To Flamencos at AMFDA:

Coming back to Jerez, I feel like a university student who's been away all year and has finally come home to live with Mom and Dad. Everything seems smaller, quainter, familiar and lots easier. I realize that I have built many friendships over the past five years and now there is something about Jerez that really feels like home. I have been welcomed warmly by all my friends Pat who made a chicken dinner the first day, Chacha who watched King Kong with me on her big screen, the Pat from California who lives downstairs and Joanna with the cat-friendly studios for rent. I also have seen many familiar faces at Pena Buleria like Eva who is making a documentary on Ani, Marco the guitarist, Harumi the Japanese flamenco purista and Deborah the doctor from Toronto.

SPANISH MOMENT GOES ON FOR HOURS

But first, I just have to tell you about the Spanish Moment that took me to the brink of my patience. Most of you know me, but for those of you who do not, I am generally a very efficient person who rushes around, multitasks and does a million things at once. Before a trip to Spain I have to mentally prepare myself for MONTHS to live as the Spaniards do. I tell myself "tranquilo Kasandra.no prisa.no pasa nada.no te preoccupes.andando.lento.mas despacio.tranquilo."
Nobody eats on the go, nobody gets coffee to go, no one rushes, no one hurries, no one multitasks, no one tries to do five things at once. Spain is just so Spain! The opposite of Germany! The opposite of Japan!

1:55pm - On Saturday, I caught the 13:55 regional train from Seville to Jerez de la Frontera. From the Santa Justa Station in Sevilla, I called Margarita, my contact for the apartment, to let her know I would be getting to Jerez around 3pm. She told me she didn't have the keys, but to call her brother Alvaro on his cell. Monica and I stayed at Alvaro's apartment in Jerez during the Festival de Jerez, so we are quite familiar with him but I could not get a hold of him for the life of me. So I had to call Margarita again from the Jerez station to let her know I had arrived. She was exasperated and informed me that Alvaro spontaneously drove to Bilbao that morning to meet a girl he met on the internet! Bottom line: She didn't have the keys, he had the keys, so there was no way to let me into the apartment. FINE! I'm in Spain and I half expect these things to happen.despite the fact that I have a written contract for the apartment.despite the fact that I left a 20% deposit.despite the fact that everybody knew I was arriving today. Whatever. Spanish Moment!

3:15pm - Margarita met me at Iglesia del Carmen, near my apartment, and she and her boyfriend Sergio helped me with my big red suitcase, bata-de-cola-in-a-bag and knapsack. She thought it would be best to wait at her mother's house across from the Ayuntamiento, so we climbed the hill to Plaza Platero and rolled our way to her mom's house. From there, she called Carmen el dueno del piso (owner of the apartment) to come back from Sevilla to let me into the apartment. Fine, Carmen said she would be her in two hours to bring the keys. Okeeeeyy. We arrived at Conchi's and she was preparing a lunch, so I was invited to eat with them. SCORE! She served a beautiful salad, solomillo y berengenas (pork and eggplant stew), queso (cheese) and infusion y postres (tea and dessert). It was a huge meal for me, since I've been living on gazpacho in a carton and salad to avoid cooking. So we had a great conversation over lunch and I learned that Margarita's family has a farm in the country and raises chickens and ducks, her dad is an avid hunter, her mother dances Argentinian Tango, her brother spontaneously takes off to meet mysterious women and wants to be a policeman, and she is a rural travel agent for Andalucian provinces. Two hours passed by, but no Carmen. Spanish Time!

5:15pm - We could not wait any longer so Conchi and I went to Carrefour to buy things at the supermarket and bumped into Pat Keith who was buying chicken to make me dinner that night. What a small world! (It is absolutely inevitable to see people you know in Jerez.) Pat originally planned dinner for us at 8pm Canadian Time, but since I could not guestimate a time to get into my apartment, Pat decided to hold off cooking until I arrived since we were functioning on Spanish Time.

6:00pm - Conchi and I went back to her apartment and Margarita said that Carmen was on the highway. So, we decided to do more eating. They made café con leche, pulled out a special Easter dessert (bread in syrup and rum) and chocolates. So we chatted some more, ate some more and drank lots of coffee.

7:00pm - Carmen finally arrives! What was supposed to be two hours turned out to be more like four.but like I said before, we're on Spanish Time here. So we grabbed my big red suitcase, bata-de-cola-in-a-bag, knapsack and four Carrefour grocery bags. Conchi loaded me up with fresh duck eggs and we walked down to the apartment, Casa Cristina. The apartment is very large with a kitchen, living room, tv room, bedroom and bathroom, all for 30 euro per night. The only thing I can't get used to is that it smells like damp or dirt in my washroom. I keep that door shut so the smell doesn't permeate the place. The dropped me off with the keys and I settled in a bit. Wow, it appeared as if I could actually make it for Pat's 8pm Canadian Time dinner! Whoo!

8:15pm - Keys don't work. *(&^%$ I managed to close and lock the front, wrought iron door, but something inside me told me to try opening it "just in case". WELL, the key turns 360 degrees twice in both directions yet the lock does not unlatch. What the? Thank God for cell phones, I called Margarita to let her know I locked myself out. But Margarita told me to run back up to her mom's to catch Carmen who was still there. *&^% So I hightail it back to Conchi's and thank heavens Carmen was still there.

9:00pm - Carmen accompanies me back to the apartment, inserts key, turns clockwise and voila, the door opens. What?! Apparently, the key can be forcibly turned 1 millimetre extra to unlatch the door. (Turning the key counterclockwise 360 degrees is completely useless.)

9:25pm - I finally make it to Pat's apartment for dinner. After 3 months in Spain, she understands about Spanish Moments that last forever. Our 8pm dinner date turned out to be a 10pm dinner date. The smart cookie didn't start cooking till I arrived. We enjoyed an assortment of olives, potato chips with olive oil, rice, chicken and tomatoes. Salud!

FLAMENCO IN JEREZ

I went back to study Bulerias de Jerez from Ana Maria Lopez. All the material slightly evolves each year, with different remates and different marcajes, but the general formula for the class remains the same: ENTRADA - LETRA - DESPLANTE - SALIDA. The class starts at 11am but since we are on Spanish time, no one arrives until 11:20am and then stragglers trickle in an hour later. The class lasts for 3 hours and involves plenty of chaos. For those of you interested in studying Bulerias here, I would recommend this class for intermediate level students who have had some experience dancing in 12. The reason is, a rank beginner will not get much repetition or body work and I do not feel that this is the right course to build a technical foundation. Just the opposite, the course will hone your musical and improvisational skills, and through osmosis, you will absorb the aire and sentimiento that can only be found in Jerez. Palmas, jaleo, cerveza and second hand smoke por la manana...recipe for learning Bulerias. It is a friendly atmosphere with foreigners from all over the world including Canada, US, France, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Israel, etc. Sometimes we even get some Spaniards!

Some days we get a treat and the neighbourhood MUJERES add some spice to our lives! With their morning beer and dressed in regular street clothes they dance very simply but with PLENTY of aire and attitude. We can all learn some serious 'TUDE from these old gals. GUAPA! Dressed in their pumps, tight blue jeans, macrame shawls, thick mascara, dangling earrings and bangles, these women strut into the circle with plenty of hips, floreo and gusto, practising for their next invitation to a wedding or fiesta. What fun they have, as they break into fits of giggles after they get back to their seat and everyone erupts into OLE! This is what bulerias is all about! Que arte!

I would say this Bulerias Circle is the most integrated and real dance experience involving live cante and guitar. Being able to dance solo with cante and guitar is a real luxury. For those discovering the wild frontier of Bulerias, this is a great place to start. For those who have been dancing for years, it is a great place to try out your material...the most valuable thing is listening to the different letras and getting some estilo. There is really something in it for everyone.

For myself personally, I have found returning to Ani's year after year has deepened my understanding of Bulerias por Fiesta. The first couple of years, I was like a kid in a candy store, learning all these ways to do the bulerias step, enter the stage, get off and show off. Every day I would learn multiple choreographies and combinations, and try to be "en compas". She used to tell me, " Tu eres un esponge" --- "You are a sponge", as I would just soak up whatever material she had to give. Five years later, the material is pretty much the same but the arte is about the style and presentation, and being in the moment. Now and then, she tries to trick me with some new letra that I have never heard before. So by listening carefully, I allow myself to be in the moment and my body just responds to the melodies and expresses the cante.

At this level, Ani critiques combinations of pasos/remates used, dance estilo and the expression of the cante. One time, I used a clapping remate to enter before an extended clapping entrada...baaad move! BUSTED BY ANI! "No me gusta, es demasiado ruidoso y corta el paso..." Translation: "I don't like it, it's too loud and it abruptly cuts the paso." Fair enough, Ani! I like getting these personal critiques because I so rarely get them. Just to be a brat, I debated doing some crazy Madrid stuff from the last Joshua Vivanco workshop...how about the heel scraping turn move? Haha! I wonder how that would have gone over with Ani!

I have spent the majority of this visit doing privates with Maria Chacha Bermudez of Sonidos Gitanos. Maria is a very fiery and highly energetic artist, and I chose her to seriously contrast my Sevillan experience at Escuela Matilde Corral. Maria considers her mentor to be El Farruco and her estilo and aire really reflect what the Farruco family embodies. For this flamenco experience, I have tried to abandon being overly analytical and just tried to FEEL. As a Sagittarius with a Virgo uprising, that is easier said than done because I tend to be pretty cerebral and perfectionistic. But Flamenco Puro --- Solea and Solea por Bulerias --- calls for something else, something from your guts not your brain. Over the past several years I have studied with some contemporary flamenco dancers. The rhythm and body movement can get pretty complicated and just downright weird sometimes. You spend all your time analyzing and thinking about it instead of feeling. I have noticed it in a lot of modern shows where the dancers leave you marveling at their genius, "Wow, are they really doing that?" but somehow no OLEs come out of your mouth because there was something missing.Which gets back to the basic question, "What quality in Flamenco attracts you in the first place?"

For me, this experience was about internalizing raw energy and feeling it from your guts. It has been a lot of fun to dance with reckless abandon! I get into the studio, take out my ponytail, shake out my hair and let it fly into my face. Wow, this is liberating and emotionally extremely satisfying. I feel like Tombraider's Lara Croft; poised to challenge, guns at hand and knives in boots. I just wanna KICK some A**! Somehow Maria can bring this quality out in me. She brings to the studio all of her passion and love for flamenco. Her generousity is overwhelming. I will miss her contagious jaleo! Who wouldn't be able to dance like a gypsy with her yelling like that?! She has been to Vancouver and the West Coast to teach workshops before, and with any luck, she will be back to teach another one this Summer 2006. (Check back to the website workshop section for updates.)

That's it for now folks. I will be back at AMFDA on Wednesday May 17th! Only 1.5 more weeks to go! Hasta luego!

Abrazos,
Kasandra

Email: kasandra@mozaicoflamenco.com