Flamenco - what is it? How to learn to dance this dance? Where to dance flamenco in Catalonia

Temperamental, fiery flamenco will not leave anyone indifferent. Your legs will move to the beat of passionate music, and your palms will tap out an expressive rhythm.

Flamenco culture developed in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly in Andalusia. In general, flamenco culture includes musical art. To a large extent, this is guitar, vocal, dance, theater and characteristic style clothes. The term “flamenco” is closely connected with the culture and life of the gypsies; in Andalusia for 150 years it meant precisely this people. There are other versions of this term: in Spanish, flamenco, in addition to gypsies, also meant “Fleming” and “flamingo”. A possible version of the origin of the term is from the Latin flamma - fire. Obviously, each interpretation partially corresponds to the truth, and, collected together, they create a holistic image of the entire flamenco culture.

History of the dance

For a long time, the gypsies were considered the only carriers of flamenco culture. They arrived in Spain in the 15th century from Byzantium, and began to absorb the local traditions of music and dance. And in Spain there was a strong influence of Arab and Moorish culture. So, the gypsies, having absorbed Spanish, Arabic, Jewish traditions, and combining them with their own original culture, they created such a unique phenomenon as flamenco. They lived in closed, isolated groups, and for a long period flamenco was an isolated art. But in the 18th century, with the end of the persecution of the Gypsies, flamenco “came to freedom” and immediately gained popularity.

In the 20th century, flamenco was enriched with Cuban traditions and jazz variations. Spanish movements classical dance also began to be used in flamenco culture. Now flamenco enjoys well-deserved popularity: it is danced by professionals and amateurs, flamenco festivals are regularly held, and there are numerous schools of this type of dance.

What is flamenco?

All Spanish dances are based on folk art. Flamenco dances are often performed to the accompaniment of castanets, hand claps - palmas, and blows on a percussion box (cajon). It is impossible to imagine flamenco without traditional attributes - a long dress, a fan, and sometimes a shawl, which the dancer either wraps around her waist or untwists. An indispensable moment of the dance is the dancer’s play with the hem of her dress. This movement reminds me of of gypsy origin flamenco.

The melody of a Spanish dance is quite often in 3/4 time signature, but can also be in a bipartite 2/4 or 4/4 time signature. Flamenco is characterized by the movements of sapadeado - tapping the rhythm with heels, pitos - snapping the fingers, palmas - clapping the palms. Many flamenco performers refuse castanets, as they do not provide the opportunity to fully express the expressiveness of their hands. Hands work very actively in Spanish dance. They give the dance expressiveness and grace. The movement of the floreo - turning the brush with its opening - is simply mesmerizing. It resembles a flower that gradually blooms.

Kinds

Under common name flamenco combines many Spanish dances, including allegrias, farruca, garrotine, bulleria and others. There are many styles of flamenco, differing in rhythmic patterns. The most famous of them:

• Palos
• Fandango
• Solea
• Segiriyya

The cantre flamenco style includes dancing, singing, and playing the guitar.

The art of flamenco, being synthetic, uniting the culture of East and West, has influenced the formation of musical and dance styles around the world. Formed modern views flamenco:

• gypsy rumba
• flamenco-pop
• flamenco-jazz
• flamenco rock and others.

Features of flamenco

Flamenco dance and music are characterized by improvisation. Complex rhythmic patterns, abundance of melismas and variations make accurate musical notation and recording difficult dance moves. Therefore, in the art of flamenco, an important role is assigned to the teacher, through whom the original culture is passed on from generation to generation. Flamenco influenced Latin American music and jazz. Modern choreographers and choreographers see in the art of flamenco great scope for self-realization and the introduction of new ideas.

Flamenco. Battle and Passion

Beats on dark shoulders

flock of black butterflies.

White Snakes of the Mist

the trail is covered.

She walks as a prisoner of rhythm,

Which is impossible to reach

With longing in a silver heart,

With a dagger in a silver sheath.

Where are you going, Sigiriya,

The agony of the singing body?

What kind of moon did you bequeath

The sadness of oleanders and chalk?

What might be remarkable for us in the 15th century? The collapse of Byzantium and, as a consequence, the resettlement of the Roma. Many of them remained on the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish province of Andalusia is the place where local musical traditions were reinterpreted by newcomers - and was born.

What is flamenco? A Spanish woman wrapped in a manton - a Spanish shawl with very long tassels - and holding a large fan in her hands, or a Spaniard beating the zapateado (Spanish - with his heels) under measured clapping of his palms - on one side. Guitarist and singer - on the other. To understand flamenco, you need to know its language. Every movement, every sound means something. Do not believe those who believe that flamenco can be learned by anyone and in any conditions. Flamenco needs to be felt. Flamenco needs to be understood. Flamenco needs to live.

N There is no exact musical notation of the melodies, no complete description of the dance: the gypsies had no need to create such clues. They pass on their experience from master to student. Flamenco cannot be non-gypsy. For flamenco there are no boundaries. When gypsy soul sings in Spanish, then crowds dance flamenco on the street. The main thing is to feel the rhythm of the heels, put them on your palm castanets - and plunge into spanish world. Flamenco has no written rules. In dance, you can be anyone, even the partner of Joaquin Cortez, the most popular flamenco dancer today and the Roma ambassador to the EU. Even if you don’t have a traditional manton on. Castanets, a fan and the Spanish soul are more important. The great cantaor Manuel Torres once said to a singer: “ Duende - this is the invisible force that helps bring art to the audience.” This is difficult to understand, as is all flamenco. Flamenco can be felt, but cannot be explained.

Duende is the soul. Soul is flamenco."

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF FLAMENCO

F Lamenko(flamenco)- a traditional music and dance style originating from Spain. Flamenco as a musical style includes many genres that are song and dance or song forms.

With tili (palos) differ in rhythmic pattern. Many rhythms one of characteristic features flamenco. The most popular palos are tones, solea, fandango and Seguiriya (Tona, Solea, Fandango, Seguiriya)- belong to the category cante jondo.T Dances and flamenco songs are usually accompanied by guitar and percussion: rhythmic clapping (palmas), playing the cajon; sometimes - castanets.

The main elements in flamenco culture are vocal and dance art. Until recently, guitar accompaniment in flamenco played a purely subordinate role. Currently, flamenco includes poetry, painting, performing arts, customs, jargon, clothing style.

Hurry, hurry quickly! Christ dark-faced from the lilies of our native Galilee came for Spanish cloves. Hurry up quickly! Spain. In the frosted sky light and deserted. Tired rivers dry and ringing clay. Christ is sharp-cheeked and dark-skinned walks past the towers charred strands and his white pupil is terrible. Hurry, hurry for our Lord!

Flamenco arose from five centuries of interaction between Romani and southern Spanish traditions. The main speakers of flamenco are Andalusian gypsies living in small groups in certain neighborhoods of a number of cities. AFlamenco, or rather, its most ancient core, cante jondo, first appeared in Lower Andalusia, or rather in three cities: Moron de la Frontera, Jerez de la Frontera And Vida.
From these three points, cante jondo began to spread further in four directions:

1. towards the city of Moron Lucena, that is, in the direction of the provinces of Cordoba and Jaén;
2. towards Malaga, Almeria and the Levant coast;
3. to Seville and Huelva;
4. to lands near Seville and Cadiz.

Further, cante jondo spread all the way to the cities of Mancha Castellana and Extremadura de Badajoz, captured a large part of the southern coast of Portugal, and mid-19th century reached Madrid and Barcelona, ​​which are now also the largest centers of this music. The main zone of modern flamenco distribution is Lower Andalusia-, that is, the province of Cadiz and the southern part of the province of Seville. In this small territory, 80% of all genres and forms of flamenco arose, and primarily the most ancient ones - tones, sigiriya, solea, saeta. Cante jondo remains there today, retaining all its depth and musical characteristics. There is a larger area surrounding this main flamenco area. "aflamencada"- with a strong flamenco influence: the provinces of Huelva, Cordoba, Malaga, Granada, Almeria, Jaén and Murcia. Here the main genre of flamenco is fandango with its many varieties (verdiales, rondeña, malagueña, granadina, etc.)

F lamenco, Spanish gypsies, is rapidly turning into a form of Russian popular culture. Richer people even go to Spain to study it. The poorer ones are content with taking lessons in the local dance studios.

What happened, why suddenly the residents and residents of Russian cities - and not some unsettled ones, but on the contrary, perfectly adapted, with a reliable social status and a good income - are carried away by the dance of the Spanish outcasts, vagabonds, outcasts and persecuted?

Didn’t Kozma Prutkov scoff at such a “desire to be a Spaniard” back in the century before last?! “Give me Seville, give me a guitar, give me Inesil, a couple of castanets...” And then, they say, real life will begin!.. Spicy! Hot!

Exotic fashion? The one that puts bored European city dwellers on a par with the love for oriental dance belly and diving, to Japanese cuisine in sushi bars and Celtic music? But why, out of all the variety of foreign and exotic things, does fashion choose this particular one?

Modern lovers explain their passion for this dance very simply. It gives them opportunities for self-expression that none of the other forms available to them can provide. current culture. Well, emancipation, of course... Bank employees and employees of law firms, businessmen and law enforcement officers, shackled in Everyday life into a multitude of disciplinary rules, they finally get the opportunity to release and express their inner excess in movement. Anxiety. Anxiety. Longing. Passion. Everything that does not dare fit into the framework of their boiled and packaged existence. Once you dance it all out, it will be easier...

Modern man, at least since the time of Freud, has become accustomed to the idea that he is being burst open destructive forces, inappropriate in our culture and civilization. From infancy he was taught to suppress and tame them. True, from time to time they break out (war, family scandals and quarrels, nervous breakdowns and mental illnesses...) This means that every culture has to constantly re-create and with great effort maintain different techniques for protecting a person from himself. In some cultures it is a religion. In ours, in my opinion, there are conversations in the kitchen with friends, diaries and poems written “for the table”... From the non-verbal - well, perhaps sports, alcohol and tobacco, walking along the streets...

Dance is a much more powerful means. If only because it is rhythmic. It differs from exhausting an unsettled soul by wandering the streets, like poetry from prose. In it, the soul is fascinated by the rhythms of its own body. It is not for nothing that flamenco is compared to shamanism and mysticism.

In dance, body and soul, nature and culture forget that they are different: they merge with each other, express themselves in each other. Apart from dance, this is only possible in love.

But in its essence and origins, the dance is terrible, “deep”. On the verge of life and death. They say that those who have experienced trouble, loss, or collapse can truly dance it. Trouble exposes the nerves of life. Flamenco is a dance of naked nerves. And it is accompanied in the Spanish tradition by cante jondo - “deep singing”. Shouting out the roots of the soul. " Black sound". As if not quite music.

At the same time, flamenco is a dance that is regulated in detail, strict, complete

Conventional, even ceremonial.

F lamenco - dance of the lonely. Perhaps the only one folk dance, in which you can do without a partner. Furious passion merged in it with the strictest chastity: a flamenco dancer does not dare to touch his partner even by accident. This riot, this improvisation requires the greatest training of bodily and mental muscles, the most precise discipline. Some even believe that flamenco is not erotic at all. It is a dialogue, a dispute, a rivalry between two principles of life - male and female.

Dance your partner. Dance it to death. Flamenco transforms, turns into art exactly what is set in our culture-civilization as strict, merciless rules of life. Pressure Aggression. Rivalry. Discipline. Loneliness...

Flamenco originated in Andalusia under the influence of the cultures of peoples who coexisted on the same territory for centuries - Arab, Jewish, Christian and Gypsy. Echoes of African culture also reached the south of the Iberian Peninsula, mixing Negro rhythms with Andalusian ones.

On the tower

The weather vane rotates.

Rotates day by day

rotates at night,

spins forever.

Oh, somewhere a lost village

in my Andalusia

tearful...

For most “non-Spaniards” the classic image of Spain is associated with Andalusia. Sombrero with wide brim, colorful dresses with frills, bright flower in hair and passionate dancing. But after listening to what is sung in flamenco, we will see that at its core this music is dark and dramatic, and folklore image Andalusian dancer - only its external, festive side. The land where flamenco originated is a far cry from the cheerful Andalusia depicted on souvenir shop postcards.

F lamenco is the ancient art of burning the dark. In the Andalusian song, nostalgia merges with lyrical protest against injustice and oppression. The Arabs were expelled from Spain in 1492; Jews, of whom there were about 100 thousand in Spain in the 5th century, were forced to convert to the Christian faith in order not to be persecuted; Gypsies, eternal nomads who were persecuted, along with their simple belongings, carried with them the traditions of singing and dancing. Each of these peoples, at a certain point in history, lost their empire and were forced to adapt to new living conditions, accept someone else's faith, forget their favorite traditions, and merge with another culture. Their music became a hidden protest against injustice, a complaint about fate; their songs spoke about the gloomy reality of life. Flamenco is more than music. This is a whole worldview, an attitude towards life. You don't have to be a flamenco artist to belong to this world. Flamenco is, first of all, everything that is colored with strong emotions and emotional experiences.

Dagger

sharp blade

will enter the heart,

how the plow goes in

into a scorched meadow.

No,

don't pierce my heart

No.

Dagger,

like a ray of sunshine, it will light

oscillating wave

the depth of my soul.

No,

don't pierce my heart

No.

The main categories of the population of Andalusia at that time were the nobility, the clergy, the bourgeoisie, artisans, workers, gypsies, as well as a layer that was in its welfare at the lowest social level, consisting mainly of beggars and vagabonds. Villagers actively moved to the city, mainly due to the disastrous state of the villages, crushed by the rich nobility and plunged into poverty. In this atmosphere, flamenco gained strength and began to gain popularity, but until the last third of the 19th century it was not a national treasure and did not enjoy fame outside a narrow circle of amateurs.

About the home of flamenco was the house. In traditional Spanish housing, all apartments were built around a common courtyard. (patio), which was a kind of center of the whole house. This layout implied fairly close communication between neighbors, who were often members of the same big family or clan. Inside the house, the patio was a place where holidays were celebrated and the secrets of singing were passed on.

All this happened in a limited circle of relatives, so many of the most significant names in flamenco are family dynasties, where the secrets of mastery were passed on from generation to generation. Music was perceived as a dialogue, communication, which explains its improvisational nature. Dialogue between two cantaors, cantaor and guitarist, song and dance.

Gradually, life spent on the patio moved more and more to the street, for example, during the celebration of weddings, baptisms and other events. In some gypsy settlements these flamenco fiestas " took on their own appearance. They took place outside the city, in temporary gypsy settlements. Apart from members of the same family, they were sometimes open to a wider public, where the cantaores gained fame by demonstrating their abilities and their individual style of performance. Having gone beyond the family circle, flamenco begins to penetrate other areas of Andalusian society. Famous cantaors and bailaors begin to take part in home fiestas.

At the end of the 18th century, flamenco was already heard in taverns and inns along the Andalusian roads. In Seville and Jerez, holidays dedicated to the patron saint of the city or region were the occasion for a flamenco fiesta, not to mention the fact that in taverns you could always listen to a cantaor or perform a song between two glasses. Singing was as natural for people as talking. Flamenco was already so widespread that the owners of some establishments began to impose bans on the performance of songs there; in some places one could see a poster “Singing and dancing is prohibited.” ). Flamenco became popular among the general public with the advent of special artistic cafes in which flamenco performers performed. The first such cafe was opened in Seville in 1842, others followed, and by the 70s of the 19th century, numerous “cantante cafes” were created in the cities of Seville, Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa -Maria, Malaga, Granada, Cartagena, La Union, and after them outside Andalusia - in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao.

E poha café cantante is considered the golden age. Then the greatest creators of flamenco shone. Everything that was created then is a standard; everything that was created later is no longer considered pure. But despite the heyday that flamenco reached in the middle of the 19th century, by the end of the century, cantante cafes began to decline. Gradually, a situation began to develop in which the greatest income was generated by the cafe whose clients themselves dictated the repertoire. The principle “he who pays calls the tune” began to apply, and eventually the café cantante’s repertoire began to be limited. The themes of the songs began to boil down to the most popular among cafe visitors - about love and death. The aesthetic content of cante jondo songs began to decline, sometimes descending to outright vulgarity. Cante jondo ceases to be the voice of the soul, but begins to depend on the interests of the one who pays. The time is passing when the cantaor owed only himself and his heart; now his repertoire is subordinate to his profession. The lyrics of flamenco songs turn into a continuous melodrama about unhappy love. Kantaors learn to put on a mask and fake their passion and pain. But still, these cafes big cities were neither the best nor the only ones. Still preservedplaces where the true tradition of cante jondo continued to sound. Many performers sought to maintain the purity of the style. They were not professionals and reserved their skills only for themselves and a narrow circle of connoisseurs. These were people who believed that cante jondo could not exist in a café or on a tablao. Many professionals sought to attend such small evenings to learn the secrets of these modest maestros. A real flamenco fiesta, where no outside audience was present, usually took place in some tavern, where the participants gathered, drank wine, sang and danced. Even if there was no guitar at hand, the cantaores sang to the rhythm of their heels and handclaps. In such places and in this atmosphere, true cante jondo was preserved, and its strength lay in the cantaor’s ability to enjoy his singing himself and convey all its depth to the listeners, while giving a part of himself. Thanks to such cantaores, cante jondo has been preserved in its original, “primitive” form to this day.

Talk about the revival of flamenco began in 1922, when, on the initiative of the composer Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca, the Cante Jondo Festival was organized in Granada. The goal of the festival was to collect authentic cante jondo tunes, discover new talents and revive interest in this ancient art. Professionals were not allowed to participate, since the main thing was to find samples that were truly folk art, to show the audience the true spirit of flamenco, rather than a polished performance.
The Spaniards were urged not to confuse the greatest treasure of cante jondo with tavern singing and revelry, to think about its fate and make every effort to save it, since neither in feeling, nor in intensity, nor in tone in Spain there is anything equal to these songs.

DUENDE FLAMENCO

Carmen dances in Seville

by the chalk-blue walls,

and Carmen’s pupils are hot,

and her hair is snow white.

Girls, close the shutters

don't look.

The snake in the hair turns yellow,

and as if from afar

dancing, the past rises

and raves about old love.

Girls, close the shutters

don't look.

The courtyards of Seville are deserted,

and in their depths of evening

Andalusian hearts dream

Traces of forgotten thorns.

Girls, close the shutters

Don't look.

D uende is the soul of flamenco performance, without which this art becomes impossible. This word is of Spanish origin, literally it is translated as “spirit”, “invisibility”, “brownie”, but in relation to art it acquired a different meaning, and could be translated, rather, as “feeling”, “fire” or “magic” . We say “There is no fire in it”, in Spain “No tiene duende”. Flamenco artists know well that their art will not reach the soul if it does not have this fire. Anyone who has seen true flamenco will never confuse it with a fake. The performer must be inspired, must have a special state of mind, and whether the song will reach the souls of the listeners depends on his emotional state. In addition, flamenco is an improvisational genre, and improvisation is impossible without inspiration. This is why in many recordings made in the studio, this "feeling" is lost, because it cannot be repeated or imitated. One flamenco cantaor Jose de los Reyes El Negro talked about the need to feel the moment when it will be possible to sing the best way, giving the best part of yourself to the song. He once admitted that while in the studio while recording his album, he could not “get into the situation”, which means he could not sing “for his own pleasure” simply because he was warned: "When the red light comes on, start singing!" Another outstanding cantaor " old school“Antonio Mairena said that his recordings “no valen na” are worth nothing, because they are “morning recordings”, and special inspiration came to him only at night.

If cante flamenco is an expression of what can be felt but cannot be explained, then duende is the force that helps bring this art to listeners. This concept can apply not only to flamenco, but also to any other art. Goethe defined duende this way, speaking about Paganini: "A mysterious force that everyone feels and no philosopher can explain." The Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca creates a whole theory of duende, personifying it and endowing it with demonic traits. He says that duende is possible in any art, but “he has more space in music, dance and oral poetry, which need to be embodied in a living human body.”

The concept of "duende" has long existed in Spain. Duende is a demon who turns song into magic and dance into shamanism. This is the soul of flamenco, without which it does not exist. Lorca says that Spanish art "Initially the tart duende, unbridled and lonely, rules."

"Once upon a time, the Andalusian singer Pastora Pavon, the Girl with the Combs, a gloomy Spanish spirit with a fantasy to match Goya or Rafael El Gallo, sang in one of the taverns of Cadiz. She played with her dark voice, mossy, shimmering, fusible, like tin, wrapped it in strands of hair, bathed it in manzanilla, led it into the distant wilderness. And all in vain. There was silence all around...
...Only a malicious little man, like those springy little devils that jump out of a bottle, said in a low voice: “Long live Paris!” - and this sounded: “We don’t need any inclinations or training. We need something else.” And then the Girl with the Crests jumped up, wild as an ancient mourner, drank a glass of fiery casaglia in one gulp and sang, with a scorched throat, without breath, without a voice, without anything, but... with duende. She knocked out all the supports from the song to give way to the violent, burning duende, brother of the samoom, and he forced the audience to tear their clothes, as the Antillean blacks tear them in a trance before the image of Saint Barbara."

Lorca distinguishes three principles in art, personifying them in the images of “angel”, “muse” and “duende”. An angel illuminates, overshadows with grace, and a person creates without effort. The muse dictates, inspires. Duende is not just inspiration, it is a force with which one must fight. The muse and the angel descend, the duende must be awakened himself. “The approach of the duende marks a break in the canon and an unprecedented, unimaginable freshness - it, like a blooming rose, like a miracle, awakens almost religious delight. The duende sweeps away the cozy, rigid geometry, breaks the style; it was he who forced Goya, the master of silver, gray and pink tints English school, rub black varnish into the canvases with your knees and fists..." Comparing flamenco with ballet, the Spanish dancer Susana said that, unlike ballet, in flamenco no one stops dancing early; there is no age limit in this art. And people dance in flamenco not because the curtain is raised or a number is announced, but because “I want it now!”, because an internal need arises.

D uende turns dance more into shamanism, into magic; there is something primitive in this, coming from ancient ritual dances. "Once upon a time on dance competition in Jerez de la Frontera, the first prize from young beauties with ebullient bodies like water was snatched by an eighty-year-old old woman - just by the way she raised her arms, threw back her head and hit the stage with her heel. But all these muses and angels who smiled and captivated could not help but give in and gave in to the half-dead duende, who was barely dragging the rusty blades of his wings."

"There is only one duende he is not capable of - repetition.

Duende does not repeat itself, like the appearance of a stormy sea."

Begins

Guitar cry.

Breaks

Cup of the morning.

Begins

Guitar cry.

Oh don't expect it from her

Silence,

Don't ask her

Silence!

Tirelessly

The guitar is crying

Like water through canals, it cries.

Like the winds over the snow, she cries,

Don't beg her to remain silent!

So the sunset cries for the dawn,

So an arrow without a target cries,

So the hot sand cries

About the cool beauty of camellias.

This is how a bird says goodbye to life

Under threat of a snake's sting.

Oh guitar

Poor victim

Five agile daggers!

Solea

Dressed in a black dress the whole world seems small to her, and the heart is immensely large. Dressed in a black dress. It seems to her that there are bitter moans and tender passionate sighs they will drown in the flow of wind. Dressed in a black dress. The balcony remained open and through the balcony railings - the dawn is pouring across the sky. Ay-yay-yay-yay-yay, dressed in a black dress!

In the garden of the peteneurs

In the night of the garden, whitewashed with chalk, six gypsies are dancing in white. In the night of the garden... Roses and poppies in their painted wreaths paper. In the night of the garden... Like the flame of candles, dusk burns pearl teeth. In the night of the garden, After one another, the shadows rise of the sky reaching.

Poems used from a collection of Spanish poetry:

Gabriel Garcia Lorca

POEMS ABOUT CANT HONDO:

Poem about the gypsy sigiriya

Poem of Solea

Poem about Saet

Silhouette of peteneras

Having captured once, flamenco does not let go. And the duende, the spirit of flamenco, probably entered into me, sometimes forcing me to make a characteristic hand gesture, to clap dance rhythm and constantly inserting descriptions of Spanish flamenco into everything I write. Here are a few excerpts from works written at different times.

Two episodes from the novel " Shakti"

Part one Mother and son. Gypsy fate. (fragments)

« One of her acquaintances got her a job at the famous Malagueña cafe, at first as a simple dish cleaner. Pilar walked between the tables with a cart on which she collected dirty plates and glasses. Over a black dress with a fluffy gathered skirt, her most elegant one, she wore a red apron, and tied her head with a white cambric scarf with lace, tying a knot at the back under the braids. Her braids were thick and ended at her knees. She looked with envy at the girls who came to the cafe accompanied by men in good suits. They had fashionable short, curly hairstyles, colorful dresses with short sleeves and lace collars, and elegant high-heeled shoes on their feet. The men accompanying them were artists, and more often musicians, and they came to listen to the famous Andalusian songs sung by Manuel Retana, better known as Manolo. After his songs, flamenco dancers performed. When the visitors, having forgotten about food and full glasses of wine, began to enthusiastically beat out the rhythm with their palms, encouraging the dancers with shouts of “Ole!”, Pilar could not resist and also beat out the rhythm with the heels of her rough leather shoes.

One day the music suddenly stopped, she finished an intricate routine in complete silence and became embarrassed by everyone's attention. "Hey, let the girl dance!" - shouted a tipsy visitor, and he was supported from other tables. "Go!" - the owner pushed her out, reasoning that if she didn’t succeed, he would simply amuse the audience. Pilar took off her headscarf and, shaking her braids, went out onto the platform, putting on castanets as she went. "What should you play?" - the guitarist asked, and she shrugged: “Whatever you want!” The guitarists started playing the then popular “Malageña”. Pilar danced the way her grandmother taught her: keeping her back straight and her head turned proudly. She danced without city frills, like a real Andalusian gypsy. Gradually the hall froze, captivated. Then a short, strong man suddenly jumped out onto the dais and began to dance with her the way peasants dance in small villages of Andalusia, simply, without any pretense, chastely and passionately. Pilar's heels echoed the castanets, her hands flew up smoothly like wings, her fingers opened like a magic flower, her face was almost stern, and when they finished dancing, there was silence in the hall for a while, and then applause was heard.

The man grabbed her hand and asked without any preamble: “Will you go with my theater around the country?” She looked at him in amazement and shook her head. But she did not forget this dance with the famous poet, remembering for the rest of her life his cheerful eyes and round smiling face, his strong body of an Andalusian peasant and graceful hands. Then Pilar found out who he was and what his name was, read his poems and cried with delight and regret about unfulfilled dreams. And watching his plays in the theater, she dreamed of playing in them herself and dancing flamenco. Meanwhile, she continued to work in the cafe, collecting dirty dishes, then she was transferred to a waitress. But sometimes, when connoisseurs gathered in a cafe, she was asked to dance, and she danced to the rhythmic clapping of palms."

part four. Witch Dreams. (fragment)

“... - Tomorrow I will tell you the story of how I found lost family, now let's celebrate my return to my father's house after so many years! Over the years, generations have died and been born, our parents, Pablo and Maria, are gone, my beloved grandmother Pilar is gone, but our children and grandchildren make us happy that our family continues and will never dry up! Tomorrow we will all go to the cathedral to pray to the Virgin Mary for this.

You said it well senior woman sort of! - Fernando said.

What, Fernando, are you still the best flamenco dancer? - asked the grandmother, smiling slyly.

Bring the guitars,” he grinned smugly in response, “Maria, granddaughter, come here, sing us a song about the death of the dove.”

Pilar frowned, but when Maria sang a gypsy ballad in a clear, low, slightly guttural voice, she closed her eyes and immersed herself in the melody familiar from childhood. Fifteen-year-old Pilar, Jose's granddaughter, came out to the middle of the terrace amid the plucking of guitars and began to dance, intently following the rhythm and waving the edge short skirt, not quite suitable for this. She was replaced by old Fernando, and Inga suddenly realized that at seventy-five years old he was very young. The flexible body turned gracefully in place, bending like a bullfighter letting a bull pass with the swing of a red muleta. A click of heels on the stone tiles of the floor - and again a smooth turn, bending slightly, as it seems - a centimeter from the deadly horns. Inga looked, leaning forward, and heard Ilya’s enthusiastic breathing behind her. Fernando made a subtle movement with his hand and, obeying him, Grandma Pilar rose from her seat. Keeping her back even straighter than always, she walked towards Fernando, smoothly swaying her hips and clapping her handsleft ear. And suddenly her hands, like the wings of a flying bird, made a wide sweep and connected above her head, and then opened up like a bizarre magical flower. Now everyone was clapping, creating a whimsical rhythm, the guitars wove their script into it, and the heels of the grandmother’s expensive dress sandals loudly beat out another melody. All this hypnotized Inga, just as a dull and steady drumbeat can hypnotize. Everything was boiling inside her, and the blood in her temples echoed the rhythmic clapping. When Pilar sat down on a chair, not at all out of breath, young Paco came into the circle. It was here that Inga’s heart started beating like a hammer, the sight was amazing. His body seemed tense, like a string, and relaxed at the same time, it flowed and shimmered in movement, remaining the restrained, even stern body of a Spanish man. It was almost unbearably perfect. Inga caught her breath. Paco caught the look of her widened eyes and, without looking away from him, danced further only for Inga. It was so beautiful that she gasped in excitement and did not feel Ilya’s hand squeezing her elbow. She came to her senses when old man Jose sang, in a slightly cracked voice, a drawn-out song with a complex rhythm and recitatives. Inga noticed that she continued to stare into Paco’s eyes, became embarrassed and, smiling, looked away. An unfamiliar elderly woman called the girls over with a nod, and now they put the treat on the table and filled everyone’s mugs with wine again.”

“Let’s dance, Betsy, let’s dance!” ( fragment)

“Our film is successfully shown in Europe. At the end of April, Vittorio, Francesco and Giancarlo Fiori, who played the main male role, and I are flying to Spain. While the competitive screenings are going on, Francesco and I are going to Granada for a few days. He had long dreamed of seeing real flamenco dancing. Francesco was expected in early May in Paris, where I arranged an internship for him. These days before parting are wonderful. Granada is a fantastic city, and we admire it all our free time, which is not much.

We spend whole days in studios where flamenco is taught, and in taverns where amateur dancers gather. This is incredibly interesting, I sit with my mouth open, watching how Spanish women easily beat out one rhythm with castanets, another with the heels of leather shoes, and their legs and bodies obey the mysterious ancient canons, which in total gives a surprisingly harmonious, restrained and fiery dance at the same time, more beautiful which I haven't seen. Francesco is immediately accepted as one of their own, patting him on the shoulder respectfully when he repeats after them the most complex rhythmic movements. These dances are such a wonderful sight that I meekly sit for hours with a cup of coffee and a mug of red and thick wine with a tart and exciting aroma, watching the dancers. I have never seen anything more beautiful than a dancing Spanish man. Their grace of a wild beast and restrained masculinity, suddenly exploding with indomitable temperament, attracts the eye and makes some string tremble in the depths of the chest. All this imprints on us sensuality and Spanish madness and gives a special touch to our nights. Either having learned courageous perseverance from dancing, or realizing the inevitability of separation, Francesco suddenly turns into an extraordinary lover."

Flamenco is the national Spanish dance. But this is too simple and exaggerated a definition, because flamenco is passion, fire, bright emotions and drama. It is enough to see the spectacular and expressive movements of the dancers once to forget about keeping track of time. And the music... This is a separate story... Let's not bore you - it's time to plunge into the history and specifics of this dance.

The history of flamenco: the pain of exiled peoples

The official date of birth of flamenco is 1785. It was then that Juan Ignacio Gonzalez del Castillo, a Spanish playwright, first used the word "flamenco". But these are formalities. In fact, the history of this trend goes back more than 10 centuries, during which the culture of Spain changed and developed with the participation of other nationalities. We invite you to feel the atmosphere of bygone years in order to better feel the energy and character of the dance.

Our story begins back in 711 in ancient Andalusia, located in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Now it is an autonomous Spanish community, but then power on this land belonged to the Visigoths, an ancient Germanic tribe. Tired of the arbitrariness of the ruling elite, the population of Andalusia turned to Muslims for help. So the peninsula was conquered by the Moors or Arabs who came from North Africa.

For more than 700 years, the territory of ancient Spain was in the hands of the Moors. They managed to turn her into the most beautiful European country. People from all over the continent flocked here to admire the magnificent architecture, learn about science and understand the sophistication of oriental poetry.

The development of music does not stand aside either. Persian motifs begin to take over the minds of the inhabitants of Andalusia, forcing them to change their musical and dance traditions. Huge role it featured Abu al-Hasan Ali, a Baghdad musician and poet. Art critics see in his work the first traces of flamenco and give him the right to be considered the father of Andalusian music.

In the 15th century, Christian states located in the northern part of the peninsula began to displace the Arabs. Where the Spanish Moors disappeared is a mystery that historians are not yet able to solve. Despite this, eastern culture became part of the worldview of the people who inhabited Andalusia. But for the emergence of flamenco, the suffering of another ethnic group persecuted around the world is not enough - the gypsies.

Tired of constant wandering, the gypsies came to the peninsula in 1425. These lands seemed like paradise to them, but the local authorities disliked the foreigners and persecuted them. Everything associated with the gypsies was considered criminal, including dancing and music.

Bloody persecution did not prevent gypsy folklore from uniting with eastern traditions, which by that time had already taken root among the local population of Andalusia. It is from this moment that flamenco begins to emerge - at the junction of several cultures.

Where does history take us next? To Spanish taverns and pubs. This is where the local population begins to perform sensual dance, attracting more and more curious eyes to him. For now, flamenco exists only for a narrow circle of people. But around the middle of the 19th century, the style took to the streets. Street performances or fiestas are no longer complete without passionate and emotional flamenco dance moves.

And then a professional stage awaits the dance. Flamencologists note that the genre peaked in the second half of the 19th century, when the Spanish population was crazy about the work of singer Silverio Franconetti. But the age of dance was fleeting. By the end of the century, flamenco had become a common form of entertainment in the eyes of young people. The history of dance, filled with suffering and pain of various nationalities, has remained in the background.

The musician Federico García Lorca and the poet Manuel de Falla did not allow flamenco to be equated with low-grade art and to allow the genre to leave the cozy streets of Spain forever. With their easy support, the first festival of Andalusian folk singing took place in 1922, where melodies beloved by many Spaniards were played.

The six-string guitar is the national Spanish instrument, without which flamenco performance is unthinkable.

Traditional woman suit flamenco performers - a long floor-length dress or bata de cola. Its mandatory elements are a tight-fitting bodice, many frills and flounces along the edge of the skirt and sleeves. Due to the peculiarities of the cut, spectacular movements are obtained during the dance. Doesn't remind you of anything? The clothes were borrowed from gypsies and became a symbol of femininity and attractiveness.

Flamenco is involuntarily associated with the color red. But professional dancers see this only national stereotype. Where did the myth of the red dance come from? From the name of the style. Translated from Latin, “flamma” means flame, fire. These concepts are invariably associated with shades of red. Parallels are also drawn with flamingos, whose name is so consonant with a passionate dance.

Another stereotype is associated with castanets. This percussion instrument in the form of two concave plates, which are put on the hands. Yes, their sound can be clearly heard during the dance. Yes, dancers use them. But in traditional flamenco, girls’ hands should be free. Where did the tradition of dancing with castanets come from then? Thanks to the public, who enthusiastically accepted the use of this musical instrument.

The nature of the style largely determines the dancers' shoes. The toe and heel of the shoes are specially tacked with small nails in order to obtain a characteristic sound when performing the roll. It’s not for nothing that flamenco is considered a prototype tap dancers.

The Spanish city of Seville is considered one of the most significant in the development of flamenco. There is a museum dedicated to this dance here. It was opened by Cristina Hoyos, a famous dancer. This city is also popular thanks to its literary characters: Don Quixote And Carmen.

With the names of which dancers is flamenco associated? These are, of course, Antonia Merce i Luca, Carmen Amaya, Mercedes Ruiz and Magdalena Seda.

Flamenco is a Spanish musical style that combines singing (usually few words in songs), dance and musical accompaniment(usually danced to the accompaniment of a guitar, clapping and heeling are performed according to a predetermined tempo).

What is flamenco?

Today, Spanish flamenco dance is very popular. Many true connoisseurs of flamenco have come up with many branches and variations in its style.
It was shaped by the rich historical heritage to which Spanish soil was exposed. Arabs, Byzantines, Hindus and Greeks, Gypsies and Spaniards have minted aspects and images of flamenco for centuries.
The history of flamenco goes back to the distant past - about 500 years ago. But the gypsies played a special role. In the 15th century they arrived on the Iberian Peninsula from Asia. Having settled in the historical region of Andalusia, the Byzantine gypsies mixed with the local population over many years.
Since the gypsies are famous for their ability to sing and dance, some of the gypsy music and dance was mixed with Spanish, which eventually grew into something similar to today's flamenco. But only after 3 centuries in this style a guitar was added, without which today's flamenco is unthinkable.
Spain is always open to tourists and travelers who are partial to music, dancing and singing. This country can truly amaze with its charm and charm, and ancient folklore can lure you headlong into the pool of passion and madness, because flamenco is not just a dance, it is folklore mixed with music, as well as the feelings of the dancer and his soul.

Where can you see flamenco in Spain?

Spain provides the opportunity to see a live dance performance (you can also try all the variety):

• Twice a year, the festival is called “Bienal de Flamenco” (free admission). The festival lasts 28 days. The history of this festival goes back 35 years, but it has already gained popularity in many corners of the Earth as the most luxurious and grandiose flamenco festival in Spain;
• In addition to the festival in Seville, in local tablaos (a tablao is a bar where flamenco dance is performed), you can experience flamenco at any time of the year. The most popular tablaos: Casa Anselma (starts at 24-00, daily, free entrance), Los Galos (starts at 20-00, daily, entrance 35 euros per person), Auditorio Alvarez Quintero (starts at 19-00 , daily, entrance 17 euros per person).

In other cities, Spanish flamenco dance is also popular and in demand among tourists and travelers:

• in Jerez – the festival “Fiesta de la Buleria” takes place once a year, the date must be checked on the city’s website;
• in Cadiz - you can visit the local tablaos of the city and feel the beauty of flamenco;
• in Barcelona - the autumn flamenco festival takes place in the Cordobes tablao (min. cost of admission 45 euros per person), where the best Catalan flamenco performers perform;
• in Granada - in local tablaos of the city;
• c – in the tablao Villa Rosa (min. cost - 32 euros per person), tablao Corral de la Moraya (min. cost - 39 euros per person);
• in Cordoba - in local tablaos of the city.

Flamenco in the caves of Granada.

In addition to festivals and tablaos, flamenco has deep roots in , where local gypsies dance zambra in the caves of Mount Sacromonte. Granada is considered the birthplace of Zambra, as this dance originated here, in which guitar motifs are closely intertwined with singing.
Spanish gypsies in Granada have been keeping the secret of performing real flamenco for 5 centuries, which is kept secret and passed down only from parents to children.
If they really want, true flamenco connoisseurs can visit Granada and the Sacromonte caves in September from anywhere in the world, because today any tourist organization offers a wide range of tours and pleasant discounts for tourist groups.
While in Spain or Granada, visiting the caves and performing Spanish flamenco dance will be free.

And you say that...

Over its long history, the Spanish flamenco dance has acquired legends, amazing stories and interesting facts. The most notable events include the following:

• almost until the end of the 19th century. the gypsies performed the dance barefoot;
• the ambassador of all Roma to the EU is the dancer J. Cortes;
• flamenco guitar made of cypress;
• the amazing sound from playing the guitar is obtained thanks to the short and strong blows of the guitarist on the strings;
• The performer usually comes up with the words of the song right away, without much preparation or pre-planned context;
• Usually the guitarist in flamenco is considered the most important link and the most revered among the entire dance group;
• almost 90% of flamenco guitarists do not know sheet music;
• There are varieties of flamenco: flamenco rock, jazz and pop;
• until the end of the 18th century, flamenco existed only in a narrow circle of gypsy families;
• Each Spanish city has its own type and form of flamenco;
• most major festival, dedicated to flamenco, takes place in Seville;
• In Barcelona, ​​a restaurant and museum have been opened in honor of the dance.

IN old house With many corridors on the first floor, it is difficult to get to the main filming location - namely, the bedroom where the main characters dance their Flamenco. In this room you can find everything: from a carpenter's vice to a piano. While the clay dolls are drying, the cameras are pointed at big bed where a woman sleeps sweetly. Take after take she turns to the other side. In the adjacent living room, the director and cameraman are closely monitoring what is happening in the next room through monitors.

Gloomy music is playing, shadows of the past run along the walls and the air is saturated with parting. Lyova and Shura are expected to arrive any minute. They came for just an hour to watch the filming progress, meet the actors, and, of course, answer questions from the curious:

Guys, tell me what this mystical apartment is?
Leva: this is the apartment of the artist Vereshchagin. Some TV series are filmed in this apartment every day. It is so colorful and textured, and I think that all sorts of famous ghosts walk in it at night.
Shura: in general, the director chose this apartment; when he listened to the song, he had an idea.

Tell us a little about the video.
Shura: - this is the second video of our project “Odd Warrior”, the first was the video for the song “Slow Star”, which Diana Arbenina sang with us. The video for “Flamenco” is a kind of continuation of the video for “Slow Star” in terms of mood and history.
Leva: For us, the song “Flamenco” is associated with personal experiences that we would not like to make public.
Shura: The clip is actually very personal, and has more to do with me than with Leva.

Taking part in the filming professional actors Ponomareva Irina, Boris Tokarev, who play dancers who have danced and lived together all their lives. While the film crew was busy staging shots featuring the dolls Leva and Shura, the “dancers” shared with us their impressions of filming the video:

Tell me, are you actors or dancers?
Ponomareva Irina: we are dramatic actors. We play both in theater and cinema.
Boris Tokarev: I am mainly in the cinema.

What TV series have you starred in?
P.I.: “Line of Defense”, “Kulagin and Co”, the latest film is “Through the Eyes of a Wolf”, where I play the main female role.

What are your impressions of participating in the filming of the video?
B.t.: wonderful! Very good team and we really like the plot. The only problem with the ending is because at the end Ira and I dance several endings of the Flamenco dance. Now we are rehearsing the dance.

I see your dance instructor is helping you with this.
P.I.: yes, of course! This, I think, is necessary, although we ourselves do not move badly for dramatic actors, but here, of course, the precision of movements is very important, because we play professional dancers, and our movements must be impeccable. Moreover, this is the finale of the video, and it is very important that it be bright.

Have you ever danced Flamenco on stage or in life?
P.I.: No, it wasn’t necessary, unfortunately. I danced Russian folk songs in an ensemble. But I really like the dance itself, but not in the pop version.
B.t.: no, I have never danced Flamenco.

What can you say about director Vlad Razgulin, is it easy to work with him?
P.I.: very nice person, knows what he wants.
B.t.: clearly sets tasks. Not verbose, which is good. Everything is specific and clear.

How do you feel about the music of the Bi-2 group, do you listen to it at home?
P.I.: so that I can turn on the tape recorder at home and listen - there is no such thing, but when I hear it, I don’t turn it off, because I like this group. When I told my son that I would star in the video, he was very surprised and delighted - I realized that he approved.
B.t.: I have a cassette in my car, and when I go somewhere, I play it. I think this clip will be theirs best clip, because the song is great, and it kind of goes a little against what they've done before. And this is a very successful experiment that will take its rightful place in the charts.

The actors are distracted by a Flamenco dance instructor: before the next stage of filming, they need to rehearse the most difficult thing - the dance. Meanwhile, the camera and light are trained on a table in the bedroom, on which two clay dolls stand in a variety of textured and colorful objects. One with a guitar, the other with a microphone. As the director of the video, Vlad Razgulin, told us, their unobtrusive presence will be indicated throughout the entire video. In general, Vlad doesn’t like to talk about what he films. True, during the lunch break, when the whole team was relaxing in a small garden in the courtyard of the house (Leva and Shura, too, after giving several interviews, went to have lunch at the famous Dacha restaurant located next door), Vlad agreed to answer a couple of questions especially for site visitors B2:

Usually Bi-2 arranges something like a tender before filming, that is, they show the song to different directors, they offer their ideas, and then the group chooses the option they like best. Tell me, was it the same this time?
V.R.: Well, this time it was completely different. I came with a ready-made idea and said: either I shoot or not. They really liked my idea for the video.

How did the story of the video about two dancers come about?
V.R.: - I listened to the music, and this story, an image, formed in my head. You know, when the music is good, everything is born very quickly.

Why did you replace live musicians with puppets?
V.R.: The story of the video itself seems very sad to me, and I did not find a place in it for live musicians, and the idea clearly came to me to make clay dolls, and everyone liked it.

What is this place where the filming is taking place, whose apartment is this?
V.R.: - I am familiar with this apartment. We often shoot something here, and every time it turns out differently. The apartment itself is very textured. There are many objects that can be moved during filming and framed in a way that seems interesting.

Who is the video operator?
V.R.: - Marat Adelshin. He filmed videos with us for the songs “Light Up” and “Incredible Story.”

By the way, about the video for the song “Incredible Story”. I was on the set of the video, and the final version was very surprising. Many fans of the group said that the presence of a flying saucer in the video was not entirely clear to them.
V.R.: Well, actually, we don’t understand where it came from either! (laughs). It came to our minds on the last day. Why not, let there be a flying saucer - we thought.

Did you like what happened?
V.R.: I’m not super happy, of course, but there shouldn’t be so little time for such things. The video must be filmed in two days! When you need to have time to film everything in one day, it is very difficult, both for the crew and for the actors. Let's see what happens with Flamenco.

The film crew has a difficult day ahead and many more tasks ahead. From what I was able to see, I made a very pleasant conclusion for myself: the clip will be very figurative - through objects and small movements of the actors, the director will tell us a touching story of two loving friend a friend of people who, in spite of everything, dance their bright and unique dance of love. Here time has no power, and colors do not play a role, here it is “Flamenco”.