Spain and South American have been on my mind this week. Naturally, my mind drifts to thoughts about food and cultural arts. I realized that while I am familiar with the tango, Argentina’s spicy aphrodisiactic dance, I am not as familiar with flamenco. Since Spain’s leading flamenco virtuosos María Pagés will be performing at the Festival, I thought I should freshen up.
Flamencos’ origin is most commonly attributed to Andalusia, an autonomous region now part of Southern Spain, however the colorful history is richly debated. More details to come in a future blog. Let’s keep it simple for now. There are three main forms of flamenco–dancing or baile, guitar playing or guiterra and songs or cante-and a mixture of any three of these elements, or any one element on its own, can be considered “flamenco.” Flamenco takes on a variety of themes from love, passion, loss and heartbreak to politics and humor and is performed around the world. Performers clap, kick, sing, snap small hand-held percussion instruments call castanets and move their body in tempered rhythms to music unleashing a presentation of passion and emotion that is seemingly unbridled yet precisely structured.
Compañia María Pagés will present Flameco y Poesía with her company of nine dancers and musicians in October. It is sure to be a passionate display of song, dance and music that is alluringly graceful and exotically enticing.
Lynn Hobeck Bates, Public Relations Manager at the Ringling Museum
