Choosing a flamenco teacher

Some teaching centers work with a program or syllabus which all
students are expected to follow, but logically the result is not
the same for each person and different individuals have different
needs and abilities which require specific teaching methods or programs.
A flamenco school, no matter what area it specializes in, should
never be like driving school where everyone has to pass certain
tests, and if they fail they must start over.

Those brave souls who wish to learn to sing flamenco should beware
of the “teacher” who is a professional singer and merely
sings through the class expecting students to follow along. The
patient teacher must teach at the same time he or she waits for
the student to catch on, and if the person is having trouble, certain
points must gone over for the student to be able to progress. Some
people are fast learners and in a few months can dominate difficult
techniques such as tremolo or arpeggio on the guitar, while others
require more time.

A good teacher doesn’t necessarily have to be a professional
performer, which does not mean that professionals can’t be
good teachers. However, based on observation and experience, yours
truly has arrived at the conclusion that generally speaking, good
teachers don’t make great artists, nor are good artists known
for their teaching abilities. It’s as if the latter were somehow
above it all and considered teaching a thankless task, contrary
to art itself, when actually there is no more noble and honorable
profession for an artist than transmitting that which took so many
years to learn, which is particularly satisfying when the student
is successful because part of that success belongs to the teacher.

A flamenco school should never be like
driving
school where everyone has to pass certain tests

This same consideration applies to dance teachers. Those I’ve
known were not great stars of dance, but what they did have (in
addition to great analytical and communicative skills), was a vast
knowledge of all the styles, steps and movements, as well as staging,
esthetics and body language, although when they themselves would
perform, for whatever reason, their appearance was not lovely or
harmonious, often because the movements didn’t go with their
physical appearance or they were lacking a svelte figure, symmetry
or artistic grace.

Dancing is like bullfighting, its execution requires a full repertoire
of movements which the artist carries out with artistic sensibility,
and the person unable to do this, just goes through a series of
movements learned by rote which rarely transmits to the observer.
These days the tendency is towards a more static style of arm movement
that has little harmony and is lacking in grace, all rounded out
with sudden attacks of strength that appear obligatory for milking
applause.

Bulerías is where an academic approach is most quickly noticed
because learned steps and movements lack follow-through, personality
and grace. Only occasionally do students manage to avoid the lack
of spontaneity in bulerías, but with time, that too can be
overcome.

Nowadays dancers tend to overdo special effects such as percussion,
footwork, canes, cajones, etc. They cover their faces in an attempt
to lend drama when in actual fact facial expression is so important.
Arms and feet must be coordinated so as not to give a uneven effect:
while one hand may be crossing the abdomen, the other is above the
head in a graceful posture, as if to crown the dancer’s inner
strength and presence, and ideally the dance configures an esthetic
presence whose ephemeral beauty keeps perfect time with the compás.

Who
then is to blame for ungainly movements, the teachers or the students?
Teachers teach as best they know how. Perhaps it is the students
who modify the basic style, and using innovative movements they
consider sophisticated, employ techniques of dubious taste, effectism
more appropriate for mimes than this extraordinarily masculine and
eternally feminine dance called flamenco, with results that are
the subject of so much debate.

The original Spanish version of this article appeared February
8, 2004 in
the Diario de Jerez and has been translated and reprinted with permission.

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Diary-Adventures of an amateur guitarist in Spain