Dance Aesthetic: The root of Flamenco Dance

A young woman with dark hair in a brightly colored dress named ‘traje de flamenco’, clapping her hands and stepping with her heeled boots in a fast and exciting rhythm. A guitarist accompanies her by playing the energetic music, while the other singers and audience shouting and clapping to show their encouragement and appreciation to her breathtaking dance. This is a typical image of flamenco dance, which is highly recognized as the famous Spanish folk dance, and was declared to be the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. In this essay, I would like to look into the root of Flamenco dance, and how it is influenced and developed by the culture of Gypsy and Indian dance.

Flamenco is a form of Spanish folk dance and music from Andalusia, in which music and dance are inseparable and equally important. There are various theories regarding the meaning and origin of Flamenco, as there is no single and monumental history of Flamenco.

For the word ‘Flamenco’, some people believe that it means flamingo, a pink bird with unique movement, which looks like the posture of the Gypsy dancer. A number of people also believe that the word is derives from two Arabic words, ‘felag’ and ‘mengu’, together means fugitive peasants, which refers to the persecuted fugitives of Arabic origin that had later embraced the gypsies. The third theory believes that ‘Flamenco’ is the derivative of ‘flama’, which means ‘flame’ and used to describe the ‘fiery and flashy gypsy characters and their music and dance’ (Edwards, 2000). Every belief shows that gypsies have an inseparable relationship with Flamenco, which shows that gypsies have an important role in the development of Flamenco.

In the past, gypsies have a bad reputation; they were misunderstood as thieves, beggars and criminals. And their ‘unique’ appearance, music and dance were often associated with demon and dark magic. Between the year of 1499 and 1783, gypsies were restricted by laws and forced to move and settle in one place. A gypsy district therefore developed, which was well known as ‘Gitanerias’. Every evening there would be dance and music performance by the female gypsies, the fiery nature and unique style attracts many people and thus gradually build up the reputation. This small community also attracts other people like salves, beggars and petty criminal to settle in there. As they shared a common feeling of sadness, injury and hurts, they escaped and seek relief by expressing feelings, for instance, singing and dancing. By performing music and singing songs, the singer did not just simply express their mood, but also shared with the audiences. The audiences had the similar feeling and were touched by the performance, and thus, according to Edward (2000), somehow ‘become the participants of the shows’. This characteristic has great influence of the Flamenco dance and music, which audiences are encouraged to interact with the performance by clapping hands.

Besides of the audience interaction, the culture of gypsy also influences the dancing style of Flamenco. As gypsies adopt a nomadic lifestyle and have an insular culture, which were generally misunderstood by other people. They often move around with their horses and wagons, and are independent, tough and able to tackle with problems by themselves. With other people’s misunderstandings, or even hates, gypsies had grown even stronger. Their unique culture as well as a strong and tough mind had affected the Flamenco dance. Hence, it is noted that the Flamenco dance is powerful and strong, but graceful and confident at the same time.

It is believe that Flamenco dance has connections with the Indian dance especially with the ‘Indian classical dance forms of Katak,Kthakali and Bharata Natyam, all of these involve intricate foot work and hand movements which are reminiscent of Flamenco’(Hayes,2009). In around 500 BC, Hindu dancers enter Spain and performed for royalty and to worship their religion; their dance gradually become part of ceremonies in Rome. But after the long occupation and ruling of moors of North African, the religious dance changed and influenced by the moors. The dance therefore could be performed in a ‘more public and secular way’, and the movement of foots and hands of the female dancers had been emphasized, which built up the root and the original form of Flamenco dance (Edward, 2000). When we compare Indian dance and Flamenco dance, it is not hard to find the similarity between them. Both kinds of dances focus on the power of femininity, which female dancers are the main character of the Flamenco dance. Also, they both emphasize on the gestures of hands and the foot dance. While Indian dance have more femininity, that the movement is softer and give the feeling of joy and love; in Flamenco dance, the movement is more ‘masculine’, more powerful and faster. It shows the influence of Indian dance to Flamenco dance.

All in all, it is surprised to find that the Flamenco dance had such a long history and has been developed and influenced by social background and various cultures. The history of Flamenco is so long and can be traced to a very long time ago. It is hard to look into the whole history and all the factors that influence Flamenco. But after reading few books and texts about Flamenco, two of the main factors that have contributed to the birth of Flamenco are summarized and raised in this essay, which consist of the culture gypsies and Indian dance. These two factors both influenced the characteristics of the dance as well as its movement.

Reference:

Haas, K., & Edwards, G. (2000).Flamenco!. New York: Thames & Hudson.

Hayes, M. H. (2009). Flamenco: conflicting histories of the dance. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co..

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