A villancico...
A la Nanita
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A la naninta nana, nanita ea, nanita ea,
Mi Jesús tiene sueño,
bendito sea, bendito sea.
Is this why I do it? You see, I’ve noticed that flamenco is always telling me things, important things that go waaaaaaay beyond the art form. Sometimes I am able to hear, sometimes I am not. So it tells me things again and again, just in case I need reminders... which I usually do. Estoy muy agradecida, and I’m working on becoming a better listener.
Maybe you’re wondering just what kinds of things it tells me. Here are some of the important ones…
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Navega Sola by Mayte Martín
Al primer rayo de la luz de la mañana
despierto siempre preguntando dónde estás.
Con mi aliento empaño el cristal de mi ventana
y veo mi barquilla echarse a la mar.
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This week, a sevillanas by Lorca.
And look, here's our favorite Ricardo dancing to this very song in a bata de cola in a video dancing with Compañia Rafaela Carrasco.
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So about a year ago I started doing this thing called the Dance of Shiva (Shiva Nata). I learned about it from Danielle at Somaphile. And then learned much more about it from Havi Brooks. My friends considered it to be one more weird Laura thing. There are many of those. Anyway, I started it and haven't stopped. I did it just about every day while in Spain last spring. Heather would let me use her bedroom before going to class so that I wouldn't disturb Jackie while she was still sleeping. (I'm certain it helped me in Manolillo's class.) Once Diana W. arrived, she even did it with me a few times. And I still do it regularly.
Because I benefit. It helps me to realize things. It offers me all kinds of ideas. It heightens my awareness. And because I like it. It is fun! And challenging. Much like I'm drawn to the challenges of flamenco, I am drawn to the challenges of this dance.
Perhaps you're wondering what it is. The Dance of Shiva is a practice that uses physical movement patterns to train the brain.
Now perhaps you're wondering what in the world this has to do with flamenco. Well, quite a bit in my view. I'll just mention a few of ways for now:
Way #1 - I use it as a kind of creativity potion. Creativity potions are nice to have around..
Way # 2 - The Dance of Shiva is all about process. It reminds me to be present and to enjoy el proceso. Kind of like being in a great class does but in a very different way. Sometimes, especially now doing this flamenco thing "professionally," - that is completely scary to write, but I'm still writing it - I get too focused on the final product. Now I am supposed to be good. Now there are expectations. Now... Ay! And then I forget, forget that I just like DOING it. Me gusta hacerlo. Ya está. Sometimes I get so focused on an end result I don't think I can achieve that it completely overwhelms me to where I can't dance at all. Not good. But most of the things about flamenco I like have to do with process too, and Shiva Nata reminds me of this because there is no end result.
Way #3 - Mixing it with flamenco can be quite fun. For instance, sometimes I'll warm up my castanets while doing Dance of Shiva. I've even noticed some of the arm movements sneaking into my baile without my meaning for it to happen, especially during these shows with Toshi where I have to improvise so much...
So, I would like to incorporate it into some classes soon. Well, actually, I already have a few times. Like just after I finished the Shiva Nata Teacher Training in September. I asked the sevillanas ladies to be my guinea pigs with it. We used it to warm up our brains and bodies which resulted in a lot of laughter. Then we made much progress on our sevillanas. I know it will be the perfect compliment to the upcoming Create Your Own Choreography workshop.
If you're curious or have anything at all to say, feel free to leave a comment here.
Here are some tangos:
Tangos
Traditional
Mañana, mañana
los van a prender mañana
a todos los ojitos negros
los van a prender mañana
y tú qué negros los tienes
échate un velo en la cara
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Below Diana Welch, Oregon photographer, writer, videographer and flamenca shares one of her experiences with bulerías last Spring during her time in Jerez. Reading her story brought back memories of practicing with her in the living room, kitchen, wherever we could make it work. I also remember that she took a bus for about an hour to get to class, dedicada. Enjoy… Here in her blog, Laura has been discussing her learning process with respect to bulerías. While Laura and I are in different stages on the bulerias learning continuum, I experienced a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel in my own beginning class in Jerez last April.
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So Toshi keeps asking me to do these shows with him. I am considering myself to be very lucky. And I am considering the rehearsals to be like free concerts, free concerts for meeee! Then today during our rehearsal for Sunday's show at Tupai, I realized the musicians were sending me messages. Many many messages. Although I know they weren't meaning to send me messages nor were they aware that they were doing so. Pero los músicos me mandaban mensajes, hoy en el ensayo, muchos mensajes sin saberlo.
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Más bulerías.
(Traditional)
Que cosas dice este loco
Que no ha dicho una mentira
Pero una verdad tampoco
What things this crazy person says
He hasn't told a lie
But not a truth either
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Today un tientos entero. I pretty much begged Diana to learn this tientos from La Niña de los Peines (or the first part at least) so that I could dance to it. I told her about how it brought me to tears every time I listened to it.
Yikes.
That's what she thought.
I remember singing it with her on the phone in the kitchen. And she got it. And I danced to it. And it felt wonderful.
No te he dao motivo
Porque yo no te he dao motivo
que yo no te he hecho daño
tú te fuiste de mi vera
de mi verita te fuiste
te apartaste tú de mi vera
sin yo haberte dao motivo
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So my biggest issue with bulerías when I got to Jerez was the transitions. Well, ok, that’s not really true, my biggest issue after fear. But about the transitions, it was like all of a sudden I couldn’t see them. And I didn’t know what to do.
It was my first time in Ana María López’s class after dancing by myself in front of EVERYONE, which is what you have to do EVERY day there and actually NUMEROUS times every day.
And you can’t hide.
You can’t escape by leaving the room because someone calls you, even if you’re outside practicing or just trying to escape all of the smoke. - Yes, smoking. Lots of smoking goes on in class, from start to finish - And if you try to pretend you didn’t hear that you were called and still don’t come in, someone comes to get you.
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Tangos de Granada
Yo no quiero que me digas
Que me quieres más que a nadie
Teniendo a tu madre viva
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So, I've been talking a lot about bulerías over the past several days. I guess because there is a lot to say, and today shall be no different. For me, doing bulerías is kind of like taking a happy pill. Simply put, it makes me feel good. Even when I do it for just five seconds, a quick remate out of the blue, a moment of palmas, stuff like that.
Playfulness. Perhaps this has something to do with my obsession. Bulerías is about having a good time. Who doesn't want this? And let’s face it, it’s much more fun to watch someone dancing who is having a good time with it. The energy is contagious, if we’re open to it. I wonder, if we aren’t enjoying ourselves, are we even really doing bulerías?
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Ok, so getting back to bulerías... I already told you about how I happened to get hooked on bulerías. And there are many stories to go along with that. Both Happy Tales (like seeing El Torta perform in Jerez last April...in a place I wasn't supposed to be, but where I went anyway) and Horror Stories (ok, perhaps not horror stories - all of the Halloweenness appears to be affecting my language - we'll call them Crying in Bulerías Class Stories.) But those can wait for later.
Right now let's just focus on some important things to know about Bulerías de Jerez, some of the cositas I referred to the other day...
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For quite some time I have been thinking, "I should share letras on the blog." Because I like them. Because they're always running through my head. Because they speak to me. So, here’s number one,
Bulerías
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My main obstacle to bulerías has always been fear, not trusting my instincts. It's no different from my main obstacle in life. It is what makes me so indecisive. No wonder bulerías has always been so hard for me...I don't trust. Wah! This realization was profound. In a moment I'll share with you some things I've come to know about bulerías…things that have made it easier, less scary to dance. (There is also a Workshop coming up where we'll cover this in-depth...) The truth is, now I kind of can't get enough of bulerías. It is not that the fear has been eradicated completely, but the excitement and fun usually push it off to the side now. Gracias excitement and fun.
So, I used to haaaaate bulerías (while secretly loving it.)
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I guess you could say I was kind of consumed with fear during my time in Jerez. I did things anyway, but I also didn't do things. Below is an excerpt (with some side notes) written during my first week alone there. For those who are new to this blog, I had been in Jerez a couple of weeks before for the Festival. After a brief trip to Portugal, I headed back. I arrived on Friday the 25th and began my search for classes.
Prior to leaving for Spain I knew who I wanted to take from and had names of studios and phone numbers; I even had an idea of when some of the classes were offered. Sí! I had done my research, I promise, as best as I could from Portland, Oregon...I had to for the RACC grant. And during the festival I got an idea of where the studios were located. But I had yet to figure out the class times. Could I have done more to determine this earlier in the month? Perhaps. But figuring out where and when things happen in that town is not as easy as one might think…
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I so enjoyed this interview with Antonio and learning about his life as a dancer and his philosophy about flamenco, but before we get to that, read what the Diario de Sevilla had to say about him, “Antonio Arrebola…one of the great promises of this art. A captivating, incredible style, withextraordinary technique and daring that leaves the audience amazed. Arrebola has physical presence on the stage. He grows, he is a giant. Because he is everything on the stage. With his securities and his insecurities. With his truth. With his linkage to the earth combined with his sense of humor. In him, forcefulness makes sense. As ferocity, fight. As sublime energy. An impressive figure that has the same content of his emotions.”
I was a junior in college. I was studying Spanish. Class was a struggle for me to say the least. The professor spoke only in Spanish, and I usually felt like a Charlie Brown adult was mwoah mwoah mwoahing at me all of the time. I can't even remember her name, the teacher's. I just remember she was eccentric, as they say, and that we went to her house once and she made us all mole. She was not Mexican but totally and completely obsessed. The mole was good enough. Anyway every day we would watch this "educational" novela and then answer questions about and "discuss" it. I rarely knew what was going on in class or with Raquel and El Padre Hidalgo on the TV set. Just one word sticks out in my mind, excavación. The whole novela had to do with some big excavation. So, why am I telling you all of this? Because a really good thing happened on account of that class with Señora Something-or-Other...
I became interested in flamenco.