We started to think about choreography to the 'El Embrujo del Fandango' for my level - which lets face it, is very very basic. But we started nevertheless.
The music is very complex in a 12 beat rhythm like some of the Bulerias I've been practising with anyway. Still its going to be very hard to keep up with it.
I just feel so excited and happy that I'm onto the actual choreography for this. Not because I want to rush this. I understand wholeheartedly that I have to 'feel' flamenco. Its just great to be working on this part of the process. Carmen Amaya style.
Make no mistake that I am 100% aware of 1) The hard work this is going to take and 2) That I am Clare Brumby, not Carmen Amaya!
Anyway, Toni came up with two marcages moves to try as part of this choreography, similar to what I've been learning through the basics these last couple of weeks although now the style for the arms is in an aldo (?) style - almost bull-like in the way they are positioned, a true Carmen Amaya style.
It was great to get started but hard because of the new arm positions and having to control the arms to stay stable and central whilst doing planta in front and bringing it back, whilst rotating the shoulders so that the arms / shoulders rotate forward with each opposite stamp.
The second marcages was equally confusing for me because it was doing planta to the side, not too wide, just a middle step, arms up high in aldo, and rotating the shoulders corresponding with the side the feet are moving. it also involved a head movement to the left and right - which we had a good laugh at because I always look to the side and not the floor to the corner but down - just slightly!
I have to feel these moves to feel what Amaya was saying really. In fact Toni mentioned that about flamenco later when I asked him about my progress. Because flamenco is a mixture of technique and opening up of the heart. You have to feel it.
So I have loads of questions for myself at this point now. Am I feeling flamenco and how can I possibly feel it more? I'm not here to dilute or disrespect the dance by getting a fast track through this medium. That's impossible. I'm here to try and understand more in a way what Amaya was saying in her performances.
Creatively, how am I going to get through this now starting from scratch? What do I need to be thinking of in terms of what the final piece is going to look like? How do I want this to be filmed. I need to know the answers to these questions pretty quickly because it will impact upon the actual choreography in some way. Can the process of the choreography and practice influence the outcome of the final performance?
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