Fantastic Flamenco

This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Jose Porcel perform with his dance company. He is from Spain, not to say that non-Spanish dancers won't cut it but you can tell when someone has lived and breathed flamenco since childhood. The rhythms (dah, dah, dah,daaaah...), complicated steps and arm work are effortless.

The dancers were excellent and at that level where everyone knows the steps and what they choose to do with those steps sets them apart stylistically.

The show flowed from one number to another and kept everyone's attention. The dancers were beautiful and moved beautifully. I feel old when I observed that one of the male dancers was 18 and looked so young and yet an accomplished dancer in his own right.

Male flamenco dancers are heavenly to watch. In my next life I am going to marry a flamenco dancer (good idea for a bumper sticker). I cannot pin point why of all male dancers out there that I get instantly smitten by these rhythmic gypsy gods. I have taken workshops with some of them (some nice, some not so nice, some old) and regardless of my personal take on them, it is all erased once I see them perform. Their sheer strength, sensuality AND vulnerability is too intoxicating.

With that in mind, I became entranced by Jose Porcel's performance. He wore a dark green suit with shiny, green flamenco boots. On anyone else, you are thinking is he trying to be the Joker from Batman? But he pulled it off making men in audience think that wearing such a suit would make them irresistably attractive. Jose was expressive and strong and seeing the sweat fly from his dark, long hair was, there is really no other way to say it, cool. The other male dancers were also a sight to behold.

The women dancers were graceful, so strong and held their own without the men. I take flamenco classes and have so for a few years. I was in awe by how easy they made everything look. They used shawls in one number and it was dazzling. In my wildest dream I wish I could dance like that.

I will continue to go to class and imagine being able to possess such poise and strength when I perform. In the mean time, I will continue perfecting my golpe and brazero and hope one day my weak little fingers will play the castanets the way they deserved to be heard. I really am in need of attending another workshop so I can hear the Spaniards broken English and hear uno, dos , tres and vale--the flavor of Spain.

This was the third flamenco show I have seen. I saw shows in New York City and San Diego and this show was by far the best, although the others were also great to observe and learn from. I head to Philadelphia and there will be a show to see, so I will go and once again become dazzled by the rhythms and sounds of flamenco.