asianTraveler Magazine

Each country has its own share of expression whether through its food, architecture or the visual arts, dance and music. There has always been one form of expression that stands out in most cultures, and that is music. There is the blues and jazz in the United States, the opera in Italy, the multiphonic singing of Tibetan monks, and tango in Argentina, but in Spain, the flamenco is the ultimate expression of passion and that “hot Spanish blood.”

The undeniable foot-stomping, hand-clapping, and staccato strum of the guitar is an unmistakable sign of a flamenco coming on. With every beat, the heat of passion explodes with expression.

Its beginnings are shrouded in mystery, although it is said that its root word is the Hispanic-Arab word “fellahmengu” which means “expelled peasant,” while others will tell you that it actually started with the Flanders or the flamencos, as Spaniards refer to the Flemish, and the word flameante which connotes the arduous nature of the dance. As we speak with who may well be the leading exponent of flamenco in Manila, Ms. Clara Ramona, we find that it does find its roots in the past but well beyond the Arab and the Flemish borders. Without a doubt, North African and Indian incursions have influenced the development of flamenco into what it is today. It was a dance that inflames emotions and creates rushes of adrenalin as a spectator event, and more so as one participates. And because of its association with boisterous, aggressive and fierce expression, it was viewed with disdain and, in some cases, prohibited. So you can imagine how it was practiced in secret. Even today, when Castilians learn you can dance flamenco, they identify you with a raised eyebrow, and you are blandly branded, “…aah flamenco, aah flamenca…”

In a series of questions, we try to understand the passion behind the “passion” that is flamenco. It will not make you an expert, but next time you surf on You Tube or find yourself in Madrid, you won’t get lost. We paraphrase the interview and weave it into a semblance of how flamenco found its way into the Philippines through Clara:

Where Did It Start?

Flamenco finds its roots in Indian and Arabic origin when “undesirables” from India evolved into the gypsies traveling across Europe until they reached the Iberian peninsula and ran out of land to travel to and found themselves on the coast of Southern Spain. In Andalusia, the coastlines simply stopped, preventing the gypsy invasion from spreading further beyond those shores. The gypsies traveling that road incorporated what they could from wherever they passed. As inveterate entertainers, they would absorb and build on the existing music they played to entertain crowds that pass along the way.

Clara Ramona’s affair with flamenco started in Boston. On her way home from a ballet class, she heard a sound that intrigued her and sought an answer to her question, “What is that?” As she said, one does not look for anything if one is not immersed in what one is doing. All she knew was she walked in, took one class, and the rest is history. Before even she knew it, she was perfecting the movements and became the veritable star of the company, with her instructor, a flamenco star from Madrid, inevitably transforming her passion into a romance anchored in the dance. Further studies in Mexico under Manolo Vargas helped refine her technique.

What is it anyway?

The music is the anchor from which most of the visual allure that modern flamenco derives. It was viewed as a prohibitive dance with its gyrations and heated facial expressions but it wasn’t until recently, and by this she means the early nineteenth century that dance accompanied the performances. Thus, it was practiced in the back roads and alleys of Madrid and the other areas around the cities nonetheless, never out in the open. Otherwise, it started out as simply music created with a five string guitar descended from the lute which later evolved into the flamenco 6-string which is shorter than the typical classic Spanish guitar. Together with the guitar was a song, dependent on the emotions expressed in the lyrics, through the “canta Hondo” which is a deep, serious and passionate lament of a song to the “cante Chico” which is lighter, happier, vibrant and flirtatious. Regardless, a standard fixture was the hand clap, or the “Palmas” which was soon joined by dance. Another form is the “Ida y vuelta” for the rhythms that originated in Spain traveled to South America and “returned” to Spain in another form and was incorporated into the genre. Because of its correlation with hecklers and gypsies, it continued to be and was practiced in secret and in private.

Is this Spain’s National Dance?

Surprisingly, it seems Spain does not have a National Dance as the dances are different from region to region. There is the Basque, Catalan, or Galicia where each region has its folk dance; it could be the Fandango, Malaguenia even the dances in the bullfights, mimicking the forms of the “torero,” and the flamenco joins as another one of the many other dances in the country. But it isn’t really the dance which is flamenco but more the singing, which was followed by the guitar accompaniment. Its association with dance is not included in any of the CD’s of the music, but as a visual experience, that is the lasting memory of most people. The wailing and the staccato reverberation of the syllables is what makes flamenco what it is. To modern flamenco, add the “Cajon” which is like a drum set in a box, from the South American influences particularly from Cuba and your modern version is realized.

You can see the passion of Clara in the way she weaves the stories and although she readily admits to not singing flamenco, she is the exponent of flamenco and with a passion that can only be shown in an actual example. As she rattles off something in Spanish (which I completely did not understand), she launches into a rhythm and this is accompanied soon enough with some foot stomping that beats out a rhythm that we immediately take a liking too. Joaquin Cortes, has performed with Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez and countless others one exponent of flamenco which has bridged the art form with a new generation. He had said time and again, flamenco is all kinds of music, blues, funk, and it is for all. It really is easy to like because of the freedom and the lack of inhibition in its practice.

How is flamenco doing in the Philippines?

The interest in flamenco has been around for a while, courtesy of Ruben Nieto, Rose Borromeo and other dancers, although there are very few who have gone on to continue and one just occasionally hears about it here and there, and there are really no lasting efforts. No one has really gone through the process of developing a show, training students for what could be called a recital, or run a studio. The Clara Ramona Centro Danza de Flamenca on Algiers Street in Makati right near the Rockwell Center has been developed specifically for that purpose, and Clara has been doing it all her life. Her children Isaac and Nino de los Reyes continue this lifestyle of living flamenco as a way of life.

What does the future hold for flamenco in the Philippines? With the continuing success of the dance company and concerts and presentations in the pipeline, Clara ends our discussion with a simple statement. “Flamenco is a way of life; it becomes the way you live your life and the way you run your life.”