Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Flamenco

Spanish guitars -- battling between strings trying to tell two or three opposing stories that converge into one harmony, one novel.

Gypsies join in and wail their laments into the hollow wood -- echoing the sadness of their plight. Occasionally their cries create the same pain in the audience. The spectator feels uncomfortable listening to the sounds and sobs of the singers. One wonders if they aren't really in physical pain during their performance, so visceral.

One by one dancers come out and their shoes clap the wooden floors beneath their feet. Twists and turns of the body - hand gestures followed by finger snaps or hand clapping to accompany the competing guitars.

Serious faces on the dancers. Hair slicked into chignons held tight with small sparkly brushes. Fake flowers embrace their heads either beneath, below or to the sides of the bases of their skulls.

Tight topped blouses or dresses, some enhanced with fringe. Skirts that are equally tight but that flow out on the bottom so that the dancers can pick them up while they pound the floor boards like pistons on a steam train.

When they let their skirts down, tiers of asymmetrical ruffles brush the stage as they exit. Only to return to blasting applause and thundering bravos.

1 comment:

M said...

Nice description of the Flamenco experience! You really captured the various sensory experiences it provokes.