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.
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.
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