The Art of Flamenco
From my blog Obsessions by Gessica. First published March 2015 Flamenco is not just a dance or the clothes or the music. It’s the feeling. It gives you a certain sexy buzz when you let the music go through you. Poetic, intense, passionate, is how I describe the Flamenco. When I saw my first flamenco dance in Seville, I was hooked. I went several more times whilst living in Barcelona. It is not that I wished to be a flamenco dancer, it was being immersed in the whole theatre of it all. The vibrant foot moves, the elegant hand movements and the expressions on their faces that had me enthralled….plus of course the flamboyant dresses.
The flamenco is a highly expressive music and dance movement with various elements to it. It is a combination of singing(cante), guitar playing(toque), dance(baile), and hell raising(jaleo) which involves the hand clapping(palmas), foot stomping, finger snapping and shouts of encouragement. The dance itself is a solo performance, characterised by hand clapping, percussive footwork, and graceful hand, arm and body movements. It is a deeply passionate dance which you can see on the face of the dancers(bailaores or bailaoras): expressions of suffering, love and pain.
A dancer will often stand still and free of any expression for the first few moments of the song. As he or she begins to feel the music, the dancer usually begins a steady beat of loud hand clapping. Then as the emotion builds, the dancer will begin the intense dance. Castanets are sometimes held for clicking, and folding fans used on occasion for visual impact. 
The hand clapping is an art in itself, and although it may look easy, it is not. If you have ever watched a flamenco dance, you will see the clapper(palmeros) to the side weaving intricate rhythms around the song and collaborating cleverly with the dancer.
The zapateado is the tap dance style of footwork, where the dancers demonstrate the skill with their feet. The noise created by this and the palmeros will be ringing in your ears long after you have left the Tablao. 
Flamboyant Flamenco fashions
When the gypsies arrived in Andalusia from India in the 15th century, they brought with them many song, dance and fashion styles that have strong Indian connections. At this time Andalusia was still under Arab rule, and along with the Jews and the Moors, the gypsies were soon to be persecuted by the Catholics.
In the eighteenth century attitude towards the gypsies changed considerably,which resulted in numerous bands of gypsies descending on the small villages and towns, bringing with them their exciting, seductive music- flamenco. The rest is history. 
Carmen Amaya
There have been quite a few famous Flamenco dancers over time.One that stands out is Carmen Amaya, probably the most famous of her generation. Named Queen of the Gypsies: “She was from the race of the rebels, of those people who stray from the beaten track and ordinary rules, who only show that there is suffering in their dancing, like there is suffering in existence, and a rage for living. It is a dance that is marked by fire, whose thirst could only be quenched through death.“ Patrick Bensard, directore and founder of French Cinematheque of Dance. 
Joaquin Cortes
