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| Working closely with singers and musicians is part of the job. |
Adrián Brenes
The summer 0f 2014 is passing quite quickly, and I’ve been busier than I expected. Preparing for the performances and tablaos I’ve been involved in has taken quite a lot of time, as well as the teaching hours I’ve been putting in with a variety of students
 With Flamenco Express in London
Naturally, plans for the future have also occupied my mind. I’m back in the UK in October, dancing and teaching in several different cities, and I’m already looking forward to working with my friends from Flamenco Express again. Our London tour in June was one of the highlights of my summer, especially the opportunity to perform in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall.
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| A twirl with fellow dancer Eva the night of Conil's flamenco tablao
Touring and performing with such a wide and varied range of musicians is a wonderful test of flexibility and professionalism. Sometimes I’ve had as little as two hours’ rehearsal before going on stage, and under those circumstances, you need a lot of concentration to deliver a good show.
Guitar falsetas, palmas and letras all have to be co-ordinated to avoid confusion and to make the most effective use of the different elements, and although improvisation is a strong element in flamenco, you still need to know when your moment to improvise will arrive. In the last few decades of the twentieth century, el Nuevo Flamenco was popular, using a wide range of other instruments alongside the traditional line-up of guitar, singer and palmero, but just recently, it’s become fashionable to stick to the basics, a fortunate thing when rehearsal time is so limited.
When we’re planning a performance, I’ll usually say to the singer something like ‘two letras (verses) of tangos, please,’ and they will oblige with the requested lyrics. However, it’s well-known that many musicians hate to rehearse (they don’t usually get paid for rehearsals) and many of them will produce a hundred and one good reasons why it isn’t possible. Then you’re left with the task of pulling it all together an hour before you perform.
Flamenco is complicated, and many things can go wrong between musicians and dancer. Even excellent guitarists get forgetful sometimes and play their falsetas (solos) in the wrong places or continue playing when they should stop. A good musician might have an off-night and play so gloomily that it’s impossible to get any spark working with them. Both singers and guitarists can lose compás (rhythm) or go too fast or slow, in which case the dancer has to grit his teeth and try to set his own pace, one where he’ll neither have to mimic a speeded-up Tom and Jerry cartoon or dance like a dream-sequence from a zombie movie.
One of the most important elements of dance is the use of percussion to set the rhythm, and when there’s no cajón (box-drum) to do this, the dancer is dependent on palmas from the singer or another dancer. Of course, some people are better at palmas than others, because it’s not as simple as it seems.
There’s a basic pattern of palmas for each palo, but palmeros ‘decorate’ their palmas in ways which can sometimes be less than helpful for a dancer. Giving palmas is physically quite demanding and you have to create a consistent rhythm with good audibility throughout the dance, remembering when to stop and when to begin again. It’s not easy, but good palmas are an essential element of flamenco.
Although the summer is only half-over, I’ve learned an enormous amount from working in such varied situations and I’ve gained new confidence in my ability not only to deal with problems but also to help and support the performers I work with. I hope the next half of the summer will be equally interesting and varied.
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