Greetings! Of all the things I have regretted not learning (yet) is the beautiful art of flamenco dance. I attended theatre school when I was 18, and there was a movement class that incorporated a large amount of jazz dancing. I discovered that I really enjoyed dancing. Flamenco is an offshoot of a gypsy dance that took root in Spain. It is to me the quintessence of dance. It is at once elegant, forceful, passionate, rhythmic and so characteristic of the culture it comes from. Famous male dancers such as Antonio Gades (shown in the video below) and Jose Greco are unbelievable in the passion that they are able to inspire in me; not only are they hot (that is the least of what they are), but when they dance, they touch something deep in my soul. I suppose this makes sense on some genetic level as a large part of my background is originally from Spain and Mexico. [YOUTUBE]BfDiQ4FIjRo[/YOUTUBE] I suppose one could call this a kind of tap-dancing, but that would be akin to claiming that the Mona Lisa was a paint-by-numbers creation! What I especially like about the male dancers is that they aren't afraid to "tap" into what are ostensibly feminine archetypes: the hand gestures, the fluid and elegant movements that they share with their female counterparts...and yet they are so characteristically male in all their animalistic display (display, striking the right pose, the lingering...just wow!). I find this to be the most interesting part of the dance, the blending and reaching beyond the limits of gender toward a synthesis that creates this wonderful, forceful and mind-blowing dance. What is great about it as well is that anyone can take it up at any age, I have seen amazing older dancers, beer-bellies and all, put on such a show... I recently found a course I can take, and I think I may just try this in 2015...
I had a chance to see one female flamenco dancer a few months before joining EC. She did a library program. During part of the program, she actually had the audience trying some of the basics. Not easy, at least not for me, and I'm pretty sure I looked like a total idiot. But it was an interesting experience, and seeing her was downright amazing. EC connection of sorts: she was possibly the last bit of gay denial I'll ever have. There was something about that woman that made me think: "I can't possibly be gay!" And yet, after joining EC, and thinking back to the powerful impression she made on me, I realized that yes, she made an impression...but actual sexual attraction did not happen. Someplace I have a record done by a flamenco guitarist. The artist toured the Seattle area at least a couple of times ca. 1980. I can't remember for sure, but I think he might have played at my elementary school. (My principal got some good assemblies for things like that--another memory is someone that played the hammered dulcimer. It's funny--I have stronger memories of those assemblies at age 9 vs. the crap I endured in high school, which was mostly terrible pep assemblies, and the regular "Don't drink and drive, kids!" talk from--I'm guessing--the Washington State Patrol.) I think my parents took me to a concert, too, where we bought his LP. The last track he played something that was, I guess, directly connected to flamenco dance, and when recording this LP, he actually got people who knew the dancing in from the audience. It's kind of neat--you can hear that in the background as he plays, and I've sometimes thought it would have been fun seeing that live. ---------- Post added 28th Dec 2014 at 12:33 PM ---------- I'd say it's worth serious thought. Who knows, maybe you'll meet Mr. Right in class!
