COMPREHENSIVE FLAMENCO STUDIES
· A practical understanding of Flamenco ·
What are COMPREHENSIVE FLAMENCO STUDIES about?
Have you ever wondered what made a particular Soleá so beautiful, so delicate yet so powerful? A Taranto so deep? Or a Bulería so colorful and well synchronized that it seems almost magical? Was it only hard practice and days of rehearsal? Undoubtedly, there was hard practice, but there was more to it. Though intangible, you could almost see it and hear it, that “force” bringing all these streams together and creating a harmonic flow that unified the musicians and the audience in a moment of pure bliss.
Well, there might be no “force” involved, but there is definitely more than just practice and technique.
Flamenco is a rich and complex music revolving around several key elements: traditional structures, a common traditional repertoire, an elaborate language, and, last but not least, musical codes. We can spend years learning choreographies, steps, letras, or falsetas by heart and still miss the fundamentals of how it REALLY works.
How do the the musicians, dancers, and singers interact, communicate, react to each other’s music, dance, or singing?
Simply accumulating knowledge and learning by heart is not enough. In my opinion, nor is it the spirit of flamenco: playing, sharing, respecting, improvising…
Throughout the learning process, we need to focus on what is connecting all the elements together. Or else, we will most likely fail to obtain a clear idea, in other words, a COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE of how Flamenco works.
How to improve your flamenco experience?
- Develop your knowledge at a global level: adopt a holistic and practical approach of cante, baile, toque… to develop your skills as well as your own personality and artistic sensitivity
- Pull together all the material and knowledge you already have in a cohesive comprehension of Flamenco
- Expand your global understanding: structures, codes and language
- Hone your sense of rhythm with an original and highly efficient method
- Spread your passion and feed your curiosity!
COMPREHENSIVE FLAMENCO STUDIES propose an alternate yet complementary approach to learning Flamenco that I would define as “comprehensive approach to improve your practice through a sound understanding of the Art of Flamenco as a whole”.
In addition to any regular flamenco classes (whether it be dance, singing, guitar, percussion, or palmas) this course will provide you with the tools that you need to perform better as an artist but also appreciate better as a spectator.
What will we do concretely during the class?
- Listen, watch, and discuss audio and video excerpts of cante, baile, and toque (ZOOM audio & video sharing is the perfect tool for that!): analyze, comment, compare, discuss, investigate, understand them and put everything in relation and perspective
- Bring out the structure and mechanism of any musical element: from the most global (i.e a complete baile, an escobilla, a series of letras, a falseta…) to the most precise, (i.e a specific step, a specific verse of a letra, a remate…)
- Study of palos and styles: characteristics, common points, differences, specificities…
- Practice rhythm and palmas through many practical and evolutive exercises
- Develop your autonomy through clear analyse tools and efficient practice strategies
- Analyze and improve your own musical/choreographic material in order to make the most of it
- Understand and experiment with improvisation in the flamenco context
- Share our experiences and knowledge
- Answer all questions…
Practical details
- 90-min weekly classes starting in September 2020, throughout the year
- Schedules to be defined
- New groups can be opened at any time of the year when a minimum of 5 people is reached
- 10 pers. max groups
- Prerequisite: a basic, general understanding of flamenco (e.g. you should know where Flamenco comes from, some of the different styles, etc). If you do not know anything about Flamenco, don’t leave just yet, I can also help you! Contact me and I will organize an initiation class.
- Platform: ZOOM
Pricing details
In order to guarantee access to as many people as possible, I prefer to keep a low basic fee for this class:
- Fees: 80 US$ / 70€ for 4 classes* (6h).
Nevertheless, if you are happy with the content and want to support me in developing these classes and courses, you’ll also have the option to personalize your fee.
*If you cannot attend a class, a recording of the session will be sent to you.
What can you do right now?
- If you are interested or have any question about this course, just message me!
- Read more here about my view of flamenco pedagogy and the different classes I offer If you are interested or have any question about this course, just
- Read more about me here
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- Share with people you know who might be interested, it helps a lot too!
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- Be happy and passionate 😉