I was moved by Emilio Estevez's feature film "The Way" (2010), which I watched yesterday - based on the story of a man who has lost his son and walks the Camino de Santiago in his place, from France to the north-western Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, where the relics of St. James rest. The Camino de Santiago is more than 800 km long, to be covered on foot, and it is each person's individual journey of discovery, forgiveness or dedication.
Yesterday, on 17 April, the hall of the Riga Congress Centre resounded with vibrant Spanish rhythms. Energy flowed from every movement of the dancers, the flamenco musicians, and the singers. A powerful wave of vitality swept over all the audience members, who with every performance followed what was happening on stage with ever-increasing liveliness, applause, and cries of delight.
I want to share a positive experience of ordering flamenco dance skirts from Spain. As a result I saved both time and money, and within a month received the desired item. On 9 February this year I ordered dance skirts from the www.flamencista.com website, and on 10 March I received a notification from Latvian Post that I needed to collect a parcel.
From 26 to 29 August, the annual summer camp organised by the flamenco dance studio DUENDE took place in Zvejniekciems, with an opportunity for all studio dancers to gather together and learn from guest teachers - flamenco instructors from Spain. I took the opportunity to attend two days of compas classes with percussionist Andrej Vujicic, as well as tangos and alegrias dance technique with flamenco dancer Francesca Grimm.
Sevillanas is the first of the flamenco dance styles I have started to learn at the Spanish dance club Duende. Of course, one must start from the most basic movements - learning posture, arm movements, counting the rhythm, and then the steps. Classes take place in small groups, which is beneficial in that dance teacher Ilvija can give individual attention to each person, correct mistakes, and monitor the execution. The hour allocated to each class passes unnoticed. What follows is a little about sevillanas itself.
«Feria de Abril» - that is also the name of the spring festival celebrated every year in the southern Spanish province of Andalusia. This festival is especially popular in Seville, where flamenco parties go on for entire days and nights and everyone dances sevillanas. Traditional bullfights and trading also take place there. Spanish culture in its most recognisable expressions - hot-blooded music, flamenco dancing, open-hearted conversation.
Flamenco music and dance contain a great many improvisational elements, which is why every performance is unique and flamenco is difficult to transcribe in musical or choreographic notation. The art of performing flamenco is usually passed from teacher to student through training and observation.
Dalí's life resembled theatre, performance, an endless citation of the flow of the subconscious. He - or rather they, Dalí and his muse Gala - needed scandal.
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