordings of great flamenco singers and discovered how flamenco can have a sense of history and tradition and at the same time be completely in sync with modern times and experiences. Although it was the cante that initially inspired him, by the age of 15, Manolo felt such a strong need to express himself physically through flamenco that he began studying flamenco dance.

There was something indescribable about flamenco that simply fit who he was. Manolo explained, "Flamenco is the kind of energy that corresponds to me. When I am dancing, I feel I am honest and not playing a character. I can express through [this art] my feelings and personality without hiding [myself]. I just feel pure, honest, and heart-opened when I am dancing, and that's why I love it and need it."

Manolo was influenced and inspired by a number of different artists, but has always made a conscious effort to develop his own style and not copy anyone else. He said, "If you want to express yourself through flamenco, you have to do it with your own style, or it will be impossible to really express who you are."

But developing your own style is not a simple process, as Manolo further stated, "I spend many hours alone in my studio searching for movements like a scientist in his laboratory. I think it is also a question of maturity that you gain through years of studying and practicing, but one day you should try to find steps and movements by yourself…at the beginning it is very hard, but in the end, it is just a question of practice."

Students dance in Manolo Punto's flamenco dance workshop in Atlanta in 2007.Teaching others is also something that has allowed Manolo to grow as a dancer. Just like his studio, he uses the classroom as a laboratory in which to build new steps, movements, and choreography. "I never prepare what I am going to teach before a workshop," Manolo shared. Instead, he prefers to create in the moment, building off of his students' abilities and concentrating on aspects of their technique that require the most attention.

I don't know whether my tendency to approach dancing intellectually from the surface inward rather than emotionally from the inside out was something that Manolo deliberately targeted for intervention in that workshop I took, but it doesn't really matter. I suspect that the biggest advances we make as dancers don't come from explicit instructions someone gives us, such as "hold your arm like this," or "angle your body this way." Those specific corrections are critically important, of course, and help us to build and strengthen our technique, but I think we probably grow the most based on what we absorb by observing others whose movement and style speaks to us. That is why I think attending workshops from visiting teachers like Manolo is so valuable, even if you don't understand everything they say, if you struggle to keep up, or if you don't get all of the choreography.

Attending a workshop takes you out of your comfort zone, and exposes you to new ideas, approaches, and styles. And often, as was my case with Manolo's workshop, you come away with a whole new perspective...a different dancer than when you entered.

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Mark your calendars for Fronteras 2009. By Julie Baggenstoss

The date is set for Fronteras, 2009. The fifth-annual flamenco student expo on the big stage will be held at St. Pius X Catholic High School on Saturday, May 2. Flamenco students from across Atlanta are invited to perform, showcasing talent in dance, singing and music. Watch jaleole.com for more information about this exciting presentation.

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