The Spanish city of Sevilla is known as the cradle of flamenco

La Bienal de Flamenco

La Bienal de Flamenco has been held in Sevilla every two years since 1980. The content of the event includes flamenco competitions and various singing and dancing performances, showing the uniqueness of Spain. The art of the current La Bienal de Flamenco is in full swing in 2020 (September 4 to October 4). If you look forward to a perfect performance of a passionate flamenco show, come with us to learn about her history and the way she most looks forward to meeting you.

Is flamenco a dance, a song, or a melody?

What exactly is flamenco? Is it the baile of a Spanish dancer we know, or the cante of the singer behind her, or is it just a melodious Spanish guitar (toque) from the CD?

These are all flamenco: first is dance, light rotation, powerful dance steps, complicated arm movements ... These are the basic movements of flamenco dance and the most intuitive feeling for us; these Although there are many repetitions of basic movements, each dance is different, because the way these dances are presented depends entirely on the melodious singing behind the dancers.

Flamenco's tunes are called "palo" in Spanish. They are similar to the tunes in Chinese operas. Some of them are sad, others are lighthearted, and different tunes express different moods and themes. Determined the different style of dance, such as festival-specific buleria tunes, and cantinas tunes that express the voice of gypsies.

So, is song the core of flamenco's performance? Not entirely accurate, because emotion is the real core of flamenco art: flamenco is not so much an art of dance or music as it is an art of expressing emotions and feelings , Some tunes are even named directly after "alegria" (Spanish, joy) or "solea" (Andalusian dialect, meaning loneliness) to express the inner emotion of joy or sadness,but in front of such a strong emotional expression, the complicated and dazzling dance moves are nothing but "third-class instruments" other than guitars and castanets, concretely show a feeling, a theme.

Flamenco's mystery

Where did flamenco come from? There is still no exact answer. Flamenco's dance movements and melody still have the form of hundreds of years ago, so it can be concluded that flamenco originated in the eighteenth century, but how it originated, there are many different opinions.

One of the most widely accepted claims is that flamenco originated in Andalusia in southern Spain. At that time, Andalusia was a multi-ethnic place: the cheerful dance of Gypsy Flamenco was free and unrestrained, Muslim groaning and chanting gave it beauty and tragedy; Africa's primitive dance steps gave it an explosive vitality, and new immigrants from the Caribbean gave it a little more appropriate style and Charm.

Why is flamenco called flamenco?

It is strange that flamenco, as a Spanish-specific art form, is not just a flamenco dance. It can also refer to flamingos, but also to people or things in the Flandes area of old days— -Nowadays, western Belgium and parts of northern France were historically subordinated to Spain.

A simple word, flamenco, still has so many unintended meanings, so what is the connection between "flamenco" in these incompatible concepts?

There are many sayings about the origin of the Spanish name of flamenco. The following are widely spread:

One is that the earliest flamenco dancers were graceful in appearance, as if the flamingo spread wings in the water, so the flamingo's name was simply used in this dance; another is that the eighteenth century the earliest performers of flamenco in Spain were gypsies, mainly concentrated in Andalusia, and here these gypsies were also considered to be from the Flanders area under Spanish control at the time. Since then, the dance has been called "flamenco"; the last statement is that it originated from the then Andalusian dialect "fellah min gueir ard", which means "landless peasant"-probably the most flamenco rising first among these poor farmers, this dance is called "flamenco" over time.

The correct way to watch flamenco

As Spain's unique art treasure dedicated to the world, and even a symbol of Spain in the world, flamenco performances must not be missed by every tourist who comes to Spain ... but most of us are neither art theorists nor is it a historian exploring the source, how can you be a happy audience to enjoy the first flamenco show in your life? We have prepared a few tips for everyone:

Tips

Don't enter the show in halfway: a flamenco show may have many performances, it is best to enter after one performance, because flamenco pays great attention to the emotional movement of actors, enter the show in halfway will not only affect the viewing of other audiences, but even interrupt the mood of the actors.

After the guitar sounds, keep quiet. Before a traditional flamenco performance, there will be a guitar prelude to remind the audience to officially start the whole show. This is like the "gavel" in traditional Chinese musical performances. Once the guitar sounds, it must be absolutely quiet off the court.

Mastering the right time for clapping and cheering: Flamenco is the art of conveying emotions, not the silence of the whole audience, but the interaction between the stage and the audience. How to timely clap and interact is a very exquisite knowledge in flamenco's performance: in flamenco's performance, there are generally three ways for audience to interact: clapping (aplauso), Cheers (usually "ole") and slaps (Palma).

The right way to watch flamenco

In the process of singing songs, as long as the guitar sound does not stop, you can't break down or cheer at will; in the process of dance performance, sometimes the dancers will pause for the sake of performance, at this time, you can't applaud and cheer at will, you have to wait for the end of the complete dance performance.

Compared with clapping and cheering, Palma is much more difficult. Generally, only local people or flamenco dancers who are familiar with Palo can keep up with the rhythm and accurately play the beat. If you don't know anything about it, "random clapping" will not only make mistakes in public, but also disturb the rhythm of dancers on the stage. So for Palma,we suggest you follow the experienced audience or not at all.

When it comes to this, do you think there are too many rules for watching flamenco? In fact, as long as we can abide by the basic politeness of entering the ordinary theater, the atmosphere of flamenco is more relaxed and comfortable than the elegant symphony. Professional Spanish actors and enthusiastic local audience will bring you into flamenco's world!