Flamenco, tap dance, and Afro-Peruvian zapateo (part 2 of 2)

Another major differences are in the rhythms.  The underlying rhythms in flamenco are more complex than in either tap dance or Afro-Peruvian zapateo.  I'm not saying that the rhythms created with the feet are more complex, because I don't think that's true.  In all three of these dance forms, the best dancers create some really exciting and complicated rhythmic patterns.

But the underlying rhythm in tap is usually 1,2,3,4, while in Afro-Peruvian, it's 1,2,3,4 or 1,2,3,4,5,6.  In flamenco, the underlying rhythms is called compás, and it's usually based on a count of 12 with accents in very different places depending upon the flamenco form the dancer is performing.  Placing the accents correctly is part of the essence of compás.

 
Here is Flamenco singer Antonio de la Malena beating out the compás of bulerías, one of the Extras in our drama, "Domino:  Caught in the Crisis."

Even another major difference is the music.  In Afro-Peruvian zapateo, the music isn't very important or very elaborate.  In tap dance, it's usually something chosen out of the contemporary rap, or rock, or swing scene.

In flamenco, the music is very important and comes from a long tradition.  The music is not as important as the singing, but the dancer is not supposed to do flamenco footwork, taconeo, while the singer is singing.  The singer is more important than the dancer, and must be respected.


 Some pretty fancy zapateo by the world champion, Freddy "Huevito" Lobaton. 

And then, there is body posture.  In flamenco, the body and hands and head all go towards the same expressive purpose of the feet, and are supposed to compliment and make more concrete the sentiment, the emotions, inherent in what the singer is singing.  In addition, the way of moving the body and head is like looking at a bunch of still images.  The dancer moves from one pose directly into another.  When the flamenco dancer is doing taconeo, the body, head and hands are often fluid, to provide continuity.  When the dancer is not doing footwork, the body and head move abruptly, while the hands provide the fluidity. 

  
This tap dance is the exception that makes the rule...LOTS of body position and hands and...

In tap dance, and in Afro-Peruvian zapateo, the body usually isn´t that important.  Of course there are movements and positions to learn, but the real essence of these two dances is in the feet...or, occasionally, the hands.

To sum it up, although all three of these dance forms use the feet as elaborate percussion instruments, they really don´t resemble each other much once you get beyond that initial threshold.

NOTE:  I would have liked to include a video of Riverdance (remember Riverdance?) in this post but already had so much and besides, it's Irish step dance, not tap dance, Afro-Peruvian zapateo, or flamenco taconeo.....  But if you´re interested, go to LINK.  And finally, what the hey, there´s some good Afro-Peruvian zapateo in our trailer (and our documentary) on our web site www.AZestforLifeDVD.com.

OUR NEXT POST will be about immigrants and refugees.

Flamenco, tap dance and Afro-Peruvian zapateo (part 1 of 2)

I've heard people who aren't dance junkies say, when watching flamenco dance for the first (or second or third) time, "Hey, it's a lot like tap dance."  If you think about all the footwork in flamenco, and think about the footwork in tap dance, there is some truth to that and while we're at it, we may as well throw in Afro-Peruvian zapateo (sometimes simply called Peruvian zapateo).

The footwork sections in flamenco, by the way, are called taconeo.

Being someone who has recently made a documentary about Afro-Peruvian music and dance, who's made videos about flamenco, who's produced a CD of flamenco singing, and who has performed flamenco as a soloist on stage, I started thinking about the similarities and the differences between these three dance forms.


 
Here's one of many cool videos of Afro-Peruvian zapateo you can find on YouTube.

The similarities:  all three use the feet as a percussion instrument, and the footwork is elaborate and rhythmically complicated -- and pretty impressive, when done by a master.

Then, there're the differences.  Lots of differences.

One is intention.  In tap dance, the intent is to amuse and the musical background is almost always upbeat.  The dancer's expression ranges from a smile to a smile to a blank face, but we in the audience know we're supposed to be having fun.



Here's a great selection of very fine tap dancing.

In Afro-Peruvian zapateo, as it is seen on stage, there is the same intent to please and to make the audience happy.  There is also an element of competitiveness to it, so you usually see more than one dancer and each one dances solo, at least for a while, letting the other dancer(s) watch.  Then the next dancer performs and tries to do something more complicated, etcetera.

The original and traditional Afro-Peruvian zapateo, however, is/was not competitive.  Instead, it's done to honor Christ and actually, two centuries ago, was done in order to communicate the dancer's feelings to Christ.  The Catholic religious aspect is preserved in Afro-Peruvian communities in coastal Peru, in something called the hatajo de negritos.


And some flamenco, showing not only taconeo but also in the second half, the interplay between singer, dancer, guitarist.

In flamenco, the intent is to express the emotions being created and expressed by the singer and the songs that are being sung.  Many of these songs are about suffering, loss, death, and pain.  Sure, some flamenco forms are upbeat and communicate happiness and a sense of having fun, but these are by no means in the majority.  Plus the intent is to express the inner feelings of the performer (dancer, singer, guitarist), not to provide pleasure to the audience.

And a flamenco dancer having fun.

 The idea is that by reaching deeply into yourself, you also touch a deep part of each individual in the audience.  

OUR NEXT POST will finish up this topic.

Strikes and demonstrations in Spains

Our drama, Domino:  Caught in the Crisis, is not only about the effects of the economic crisis but it also includes some footage of two demonstrations in Spain...in Jerez de la Frontera, to be more specific  This makes me think of strikes and demonstrations in Spain, and how they differ from their counterparts in the United States.

Some of the strikes and demonstrations in Spain are linked to the Movimiento 15-M (Indignados) but more of them are organized by the labor unions, which are pretty powerful.  Yes, May Day in Spain is cause for a big, big celebration (with big, big marches).

Sign on a tent of the Indignados encampment:  "Nothing moves unless you push.  Civil Disobedience Now."

Strikes in Spain are not like the strikes that have come to my attention in the United States.  The strikes I think of from here (both from being physically present when they took place, and from my studies of United States history when I was a graduate student) shut things down, or at least they try to.  There is often a lot of violence and confrontation associated with them, where the police (many times egged on by big capital) go in there with billy clubs, truncheons, rubber bullets and the like and try to break them up.  I also come up with the image of dockworkers on strike generally fighting pretty hard (and pretty violently) against the (violent) "forces of law and order."

The strikes in Spain, however...speaking only from what I personally know...are different.  For example, when I heard that Iberia Airlines planned to be on strike for an entire month last spring, I worried that I wouldn't be able to make it to the festival in Berlin.

The strike was settled before my flight date, but it turns out, I needn't have worried.  "Being on strike" meant that for one day of the week (Mondays), there were almost no flights.  The rest of the week, airplanes left on their normal schedule and on Mondays, I believe that some flights left with either their regular pilots or other, experienced personnel at the controls.

A union building (CGT) last winter.  See translation below.

Translation of signs on the CGT union building:  (on the left) "Ms. Pelayo [the mayor], when will it be?  No pay for four months."  and (on the right) "The struggle is in the street.  Join in the General Strike."  and (below, center) "Unemployment and exploitation:  paternalistic terrorism."

Then, there's the bus strike in Jerez, which has been going on for many months, perhaps even for over a year.  The strike doesn't mean that there are no buses.  It means that they come around less frequently.  It also means that the bus drivers march to city hall every week.  They have marched so often that they decided to liven things up with drummers.  And they have marched so frequently that the drummers have gotten to be pretty good.

Sorry that I have no photos of this.  I never had my still camera with me at the right time.

So what's with the strikes and demonstrations (and there are plenty more beyond the few I´ve mentioned)?

Well, in the case of the bus drivers, the city hasn't paid them their full wages for months and months and months and months.  In fact, last winter, the city didn't pay any of the city workers (except, I think, the administrators) for over three months.  THAT led to city workers camping out in tents in front of city hall.

One of the protestors' tents with City Hall in the background.

As for the Iberia pilots, I think they got paid, but their wages were drastically cut.

My point it that, although I understand things are different in the capitol city of Madrid, and the northern major city of Barcelona, in the south of Spain people are more civil.  They are more patient, if you will.  They are not out to ruin anyone's life, or business, or what have you.  I'll even point out that the degree of violent crime is much, much less in Spain (especially southern Spain) than in the United States.

A more civil, and more civilized, place...even if its financial sector and its administrators are messing things up  (current ones as well as the past ones...but for different reasons).

OUR NEXT POST will be about ... comparing flamenco with tap dance and Afro-Peruvian zapateo.