Camino Barcelona Blog

¡Hola gente! ¿Que tal?

As you know Spain is famous for its nice weather, “gente caliente”, delicious paella …. and of course FLAMENCO and this is what I’ll talk about today…

When I was a kid, like 10 years old, I remember watching a movie with my parents. It was about a couple who wanted to win a dance competition and that they learnt how to dance Flamenco by some Spanish people that lived somewhere nearby. I was really impressed by the moves, so passionate, determined and the dancers seemed so involved and felt like all parts of their body were speaking. Of course the couple won the dance competition at the end of the movie . Since then I fell in love with this very creative and original dance. I would like to tell you some details behind this special and traditional art here in Spain.

I have read many different theories about the meaning of the word ‘Flamenco’, but one of them seems most credible to me. It says that the word flamenco originated from Arabic felag mengu, which means peasants without land. This meaning seems credible because the words are more similar to the word flamenco (which has changed during the years), but also because of its meaning. Flamenco was born from the expression of persecuted people, the Gypsies of Southern Spain in 1492. The birthplace of Flamenco is ‘Jerez de la Frontera’; a small city in ‘Andalucía’.

Flamenco consists of three major artistic elements: el cante (the singing), el baile (the dance) and la guitarra (the guitar). The fourth element is las palmas (hand-clapping) which is not used as often as the other three elements. The dancer interprets the words and emotion of the singer through his or her movements and the guitarist provides the complement to the singer and dancer, emphasizing his or her vocal lines and melodies.

There are two main styles in Flamenco: “jondo” which is serious and deep meaning, the cry of oppressed people; and “chico” which is happy, light and often humorous. The ideal in flamenco is called “duende” (elf), which is a state of emotional involvement, group communication between musicians, dancers and listeners.

Today, Flamenco is an international trend, well known in the whole world. What I like most about Flamenco is that it is very improvised, spontaneous, individualistic but also very structured.

In Barcelona you can find many places where you can see or learn how to dance Flamenco. Join us for the next visit we organize to a ‘Flamenco’ show so that you can experience personally all the magic of Flamenco!

Here you can enjoy the dance of ‘Lola Flores’, a well known Flamenco dancer in Spain: 

Take care,
Genta

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Actividades, What to do in Barcelona, Spanish Culture - Cultura española, Genta's Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.