Dancers and dance enthusiasts love aggressive and forceful dances, theses emotions are expressed by all and even look dynamic on stage and if you love Spanish guitar, then there is only one dance form you need to discover. The one and only dance form that is on the face and bold is the popular dance from Spain ‘The Flamenco’.
This Spanish dance has always fascinated me, it is daring with intricate footwork, pretty flowing dresses, aggressive attitude. At the same time, Flamenco can be made soft and gentle too, but this side of flamenco is rarely seen on stage. When I think of Flamenco I am reminded of Bollywood star Salman Khan, even he has his two famous sides, the bold, aggressive and the Being Human.
The very first thing, I would like you to know is the difference between Flamenco and a Flamingo! A Flamingo is a pink bird whereas if you say FLAMENCO with a “CO” –it is a dance form that comes from the South of Spain! So be careful how you say it! Or it can mean two very different things!
My love for Spanish dance especially Flamenco grew even more when I met Ivan Yankov the director of well known Spanish dance school ‘Be Flamenco’ few years back. The young, very good looking and dynamic Mr. Yankov grew with a dream to make Flamenco and Spanish culture popular world over. This dream of his made him establish his dance school and company called ‘Be Flamenco’. After experiencing the Flamenco culture, I too believe that we Indians must know more about this dance form especially because it derives inspiration from our very own classical Indian Kathak.
Ms. Iratxe Pazos an accomplished dancer, a dance teacher and a theater artist of ‘Be Flamenco’ and is currently in India touring and conducting workshops and classes for dance lovers. I am glad that I have been able to bring Mr. Yankov’s dream to India.
Iratxe was born in Bilbao in Spain, she was always a dance lover and enthusiast, but took her first serious professional step in dance at a tender age of 13, after studying Jazz and Contemporary dances at Barcelona she moved to learning her favorite dance ‘Flamenco.’ She completed her education in flamenco from world-renowned flamenco schools like Flora Alabicin, Latani, Elena Martin and Lucero Cardenas in Spain.
As a theater artist, Iratxe studied Comedia Musical at the Coco Comin School in Barcelona, where her forte was Drama with Spanish dance Escuela Bolero and Flamenco. She performed many Broadway Musical shows in the Tivoli Theater of Barcelona and Pueblo Espanyol. Some popular shows in which she displayed her dancing and acting skills were ‘El Sur Pirates’ and ‘Tales from the World.’ This is when her love for Flamenco grew even more. Taking her love for Flamenco forward Iratxe she moved to Dublin, Ireland where along with Ms. Anna Castellano, she formed a group called ‘Flamenco y Mas’. They performed at various events and theater in Ireland alone by teaching Flamenco to students of different technique levels.
Being in India Iratxe says, “When I got into Flamenco and studied its history I realized that it has Indian roots. The Gypsies from India traveled through Arabic countries and moved to settle in Europe and Spain. Their original dance ‘Kathak’ got influenced with different cultures and finally took the form of Flamenco. Today I am in India, to me it feels like coming to meet my mother who gave birth to my dance.”
Iratxe will be in and around India for few months visiting few dance schools in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Indore and other cities. So what are you waiting for, join in the flow and enjoy the Passionate, obsessive world of ‘Be Flamenco.’
History and background about Flamenco:
Flamenco is a Spanish genre of music and dance which originated in Andalucia in the XVII century, which has its foundation Andalucian music and dance and, in whose creation and evolution, ethinic Gypsies from Andalucian played an essential part. The cante (singing), toque (guitar playing) and the dance are the principal facets of Flamenco. The dance has Indian Classicla dance ‘Kathak’ base which has believed to have got influenced with the Jewish and Arabic dances. In recent years, the popularity of flamenco in Latin America is such that in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador several ensembles and flamenco academies have sprung up. In Japan flamenco is so popular that more academies exist there as compared to Spain. On November 16, 2010, UNESCO declared Flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
(Sandip Soparrkar is a well known Latin and Ballroom dancer, a World Book of Records holder and a Bollywood choreographer who has been honoured with National Achievement Award and National Excellence Award by the Govt of India. He can be contacted on sandipsoparrkar06@gmail.com)
Sandip Soparrkar
Artscape
