Flamenco Women
This article is by Tomas Arroquero and was originally published on the Tomas Arroquero Flamenco Blog at http://tomasarroquero.com/blog/. Tomas teaches flamenco internationally and has a presence in the UK, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He currently teaches in Melbourne and maintains partnerships with dance schools in Australia.
An unexpected film documents an ensemble of female flamenco dancers during a 6-day rehearsal process in 1997. The film titled Flamenco Women culminates in a dramatically staged event, which takes place in a large, private drawing room before a swarm of celebrities.
From the director and musician Mike Figgis the film is captured in both a showing room and the famous Amor De Dios studios in Madrid. The dance protagonists Eva La Yerbabuena and Sara Baras are pioneering artists of their generation and practice flamenco in a way that has now become standard for female performers in the 21st century.
Footwork plays a much more significant role in their work compared to the work of women of former generations. Still maintaining the traditional feminine role these women compose their solos much the same way as jazz musicians do, referring back to the rhythmic meter underpinning the structure of the dance.
Figgis captures a moment in flamenco’s history and manages to convey a key quality through the poetry and imagery of flamenco. Like a fly-on-the-wall documentary the film records realistically the labour of the rehearsal process. Both Yerbabuena and Baras grapple to convey their intentions to musicians and other dancers steeped in the same discipline. Beyond translation these ideas alter the relationship between steps and their traditional arrangements.
The space these artists create while still maintaining orthodox forms of behavior – as flamencos and as women in flamenco – empowers the next generation to take more risk.
Watch the film here: