Tonight Alina and I went to Manhattan to attend an event labeled as “Intro to Flamenco Dancing & Spanish Wine Tasting”. We had a really good time!
The whole thing happened in a little dancing studio on the 11th floor on 1261 Broadway Street. Alina found out about the event through the local wine events subscription and offered me to join her because of my love for flamenco. It was hosted by Cony, Kirk and their friend Magdalena — the flamenco dancer. The atmosphere was really friendly with around 30 people present. There were no chairs, and the studio itself was not big at all. Me and Alina were the first guests, and Alina even helped Cony to open some bottles. We drank some wine — there were 3 different varieties: one white and two red, ate some cheese, talked, and watched people arrive.
Magdalena, a nice woman in her 30s, started the lesson with a brief self-introduction — she first saw flamenco dancing at the age of 16, and “the seed was planted”. Since that time she came a long way — took dancing lessons here in New York, went to Spain to learn from the Gipsy; now she gives lessons herself and does performances as well. For starters she taught us two flamenco clapping styles (palmas) — one muffed and low, one sharp and pretty high pitch; so all of us clapped and stomped our legs following some easy flamenco patterns.
After this, we drank some more wine, and talked some more. It was an interesting experience to be in that crowd. There were some couples (one of them was a man and a very good looking woman in their 60s), groups of girls, and some women. Females dominated, which is kind of expected from such kind of an event. Then Magdalena showed us some more moves — I was especially happy to learn the proper way to rotate wrists and move fingers (I guess, one of the ways) — fold all the fingers in, starting with the pinkies, rotate wrists, unfold all the fingers out, starting with pinky fingers again.
What strikes me in all flamenco dancers is the way they carry their upper bodies — so upright, and powerful, and proud. I also really like fluidity of some movements, and abrupt sharpness of other.
At the end of the event, we asked Magdalena to perform a short dance for us. She agreed — and we got a short video as a result on Alina’s camera.
The whole thing happened in a little dancing studio on the 11th floor on 1261 Broadway Street. Alina found out about the event through the local wine events subscription and offered me to join her because of my love for flamenco. It was hosted by Cony, Kirk and their friend Magdalena — the flamenco dancer. The atmosphere was really friendly with around 30 people present. There were no chairs, and the studio itself was not big at all. Me and Alina were the first guests, and Alina even helped Cony to open some bottles. We drank some wine — there were 3 different varieties: one white and two red, ate some cheese, talked, and watched people arrive.
Magdalena, a nice woman in her 30s, started the lesson with a brief self-introduction — she first saw flamenco dancing at the age of 16, and “the seed was planted”. Since that time she came a long way — took dancing lessons here in New York, went to Spain to learn from the Gipsy; now she gives lessons herself and does performances as well. For starters she taught us two flamenco clapping styles (palmas) — one muffed and low, one sharp and pretty high pitch; so all of us clapped and stomped our legs following some easy flamenco patterns.
After this, we drank some more wine, and talked some more. It was an interesting experience to be in that crowd. There were some couples (one of them was a man and a very good looking woman in their 60s), groups of girls, and some women. Females dominated, which is kind of expected from such kind of an event. Then Magdalena showed us some more moves — I was especially happy to learn the proper way to rotate wrists and move fingers (I guess, one of the ways) — fold all the fingers in, starting with the pinkies, rotate wrists, unfold all the fingers out, starting with pinky fingers again.
What strikes me in all flamenco dancers is the way they carry their upper bodies — so upright, and powerful, and proud. I also really like fluidity of some movements, and abrupt sharpness of other.
At the end of the event, we asked Magdalena to perform a short dance for us. She agreed — and we got a short video as a result on Alina’s camera.
January 29, 2008 @ 13:18
Вау! Круто! Как бы я хотела к вам присоединиться! У тебя есть возможность этим дальше заниматься?
January 29, 2008 @ 21:37
К сожалению, по времени совсем не будет получаться (поздно вечером и далеко от дома).
Ну и лишних 50$ в неделю (за 2 занятия) пока тоже нет (хотя в данном случае неудачное место и время — главные препятствия).
Зато мы взяли билеты на шоу, которое будет проходить в рамках Нью-Йорксого фестиваля фламенко. Как сходим, напишу о впечатлениях.
Leave a comment