Senorita Moves

Skirts flare,colours flash and feet thump in time to the music,as twenty women perform the penultimate dance.

Skirts flare,colours flash and feet thump in time to the music,as twenty women perform the penultimate dance. A three-day Flamenco we attended was full of music,beats,moves and fun. Maria Del Sol and Ana Maria Espinosa,professional Flamenco teachers from Malta,a Mediterranean island,had come to Pune to introduce the centuries old Spanish gypsy dance form. Both of them are teachers at Alegria,a dance company and academy in MaltaThe workshop was a three-day affair organised by Adipa Studio at Oakwood Premier,in Koregaon Park.

The evening began with the participants practising the steps they had learnt in the first two days of the workshop,along with the teachers,Del Sol and Espinosa. We notice that the participants brought out their inner divas with gorgeous colourful outfits,complete with large,flaring skirts and dramatic make-up. As they beat their feet in complex patterns,they simultaneously twirled their hands and arms,and swayed their hips. In an admirable physical feat,they kept tapping their feet in the choreographed sequence while their upper body twirled in absolute contrast to their lower body. Del Sol pointed out the similarities between Flamenco,a Spanish dance form that goes centuries back,to Kathak,an ancient Indian dance form and mentioned that both involve percussive footwork and emoting with facial expressions and body movements.

Another thing that we observed that,throughout the workshop,the mood was light and the participating women seemed to have fun as the teachers watched and gently corrected any errors the students made. While few participants had some experience in dance and seemed to pick up the steps right away,there were others who had never tried dancing before. However,they didn’t let their inexperience get in the way and instead laughed about their mistakes.

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We were treated to solo performances by both the teachers,which were greatly cheered by the students. While Espinosa’s performance was a Solea,a slow and solemn performance which left the audience moved and awestruck,Del Sol’s performance was faster,with cheeky and lively steps and the entire hall erupted in laughter,watching Del Sol tease and flirt with the audience.

At the end of the evening,Espinosa demonstrated an extremely intricate sequence of movements,which left us impressed as an audience. The twist came when she asked the students to perform the steps just as they had seen it. Admirably,they did manage to replicate Espinosa’s choreography and even though some of the dancers forgot the steps in between,this only fuelled their laughter and enjoyment further. As they thumped their feet and twirled their arms,we could feel their happiness,reflecting off their smiling faces and quick steps. Almost itching to join the performance,we settled for tapping our feet to the beat.

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