Special Feature. A Brief History of Flamenco
Dancing
A Brief History of Flamenco Dancing
S.C., November 2007
Translation: Joseph Kopec
Baile is the enticer, the flamenco
that you take a fancy to, that catches your eye. And that’s
nothing new. European travelers in the 19th century were
captivated by the art of the bailaoras and bailaores of
the period, forerunners of the form, substance and esthetics
which still survive today. La Campanera, La Macarrona,
La Mejorana, Rafael Ortega, Antonio Bilbao, Pastora Imperio,
La Argentina, La Argentinita, Carmen Amaya, Vicente Escudero,
Faíco, Antonio, Antonio Gades... are just some
of the names that made the art of jondo dance great. And
they mustn’t fall into oblivion.
Origins
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Painting by Doré
(1880) |
| |
|
Old flamencology always used to begin
its contemplation of the origins of flamenco with a passage
by Marcial in which he praised the ‘puellae gaditanae’,
the sensual young women from Cádiz who used to
dance to the sound of their castanets. But since those
times of Ancient Rome, you have to wait many centuries
for flamenco dancing to be born. Intervening in the setting
of flamenco forms is the bolero school, created in the
18th century beginning with the academization of old folk
dances such as panaderos, zapateados, olés, boleros,
seguidillas, fandangos, jaleos de Jerez, malagueñas,
the vito and the cachucha. And the borders are quite wide
between those folk dances and those which are strictly
flamenco.
Then they are described in the testimonies
of romantic travelers in the 19th century, sometimes in
great detail. In 1831, Málaga-born Serafín
Estébanez Calderón described a baile at
a courtyard in Triana in ‘Escenas andaluzas’.
And he said there that seguidillas and caleseras were
being danced. One of the passages from his chronicle goes
like this: “The lines of gypsy women and many
dancers and cantaoras who crowded around them with castanets
between their fingers, with many flowers in their hair,
song and a smile on their lips, the delicacy of dance
in their feet”. French traveler Charles Davillier
wrote in detail about the bailes he witnessed in the lands
of Andalusia, many of them at those primitive flamenco
dancing stages of the period which were the local hops
at neighborhood courtyards, the back rooms of refreshment
bars and the caves of Sacromonte in Granada. And his companion
Gustave Doré drew it.
Ballrooms and cafés
Halfway through that century, Andalusian baile was frequenting
nobler venues. At hotels in Seville, businessman Miguel
de la Barrera publicized rehearsals open to the public
at his ballroom, since the academies of the era sometimes
served as showrooms, especially for the foreign audience.
An advertisement published on August 3rd, 1850 in the
newspaper ‘El Porvenir’ indicates that “in
the accredited academy directed by Manuel de la Barrera,
Calle Pasión next to the Amphitheater, there are
special rehearsals of Spanish dances open to the public
today, Saturday, which will be attended by all the director’s
pupils and moreover the best boleras in this city, the
Malagueña, Redova, Vito and jaleos de Cádiz
being danced”.
La Macarrona at Café
Novedades, Seville
And joining them beginning with the opening
of Los Lombardos in Seville in 1847, the singing cafés,
the stages where flamenco would experience its first golden
age. The first stars and mythical figures of baile are
then born. La
Macarrona, Malena,
Rosario
la Mejorana, Concha
la Carbonera, las
hermanas Antúnez, las Coquineras,
La
Cuenca, Enriqueta
la Macaca, Rita
Ortega, Salú
la Hija del Ciego, Miracielos,
Mojigongo,
Lamparilla,
Antonio el de Bilbao, Estampío...
are some of the names standing out in the era, many of
them commented on by refined pens. Fernando el de Triana,
for example, wrote about La Macarrona that “she’s
the one who has reigned for many years in the art of dancing
flamenco, because God endowed her with everything necessary
for her to do so: a gypsy face, statuesque figure, flexibility
in her body, grace in her movements and contortions, simply
matchless”.
Then in the early 20th century, the cafés
began their decline. And the ballroom dances and varieties
start to get away from Andalusian dances. That’s
what maestro
Otero criticizes in his ‘Tratado de bailes’,
published in Seville in 1912. However, the setbacks turn
into favorable winds, since flamenco dancing then leaps
to theaters. Antonia
Mercé ‘La Argentina’ choreographed
pieces by classical Spanish composers such as Isaac Albéniz,
Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla, besides creating
shows with folk inspiration such as ‘El embrujo
de Sevilla’. “He didn’t write his works
for baile; but I’ve never seen anything with more
rhythm”, she stated to a newspaper in the era.
Argentina (Photo D'Ora)
|
Vicente Escudero (Photo
Lipnitzki) |
And a similar path was followed by La
Argentinita, Laura
de Santelmo and Pastora
Imperio. These theater ladies of flamenco dancing
were joined by Carmen Amaya, but with a different kind
of show, since she called on the direct route to the gutsiest
flamenco. She was thus a huge success on the greatest
stages in America, where she fled after the Spanish Civil
War broke out and where she became one of the great international
dance stars. The avant-garde Vicente
Escudero was also considered a baile ‘rara avis’
in the United States. The Valladolid-born bailaor as well
as Carmen Amaya and La Argentinita were catapulted to
stardom by the famous show businessman Solomon Hurok.
And he himself relates it all in his memoirs, ‘Impresario’.
According to what he wrote, it wasn’t easy to manage
to hire La Argentinita:
“I began to lay siege to her
then, in 1930. It took me six years to persuade her that
America would love her when she was properly presented,
and another two years before she was ready to set foot
again on the soil which had proved so chilly the first
time. (...) Why should she break her heart against the
wall of American indifference when Europe clamours for
her, South America welcomes her like a queen, Australia
kills the fatted calf whenever she chooses to make the
long journey “down under”?”.
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