Bajari

Decided to rest today and try to absorb a bit of Barca at peace, rather than rushing around. But before that, I thought it would be good idea to start studying the footage of Carmen Amaya's 'El Embrujo del Fandango,' after all, its what I have set out to (try) and perform at the end of this training.

Was a bit shocked to say the least, re-acquanting myself with this performance, and just came away thinking, 'OK, fair enough' and 'Just who do I think I am again?'

Admittedly, I was just about to head for packing my bags and getting the hell back to Liverpool when I took it what I was trying to achieve. But then, isn't this all just part of some great learning process anyway? Do I have to do this performance step by step, shot by shot?

As I said in a previous post, there's always a solution to the problem, and a germ of a solution came later, as I idly just sat on a bench in Plaza Catalunya, watching the rest of Barcelona rush on by.

I was reading about how The Ramblas was a war zone during the Spanish Civil War and something about how George Orwell was caught in the crossfire at the time in 1937. Funny how George pops up every now and then, I thought, but also remembered that 1937 was the year that the film was made featuring this (in)famous fandango by Carmen Amaya.

I just started thinking about the time from then to now and questioning again whether things have  moved on rapidly or slowly in terms of gender roles here and globally, and could I possibly incorporate this idea of time into the final work as a nod to the slow progression or even regression of gender roles?

After some time just kicking back and gathering my thoughts together here (and getting over the shock of the re-performance challenge), I headed down to Aribau Club Cinema and watched 'Bajari', a really beautifully shot documentary, set in Barcelona, about a collaboration between Carmen Amaya's grand-niece, flamenco dancer Karime Amaya and some of the best musicians from the gypsy community in Barcelona, to create a show with some of the best flamenco talent here.

It was a great film, though I could only really understand a little bit of what was being said, but the focus was very much on the music and dancing which was bewitching. And very good to watch for tips on how to 'let go' of my tense-ness and be more free with the exercises I'm doing at the moment. So, well worth the watch as research for this project and so timely that its out now here, when I'm doing this project.

Of course it made me think about what it was I had to say about flamenco when I'm only just learning the basics. More time needed on that one I think. So after a lovely restful day, back to practice tomorrow.