XV BIENAL DE FLAMENCO. ‘FLAMENKITA, LA NIÑA QUE PERDIÓ EL COMPÁS’

XV BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA

‘FLAMENKITA, LA NIÑA QUE PERDIÓ EL COMPÁS’
La Flamenkita Company
Program (PDF)
Teatro Alameda. Children’s program – 12 noon
September 30th to October 4th

SPECIAL BIENAL DE FLAMENCO DE SEVILLA 2008

Text: Gonzalo Montaño Peña
Photos: © Archivo Bienal de Flamenco, Luis Castilla

Flamenquita: Blanca Puente; Flamenquín: Antonio Labajo; Palmerito: Jonatan Lande, Kuky Santiago; Flamenco teacher: Lidia Cabello; Sonanto: Joaquín Linera; Cantarina: Samara Montañez; Cajoncito: Edu Gómez.

The Cádiz company “La Flamenkita” found an entertaining way to capture children’s attention, with the aim of familiarizing them with the sounds and measures that characterize flamenco.  A sort of clown story is used to show children the basic forms of compás.

The character named “Flamenkita” is a girl with little capacity to do flamenco, which makes her very sad.  Nevertheless, her friends “Flamenquín” and “Palmerito” decide to help her in her search for the compás.  With this pretext, complex rhythms such as tientos and siguiriyas are presented to schoolchildren via repetition and interaction when all the youngsters clap hands for the guitar and singing.

If it’s not quite possible to lay down complicated rhythmic patterns in such a short time, the success of this show can be attributed the good time the children have.  Also interesting is how the dance is presented via an entertaining personality who makes dance lose its typically serious and aloof quality to make it more appealing to children.

All initiatives to make flamenco accessible to children are well-received, considering the dire shortage of ideas for this age-group.  But the teaching aims of this work are not guaranteed.  The children learn by repeating, what they see and hear in this show is no doubt flamenco, there is no question about it, but it’s only one hour.  Until more is done in the schools, it’s like killing mosquitoes with cannonballs.  The subject should be taught at school within the course of musical education, and adults should also be educated so they can know the music of their own culture.

It’s what Antonio Mairena called the “Natural Conservatory”, a reference to the musical education children acquire at home in lower Andalusia, and which is nothing more than the custom of seeing and hearing flamenco from childhood.