Where to see it in Dijon; Tablaos and Peñas!

Flamenco can be found in varying forms in Andalucía, whether it is in a tablao, which are mostly aimed at the tourists, or a peña flamenca, which will offer a more authentic side of the art.

SHOW

Amor Flamencopresent'Puro'
After their sell out performances last year, Carlos and "Zingarina" bring their brand new show, ‘Passion’ with their 6 piece company with a show of fiery Flamenco music and dance.
This performance is an authentic Flamenco experience, featuring some of the finest artists from Spain and France. Explosive footwork, dazzling costumes, dymanic rhythms and a sensuality hard to resist makes this show a true expression of flamenco at it’s best. They perform Flamenco with energy and emotion, creating and intimacy and connection with the audience that is both mesmerising and unique. This show will take you to the very heart of Flamenco, moving your soul and lifting your spirit!

"Zingarina" (Eugénie DESNOYER) set pulses racing … she wowed the crowds with traditional flamenco dance’

The Argus

‘Zingarina" not only personifies the confidence, strength and drama of this beautiful dance,she spreads that energy …5 stars!

’Miranda Glavin, Latest 7 Magazine

Friday 2nd October 8.00 p.m. La Vapeur, €15.00 (€13.50 concs]

Association ARTE FLAMENCO, à Dijon (21) France

Friday 23rd October 8.00 p.m. Salle Devosges €15.00 [€13.50 concs]

http://tvnetbourgogne.blog.mongenie.com/index/p/2006/06/95284

The origins

Most of today’s flamencologists will agree that the baile flamenco has descended from the ancient dances of the Indian Hindus.
Although the flamenco dance has shed many of the elements of the Indian religious dances that will unfold a story with set eye and facial movements, it does still have similarities with the Indian dance.
The early flamenco dancers, especially the woman, concentrated more on the upper body and arm movements, similar to that of the Indian Bharata Natya, where the dance is focused on arm movements and facial expressions. (A good Exemple with the young French Flamenco dancer, Eugénie Desnoyer "tzingarina", in Estepona.)
Also from India is the Kathuk, which is a dance performed by men and woman, where the very intricate footwork has similarities to the zapateado in flamenco.
These dances reached Spain as early as the Greek times, 500-250 BC, where Indian dancers where brought into Spain via the port of Gadir, today known as Cádiz, to entertain the royals of the time. The arrival of the Moors nearly one thousand years later, and also the gypsies, who brought with them, dance and music styles from Pakistan and Persia enriched the existing andalucian styles.
Many theorists lay the blame for the lack of footwork in the early female baile flamenco on the Muslim discouragement for women not to show their legs.
The zapateado or intricate footwork displayed by the dancer was not introduced into the female dance routine until the early twentieth century.
The decrees of the 16 th century, where Moors, Jews, and gypsies were persecuted, resulted in these outcasts going underground, and taking with them their music and dances, and this is where it stayed, and this is thought to be the very beginning of the formation of flamenco.
The style of dance we see performed today has changed considerably since these times, and now styles of flamenco song that were never danced are being taken up by modern dancers striving to find new directions for the flamenco dance.
The jondo dancer is today a rare commodity, and what we see is choreographed dance a lot more in the tablaos and commercial establishments.
But what makes a good dancer? His grace, his rhythmic skill, his duende, or his ability to perform spontaneously.
Spontaneous does not mean that a new dance be created every time the dancer takes the floor, but that the dancer will feel the music and dance what he feels for the music at that particular moment, expressing himself and letting his personality take grip of the dance, and not just going through the motions of a show that is rehearsed right down to the facial expressions.

gypsy art of flamenco

The common image of Andalucía is one of colour, romance, and passion, and the lone figure of the matador in the bullring, cape and sword in hand beneath the burning afternoon sun, and the equally gypsy art of flamenco seem to somehow go hand in hand.
Andalucía has a reputation for fiestas and celebrations that are overflowing with music and dance, women in colourful gypsy style dresses, silk shawls, and hand painted fans in an array of dazzling designs. The old men, faces scorched and cracked like the bark of an olive tree, their fraying straw hats an emblem of their past, and the courting couples dancing the most dramatic sevillanas are symbolic of life in this wonderful part of southern Spain.
Flamenco has been shrouded in mystery for many years, and it has only in recent years become known to, but not fully understood by, the rest of the world.
Many people witness flamenco in some form during their summer vacations in Andalucía, especially on the Costa del Sol, where there are flamenco Tablaos in abundance, these though rarely show the true flamenco.
Most people will not see a connection between these glossy theatrical shows that are misleadingly labelled authentic gypsy flamenco, and cante jondo, a song-form deeply rooted in the tradition of flamenco, and born in small Spanish villages, such as Lebrija and Utrera and there is, indeed, little connection, but both are named flamenco.