Flamenco Express

Flamenco Express @ Bread & Roses

flamenco express — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:23:02 +0000

Flamenco Express present and evening of flamenco dance, guitar and song followed by an open-mike session for London based flamencos – bring your guitars and shoes and voices.

On Stage:

Jorge Muelas – A truly dynamic flamenco dancer trained by the Royal Conservatory of Professional Dance in Madrid who went on to tour with Luisillo, Jose Greco and as first soloist with the Belen López Ballet including performances in the Festival of Jerez and the Flamenco festival Caja Madrid.

La Joaquina – Founder member, choreographer and director of Flamenco Express. She has worked with Christina Hoyos, Paco Peña and others in Madrid, Tokyo, New York, Montreal, Toronto, Paris and throughout Europe.

Luis ‘El Mono‘ – A powerful gypsy singer. Cante jondo direct from the Bario Santiago in Jerez de la Fronterra.

Chris Clavo – A founder member and musical director of Flamenco Express, he began playing the guitar at fourteen years old and later studied with flamenco maestros Carlos Heredia, Diego Amaya and Pepe Justicia. He has performed throughout Britain and Europe with Flamenco Express as well as touring with flamenco jazz virtuoso Eduardo Niebla and Iraqi pop sensation Jassim.

Flamenco is Music, Sex and History all rolled into one. The fiercest expression of the human spirit ever devised. The Flamenco Express policy is simply to obtain the best flamenco performers available, give them total artistic freedom, and present them to international audiences. The result is an amazing diversity of voices all committed to delivering their own view of the world, in their own unique way, according to how they feel at the time.

Bread and Roses Pub
68 Clapham Manor Street, London, SW4 6DZ
7.30 – 10.30PM Tickets £8.00 on the door. Phone 0207 732 8493 for Advance Reservations

Links:
www.breadandrosespub.com/news/news.aspx?ID=158
www.flamencoexpress.org/
www.myspace.com/flamencoexpress
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149952701688450&index=1

Videos
www.flamencoexpress.org/video/

Reviews
‘Delighted the audience, who rewarded them with rapturous applause and encores.’
Dance Europe

‘This feisty flamenco company deliver the finest in flamenco, plus sizzling soloist La Joaquina’
Time Out

‘..utterly riveting variations of firecracker beats…tumultuous fervour ..indelible gracefulness.’
The Stage

Filed under: Live Shows

Martinete – Hackney Empire

flamenco express — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:17:51 +0000

Filed under: Compas, Flamenco Resources, Live Shows

Flamenco. The Gypsy Blues.

flamenco express — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 13:29:49 +0000

Trying to define where and when a particular form of music began has always been a dangerous game. New evidence is always emerging which makes muesli of finely tuned theories. And at the end of the day, where do you stop?

Ultimately, doesn’t all music derive from the hairy discovery that the noise of a bone rapped on a log in time with the human heart makes the body move of its own accord? Or was it from the joy of being able to still a noisy baby by singing to it? Predicting the future of an art form is even more precarious.
The list of extinct cultural species would make an interesting encyclopedia if only any evidence still remained of their existence. Nevertheless, some things are true, and some things are predictable – if only by comparison with established precedent.

Case Study – Rock Music

The evolution of rock music is a case study which is almost too well documented to bother repeating. What it shows us is that while there may not be much similarity between, say, the music of the African Slaves and Bjõrk, there is an inevitability in the development of one from the other. With hindsight, it is quite possible to see how The Blues gave birth to Bjõrk. Socially, the lineage is fairly clear.

* Step One : Take millions of Africans away from their homes.

* Step Two: Persecute them for generations, only allowing them status as entertainers, and grant them liberty only to interpret the forms of art they see before them in their own style.

* Step Three: When those interpretations become more popular and universal than the original forms, disseminate them as widely as possible on the new systems of mass communication (the radio and hi-fi) to influence people all over the world. At some point, some bunch of scruffy white youths will fall in love with the product and try to imitate it in their own way. If those kids happen to be called John, Paul, George and Ringo, so much the better. If not, don’t worry, the virus is released and will surely spread and breed and mutate given the right conditions.

It is therefore theoretically possible to at least see the potential for development in a particular style of music from generation to generation. All that is required is the ability to turn hindsight into foresight. What could be simpler? So before you can say Step Four-and-a-Bit, a crazy Icelandic genius becomes infected by a descendant of that Liverpudlian strain, and the Bjõrk phenomenon is upon us.

Flamenco Development

Flamenco is undergoing the same process, and at the moment is roughly at Step Three. The music of the Gypsies was not always called Flamenco, and has not always been recognisable as the Flamenco we know today. In fact, the Gypsies came from India. Why they had to leave, and why they developed the culture they did is a serious matter for discussion elsewhere, but the fact is that for hundreds of years they were squeezed ever westward like a bar of soap by the suspicious native populations they encountered along the way.

The great journey took them across the Middle East, divided them north and south around the Mediterranean, until finally, in Spain, they hit the Atlantic and could go no further. By then the Spanish Gypsies, that is the ones who had made the full trip, had absorbed influences as various as Persian, Greek, Ottoman, Catholic, Jewish, Egyptian, Moorish, Balkan and Russian. This diversity was invariably reflected in their music and dance, and their reputation as musicians was established very early. In some countries, Greece for example, the word for Gypsy and musician are still the same. This almost unique combination of cultural origins, combined with a social context of persecution and insecurity is what makes Flamenco the incredibly complex roots art form it is today.

The Blues has a similar story to tell. When it arrived in Britain it provided the musical focus for a creative era which will always be remembered for its championship, however flawed, of the idea of freedom. What could be more fitting than for the music of the gypsies, a nation whose history embodies both the myth of free-roaming liberty and the reality of ruthless persecution, to lead the artistic world into a more idealistic, human, 21st Century?

Modern Flamenco

From its origins in northern India, the art of the Spanish Gypsies has come a long way. And could now be the basis for a new popular music. All it needs is for the right people to see the real thing, and for society to be open to change. It should be as inevitable as New Orleans Jazz after the American Civil War, or Duke Ellington after Prohibition, or Elvis after the Second World War. This process happened in Flamenco as each generation absorbed other cultures to express its individuality, and by doing so, changed into something new. It is still happening now, only more so, as Spanish artists are able to exchange ideas freely with the world. The future should be a matter of unanimous anticipation among Flamencos the world over. If only life was that simple. If only Flamenco was that simple.

In the towns and villages of Andalucia, where the Gypsy cultural stew was richest, Flamenco gave hope and a good time to a hard-working, hard-driven, people. It still celebrates the same basic human values, but like Spain it has escaped from the past and is talking to a new, modern, international audience. But it never lost its essence, its soul – the ‘Duendé’ – because the culture of ‘Duendé’ survived everything a hostile world could throw at it. That is the whole point: the triumph over adversity.

Real Life, Real Issues, Real Music

Occasionally, musicians become too comfortable, and as a result, too intellectual. At these points in the history of music, a shot of real life is essential to keep artists in touch with real issues of survival and mortality. Blues provided this in the sixties, Reggae did a similar job in the 1970s, and Flamenco is surely poised to be the same refresher course today, carrying as it does a huge armoury of tricks to fend off the centuries of oppression and hardship. And a depth of feeling and insight born of that same experience.

The success in London of Cumbre Flamenco, Antonio Gades, Paco Peña, Joaquin Cortés and now Cantanas Flamencas proves that Flamenco is a new vein of raw material for artists, and therefore a new and exciting prospect for audiences everywhere. In form Flamenco is closer to Jazz or Indian classical than to any European music. The same language of rhythm, gesture, and improvisation gives the performers the freedom to be whoever they want, to say whatever they want, and to convey that sense of freedom to whoever wants to feel it. Simply, it is the ‘Gypsy Blues’.

The Future of Flamenco

The world of Flamenco is currently as divided over its future as it is diverse in its cultural heritage. Leaving aside the traditional family rivalries, which are very entertaining, there are several debates on several issues. There is the division between those who want Flamenco to become more technical and symphonic and classical, and those who believe that its raw, primitive side will enable it to become more accessible and popular. There are the purists and the fusionists. The preservationists who are disturbed at the thought of some forms of Flamenco becoming extinct, and the adventurers like Blanca Li who see Flamenco as a fresh canvas ready for the brush.

Whatever their individual merits, the sheer bulk and intensity of the arguments goes to show how much is at stake, and how many different ways there are now of interpreting the thing we call Flamenco. Now that Spain is a democracy, and open to global exchange. Such a volume of debate surrounding a mere art form is surely a sign of immense diversity, depth and sheer creative power. If ever there was a cultural mother lode to be mined, this is it, and already there have been experiments in ‘Jazzmenko’, ‘Bluesmenko’, and even ‘Technomenko’. These gimcrack labels are causing blood to boil in peñas all over the world. People who care about Flamenco are bound to have strong opinions about the potential exploitation and destruction of their culture, and these views must be respected. But in the world today, trying to shackle an art as adaptable as Flamenco is like catching a butterfly with a pick axe.

Audiences and Performers

The real test of any art form is what people do with it, not its commercial excesses. How people react to other people expressing themselves. It doesn’t matter what you call the product so long as there are miracles on display. And in the case of Flamenco, whether those miracles make sense to an audience outside the native culture; to those who neither know nor care about the academic finer points. It is probably a mistake to even think of Flamenco as a single genre.

There is such promiscuous diversity that bits of flamenco are almost bound to break free and interbreed with other species of popular music without seeking parental consent. Any cultural matchmaker could foresee the fusion between the Tango and the gliding rhythm of Bhangra. When this mating happens, the circle will be complete and Flamenco would have returned to India. Anything is supposed to be possible in the ‘global’ world. We are told that more people are exposed to more cultural influences than ever before. Satellite technology has brought images and information to regions which still do not even have mains electricity or water. The long term consequences may well be less than palatable. Community identity is a likely first victim of a world in which Rupert Murdoch and Bill Pearly Gates actually own all the information. But in the meantime, for the artist, this is a uniquely interesting time to be alive, at least in terms of the range of influences on offer. What happens next, as ever, is the responsibility of those artists best able to respond to the new conditions and audiences.

The reactions of flamenco audiences in Britain supports the theory that people are still in need of something less manufactured than the products of Hollywood and the music business, less intellectualised than the self-loathing and motion sickness of ‘cutting-edge’ dance and music, and more vital and engaging than the museum pieces of the folk preservationists. So what’s new? People are amazing and have always needed art which exercises the substance between their ears and tingles the bits between their legs. Naturally there will always be those who prefer to be merely comforted. And there will always be those willing to market the more narcotic forms of entertainment, making every day ‘perfect’, and globalisation is a great help to those who wish to homogenise the cultures of the world into a single easily marketable product. Every advance in communication before and since the railway has threatened the integrity of every culture which happened to be in the way. But the steamroller never quite demolishes everything in its path. The triumph is never complete, and people always emerge from the ruins to insist on telling the world what they think of it. And nothing – not slavery, mechanisation, fascist dictatorships, exile, or born-again religious fundamentalism seem to be able to totally quench the flow of human creativity.

Choices Shape the Future

The choice facing Flamenco is the classic one of stagnation or change. Those who resist change and experiment should be aware that the cultural heritage they seek to preserve is itself the result of a process of continuous change. The only way to arrest that process is to prevent change in society itself, a task to which the dictator Franco dedicated his life. But Franco and his ideology are long dead. May they both stay that way.

1999

Filed under: Flamenco Resources, Thoughts Tagged: flamenco, musicology

Flamenco & Picasso

flamenco express — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:42:59 +0000

When Picasso said ‘There is no end to the tricks I learnt from the Gypsies.’ he wasn’t just talking about learning to smoke a cigarette up his nose, or perform card tricks. Picasso was exposed to Flamenco and its Gitano creators at an early age, and it had a lasting effect on his work.According to his friends, the only music Picasso really cared about was the flamenco ‘cante jondo’. The deep or profound songs of the flamenco canon such as the Siguiriya – the sound that echoes both the dilemma of the bare forked human spirit confronted by a huge impersonal universe, and the historic dilemma of the constantly persecuted and exiled gypsy nation. Staring at the stars and wondering Why? and How? Knowing that we are all alone, but realizing that we are able to use that collective loneliness to reinforce the bonds between us. The concept of ‘Duende’.In its attempt to express the spirituality of shared solitude, duende is a dual concept which is a reflection of the futility of humanity in the face of suffering and the infinite, but also an affirmation of its unquenchable vitality – a paradox of life and death which was to underpin Picasso’s reason for working.Picasso’s great friend Lorca formalised this relationship in his theory that duende was an inheritance of the ancient cult of Dionysus, the eternally reborn free spirit of Greek myth. In fact, the gypsies didn’t need the Greeks to invent their philosophy for them, the constant need for them to reinvent and improvise their culture and absorb others gave them their own reasons for seeing the cosmos the way they did. Nevertheless, Lorca’s interpretation of the essence of duende was one which must have been close to Picasso’s own as the theme of Dionysiac rebirth was one he returned to as artist and man throughout his life. Culminating in what is possibly the greatest cry of Siguiriya in history, Guernica. A cry that is all the greater, and paradoxical, for being in the silent form of a painting.And it could be argued that even Picasso’s later ceramics, while not matching the grand artistic achievement of Guernica, are a more flamenco form than painting. The synthesis of deeply primal symbols from soil fire and water is surely Picasso insisting that death and life are not as different as we usually think – the affirmation that there is magic in the world, and that we make it. Something the gypsies had known for hundred of years, and which is perhaps the greatest trick they have to teach us all.

Filed under: Flamenco Resources, Live Shows, Thoughts

Flamenco Workshops by Natalia García-Huidobro

flamenco express — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:03:40 +0000

@ Dance Attic
June 12/13/14.

See flyer for details.

Natalia García-Huidobro

Please reply to
palosanto86@gmail.com
07791 482233

Filed under: Flamenco Workshops

Guest Artist – La Tati

flamenco express — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:20:56 +0000

LA TATI

No history of flamenco is complete without a comprehensive account of the life and work of this incomparable flamenco diva.

More than just a dancer, Tati is the purest synthesis of flamenco blood, soil and spirit. A major voice and an unquestioned prima flamenca who has inspired a generation, whose art has always been fed by her vast and legendary life.

To compare her with blues giant Bessie Smith is not fanciful. Her life has also been eventful, and she has had to fight hard to assert herself in a hostile culture.

Her reputation within flamenco has grown accordingly. Her appearance at Hackney Empire, with the ghost of Marie Lloyd (2) looking down, reminds us of another great woman of the stage with whom she bears comparison.

Her decision to appear in British regional theatres allows a much wider audience to experience her power at close hand. To hear her say ‘This is Thus’ as only she can, with her dance – if what she does can be confined within that term. After all, this is flamenco. When she first read Brecht’s ‘Mother Courage’ (3) she said “This Mother has to dance!”. She could have been talking about herself, or every mother. And is in the spirit of universality which is flamenco.

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Francisca Sadornil Ruiz, ‘La Tati’, was born in Madrid at 104 Toledo Street. She was brought up in the ‘El Rastro’ fleamarket where her parents had a stall. She says that ‘From the beginning she had within her that mysterious heritage of those individuals branded by destiny and driven by an irrevocable vocation.’

At six years of age, she took her first dance steps at the nearby dance academy of La Quica, a dancer from Seville. La Tati would go there to watch and to listen to the lessons and would trade this education for little services she did in the academy since her family couldn’t afford to pay for classes. She never received any formal lessons.

At twelve years of age, she appeared as a soloist for the first time at the Zambra, the historical venue where great figures such as Rosa Duran, Manolo Vargas, Rafael Romero, “El Gallina”, Pericon de Cádiz and Juan Varea used to perform. It was there that she polished her art.

Since that early dawning of her passion for flamenco, La Tati has toured the world several times, both as a premier guest artist and with her own productions, performing in all the great metropolitan houses and even in theatres deep within the Arctic Circle.

Her colleagues on stage have included giants from all branches of music and performance, such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles. She has worked closely with virtually every flamenco artist in the transitional flamenco generation from Cameron de las Islas to Joaquin Cortés and beyond, including Matilde Coral, Cristina Hoyos, Paco de Lucía, Carmen Cortés, Gerardo Núñez, La Tolea, Manolete, Cristobal Reyes, Antonio Canales, Joaquin Grilo, Joaquin Ruiz and Antonio Reyes.

Her vast contribution to the regeneration of flamenco in the Post-Franco era is widely recognized. Her artistic achievement is unquestioned. Her mastery of an audience completely unparalleled.

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Press Cuttings

“La Tati is of the earth, earthy, with a bewitching sense of humour. That artistry which speaks grandly to us across language and culture.”

Clement Crisp. Financial Times.

“Everything that has happened in legitimate flamenco music since the unfathomable reaches of time shine with authenticity in this vortex of a dancer, who, nevertheless, is an amazing original. ‘La Tati’ is offering arte jondo the best praise she can give – she personifies it.”

- Diario De Jerez.

“Madrid has never had such a grand dancer as La Tati. “

- Angel Alvarez caballero. El Pais.

“This tiny little piece of a woman roars around like a caged animal, sways her hips and puts on a show with unequalled arrogance to finish with a majestic pose totally in slow motion and beautifully felt. Both initiated and uninitiated asked for more. ‘La Tati’ understands how to inflame the hearts of Parisians.”

- Ariane Dollfas. France Soir.

“La Tati is a bailaora with feet of gold.. the reference point when speaking of flamenco dance and that almost mystical word of exalted emotion – Duende.”

- Le Nouvel Observateur. Paris

“La Tati, the undeniable ‘popesa’ of flamenco. Her eyes, like embers, quickly sparkle to the sensuous rhythms of the flamenco guitars. Can the boards withstand two and a half hours of her fiery heels every night?”

Martin Rabaude, Elle, Paris

“La Tati reminds us that flamenco for women is not necessarily pretty. She gives the space a savage, earthy dressing down, hips jutting, splayed legs shuffling across the stage. The long fantail of her dress becomes a frothy animal.”

-The Times.

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PRODUCTION

Director, choreographer & principal dancer : La Tati.

‘La Casa de Bernarda Alba’

In October of 2000, the company presented the debut performance of her production of “La Casa de Bernarda Alba” from the work by Federico Garcia Lorca at the Auditorium of Las Rozas during the Festival de Otoño in Madrid. It subsequently toured a network of theatres in Madrid and across Spain.

‘Madre Coraje’

In the library of the theatre in Salamanca, where she was producing The House of Bernada Alba, La Tati came across the work of Bertold Brecht. She was particularly impressed by Mother Courage. On finishing it she exclaimed: “this Mother needs to dance” and then spent a further year reading and researching her theme in the works of Gorky, Lorca, Miguel Hernandez and others until the vision of her ‘Madre’ emerged.

‘Madre’ uses the purest flamenco style: Tonás, Siguiriyas, Soleares, Taranto, Bamberas, Bulerias and Tango, but uses instruments not usually associated with flamenco: violin, percussion and recorded music.

Its cultural synthesis derives another layer of resonance from the historic connections between Spanish ‘Flamencos’ and the ‘Flemish’ Low Countries. One theory has it that the gypsies who fought for Spain in the Dutch War of the C16 were dubbed ‘flamencos’ only after their return from the ‘Flemish’ lands, and that this is the origin of the term.

The Flamenco Theatre of La Tati changed Mother Courage into a true Flamenco opera, and by doing so, breached a considerable cultural barrier between the worlds of the Gitano, with their ancient roots in India, and that of rational, secular, industrialised Northern Europe.

By recognising the ‘duende’ displayed by Brecht’s creation, ‘Madre’ highlights the universality of the human spirit, and how little actually divides us – no matter what culture we are born into. The world is not divided into the ‘hot-blooded’ South and the ‘cold-blooded’ North.

‘La Tati’ saw that flamenco’s broad arms could easily embrace Brecht’s intensely political Modernism, and give it a further spiritual level.

It is hoped that this philosophical fusion will further assert the relevance of flamenco as a modern art form.

The work received its premiere in the heartland of Northern European ethnic music, theatre and dance at the World Music Theatre Festival on 1st April 2004 in Utrecht. The production enjoyed great public success and critical acclaim, and toured throughout Holland anf Belgium.

It is hoped to tour the production in Britain in the near future.

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PERFORMANCE, CHOREOGRAPHY AND DIRECTION

1970s

After her years at El Zambra, La Tati rapidly became much sought after and moved on to the ‘Torres Bermejas’, where she shared the stage with Niño Ricardo, Fernanda y Bernarda de Utrera, La Paquera de Jerez, el gran Faíco, Mario Maya, El Güito and Trini España for three years.

After being invited on the European tour of ‘Festival Flamenco Gitano’, she continued with the company for three years, working with some of the greatest jazz and flamenco artists – including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Paco de Lucía, Paco Cepero, José Menese, Juan Peña, “El Lebrijano”, El Güito and La Singla.

Madrid

She returned to Madrid to work in the most prestigious flamenco venues with some of the great legends of flamenco such as: Terremoto de Jerez, Manuel Soto Sordera, El Sernita, Manolo Caracol, Camarón de Ia Isla, Matilde Coral, Cristina Hoyos and many others.

She danced alternatively in Torres Bermejas, El Duende de Gitanillo de Triana (run by the mythical Pastora lmperio ) and Los Canasteros (run by Manolo Caracol who used to say she was his favorite “bulerías” dancer).

Her first world tour was as guest artist for Luisillo’s Teatro de Ia Danza in tour of South Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Seville

She was invited to La Trocha in Seville for a month and stayed five years, performing in all the great Andalusian festivals:

the Parpuja of Chidana, the Potaje of Utrera, La Fiesta de Ia Bulería in Jerez de Ia Frontera, the Cata in Montilla, Córdoba, the Festival of Cádiz, Homage to La Perla in El Parque, Cádiz, Las Colombinas in Huelva, The Festival of the Gypsies at the Lope de Vega Theatre, Pasando el Puente * Festival of Triana € Fiesta de Ia Bulería in Algeciras.

1980s. ‘Cumbre’ > ‘Apologia’.

During her time in Seville, Tati was asked by ‘Cumbre Flamenca’ to perform at the Mellila and Ceuta festivals.

She performed for two seasons (1984 and 1985) at the Alcala Palace Theatre in Madrid.

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the legendary ‘Cumbre del Baile’ was created. The company included Carmen Cortés, Gerardo Nuñez, La Tolea, Manolete, Cristobal Reyes, La Tati and Antonio Canales. They began their world tour at the Festival Latino in New York’s Central Park, and went on to perform in a total of 24 countries in the U.S, North Africa, Latin America and Europe – where they appeared at the Brighton Festival, Kopiu Festival in Finland and the Paris Theatre.

* International Women’s Day 1987 , University of San Juan Evangelista in Madrid. La Tati created her own company and introduced unorthodox instruments to flamenco for the first time.

* Performances at the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.

* Two consecutive seasons of ‘Ama Flamenco’ at the Veranos de Ia Villa Festival in Madrid

* La Tati’s production of ‘Apología Flamenca’ premiered a two week run at the Sodra Theatre in Stockholm in 1988, then was a great success in Paris where they shared the stage with the legendary Camarón de Ia Isla and Cirque d’Hiver.

* Festival del Corpus in Granada as well as in Amsterdam and Arnhem, Holland with her homage to Juan Antonio, ‘Madrid Ama Flamenco’.

* 1989 Bienal de Arte Flamenco in Seville. In October, she participated in the Festival de Otoño in Madrid.

1990s

* Third Paris Season.

* International Festival of the Arts at the Theatre des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Belgium.

* XIVth Florence Dance Festival. – Guest artist.

* ‘Apologia Flamenca’, Nuevo Apolo Theatre, Madrid with Joaquin Cortes.

1991

* ‘Madrid Capital del Flamenco.’ May 2nd festivities in Madrid.

* In October ‘Chambao Flamenco’ toured Mexico. La Tati also participated in the XVIII Festival Cervantino de Guanajuato with ‘Apologia Flamenca’ which received the award for best festival show.

1992

* ’Apologia Flamenca’ toured Scandinavia including performances at Stockholm’s Dans Ens Hus, Norway’s Gavie Theatre and in Finland. While in Finland hers was the first flamenco company to reach Humea in Laponia. The cast included Joaquin Grilo, Joaquin Ruiz and Antonio Reyes.

1993

* Rivoli Theatre in Oporto, Portugal.

* The Vredembarga and Vrjthof theatres in The Netherlands.

* The Grand Casino in Nice, together with the great singer Ute Lemper.

1994 and 1995

1994 saw the premiere of her third show with her own company.

* ‘Herijia de Ia Llama’ opened at the Teatro de Madrid. And went on to tour The Pireo International Festival, Salonica Dance Festival, The Maastrich Festival and other venues.

Instrumentally, the show made use of keyboards, bass, sax, flute and percussion combined with traditional flamenco instrumentation and vocals.

1995 – 6

* ‘Recital Flamenco’ for the Veranos de Ia Villa festival (which was premiered at the Conde Duque Arts Centre in July).

* September – Festival de Musica y Danza, Santander.

* Performed at the International Guitar Festival in Jerusalem for two consecutive years as choreographer and director.

1997

* Producer and director of ‘Madrí-Jeré’ for Encuentro Flamenco in the Villa De Madrid Arts Centre. Distinguished artists such as El Capullo de Jerez, Fernando de Ia Morena, Juan Moneo “el Torta”, Mijita, Juan and Manuel Parrilla, Periquin Jero, Diego Amaya, Andres Heredia and David Amaya were among the guests.

* Toured Canada, Israel, Mexico and Germany.

1998

* “Campanas Flamencas” as soloist and choreographic coordinator.

* Following that show’s successful season in London, appointed Director Advisor by Francisco Sanchez, Artistic Director of the TVE series “Algo Mas Que Flamenco” and commissioned to record two programs.

* Took part in several other flamenco events and taught classes in Germany, Italy and the United States.

* Dancer and choreographer – ‘Campanas Flamencas’ in its unforgettable five week run at the Sadlers’ Wells Theatre in London.

* That same year saw her performing at the Festival of the Palau de Ia Musica in Valencia.

1999

* Repeat tour of ‘Campanas Flamencas’ in Sydney and Jerez and nationwide Spanish Tour.

* Premier of “Relumbre” in New York.

* “Madrí-Jeré’ in Madrid as well as in other Spanish and American cities.

* Flamenco Festival organized by Caja Madrid, a programme dedicated to the great flamenco artists of Madrid.

* April – Festival Internacional de Ia Danza at the Villamarta Theatre in Jerez de Ia Frontera.

* May. ‘Madrí-Jeré’, Gran Teatro in Caceres.

* July – ‘Relumbre Rojo sobre Morado’ at the World Financial Centre in Rockefeller Park, New York.

* September, Madrí-Jeré presented during the Spanish Dance season at the Villa de Madrid Arts Centre.

2000>

* “Concierto Flamenco” that opened the Spanish Cultural Program at Expo Hanover 2000. Dancer and Director Advisor.

* ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ premiered in Madrid and continued with a tour of the network of theatres of the Comunidad of Madrid until November 25.

2001/2

La Tati Productions:

* European tour of ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’. (see Productions above)

* ‘Relumbre Rojo sobre Morado’ at the Queen Elizabeth Halls in London to outstanding acclaim.

2003 >

‘Madre’ – La Tati’s conception of Brecht’s ‘Mother Courage’.

(see Productions above)

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Her irrepressible personality has also placed her in demand for a range of acting roles on television.

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Masterclasses

In addition to performing Tati has given master classes in South Africa, at the Spanish Dance Society in London, in Tel Aviv and in Washington, D.C.

La Tati coordinates her dancing with her work as a choreographer and teacher. Besides directing and choreographing all her own shows, she has been a guest artist with the Ballet Nacional de España (during the tenure of Antonio Ruiz Soler, the Great Antonio), the Ballet Hispanico of New York, the Escuela del Teatro Bellas Artes of Mexico D.F., the University of Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. as well as in Toronto, Canada, Italy and France.

La Tati has delivered flamenco tuition to professional dancers all over the world, and in the Amor de Dios Centre where she has spent the last twenty five years creating her own school, she provides an invaluable source of continuity and heritage for the new dancers of today.

She will be giving a one-day workshop for beginners and intermediate students in London on October 16th. venue TBA.

For More Information visit:

http://flamencoexpress.blogspot.com/

La Tati Interviews and Articles.

“La Tati – A Very Special Bernarda Alba” – ‘Flamenco World’.

‘Flamenco Without Borders’ – ‘Es Flamenco’

‘The Self Portrait of La Tati’ – deflamenco.com

“Flamenco Master La Tati”

“esto es así” – i.e. “This is Thus”

“Madre” – Flamenco Nederlands

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he Bessie Smith (1) of Flamenco comes to Britain’s regional theatres with Flamenco Express.

Trinity Arts Centre, Church Rd, Tunbridge Wells. Kent. 14th October

Hackney Empire, 291 Mare St, London E8 1EJ. 15th October

Filed under: Artist Profile

Leatherhead Finale.

flamenco express — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:39:29 +0000

Leatherhead Finale

more about “leatherhead finale“, posted with vodpod

Filed under: Live Shows

Leatherhead Theatre

flamenco express — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:18:02 +0000

Titi Flores. El Mono. La Joaquina.
Leatherhead Theatre. Leatherhead. 20/5/2010.

Filed under: Live Shows, Performance Images Tagged: "El Mono", "La Joaquina", "titi flores", cajon, dance, flamenco, gitano, music

Ash

flamenco express — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:38:22 +0000

April 15th. (Day 1)
Everything fine, say the venues. Just get everyone here from Spain and we’re laughing. After all, it’s not like last year’s blizzards could come back and close the airports. What are the chances of that in such lovely weather?
Just heard on late news that an Icelandic volcano has erupted. How interesting. I always liked geology.

Day 2.
This so-called Mount Eyjafjallajökull has poured an Ash Cloud of Death into the sky and grounded flights all over europe. Not to worry, it can’t go on for a week. they wouldn’t allow it. that would be unthinkable. Saw first swallow today.

Day 3.
Friday 17th. People are thinking the unthinkable. Newspapers are quivering with speculation about a future without air travel,
when asparagus would only be available in season.
I’m quivering like an asparagus about the row of cancelled shows, and the possible expense. It’s 5 days before our flights. they’re saying this could go on for a month… Start calling venues.

Day 4.
Theatres very calm about it all. Perhaps they haven’t been watching the same TV as me. Haggard multitudes sleeping in airports all over the world..
At least they get to sleep. Start calling for help. Tito and Ulíses and Jorge very willing to step in. God bless them.

Day 5.
Monday. Company supposed to arrive thursday. Weatherman not encouraging. Airlines demanding the safety rules be rewritten. I just want
the endless game of emotional Buckaroo to stop.

Day 6.
Tuesday 20th. AM. Peace at last. Impossible to see now how we can get anyone into the country. At least I know where I am.
PM. Turn on the news after tea. All bans lifted. They changed the rules. Ash is now safe.

Day 7.
21st. Wed. Not only are the bans lifted, but it seems that there aren’t the three-day queues and chaos we were promised.

Day 8.
April 22nd. Everyone arrives safe and sound and punctual, which is quite infuriating for some reason.
May 3rd. The rehearsals and shows defnitely have an extra tang of adrenalin after all the stress. And the audience seem to be feeling it too. And the ash didn’t return to trap everyone here.

All’s well that ends well. One thing’s for sure, ashclouds can’t be the same problem for our shows in May. What are the chances of that?

Sat. May 15th.
Evil Mt. Eyjafjallajökull back in action!! Flights from Spain due in five days for shows in Leatherhead and Tunbridge Wells.
What have Norse Firegods got against flamenco? I always assumed they were on our side.
Here we go again?

Filed under: Live Shows, Road Diary Tagged: Eyjafjallajökull

Airport Hell

flamenco express — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:37:13 +0000

Eleven fifteen they released us from the airprison. Some people had nowhere to go and were still waiting to find out were they were sleeping. People with kids. Old people. They may still be waiting as I write this twelve hours later.

This had the lot. Starving children, thunderstorms, men with machine guns…
The day had started so well. A beautiful Constable sky, smooth take-off into it from London City Airport, the prospect of a nice full house in sunny Jersey with time for a fresh lobster after the show. Time – 4.20pm ish. We’re all seated on the plane looking forward to the drinks trolley.
Then the announcement that raised the unanimous unspoken grunt of “Typical” in the cabin:
“There is a technical problem… We will be landing at Gatwick for a minor adjustment and taking off again shortly. There is nothing to worry about.” Not much.
We landed at Gatwick around 5.20. An hour after we took off from City – the same time it takes to fly to Jersey. There was the usual obscure aura of irritated tinkering that accompanies all interruptions to mechanised transport. We sat some more looking out the windows or at the ceiling. Then the rain started.
So we sat on the plane for several hours, in fact, while the thunderstorm crackled and spat all around us.
We survived on occasional rations of hypermarket Just Juice and water and some stuff which looked and, I assume, I suspect, tasted like that legendary substance – ship’s biscuit. ‘My God’, I thought, ‘I’ve been press-ganged.’ Well I didn’t, but I might have done had I not been stupified with boredom to the point of physical pain.
The kids seemed to be coping better than most, but not because their every need was catered for as in a normal prison. No, because (presumably ) their needs were almost totally ignored by the airline and airport. Though you have to say that the cabin staff did their best in the circumstances. You do have to say that.
So first they starved us and then, when they agreeed to let us go back into the airport, they lost our baggage. By this time Jersey airport had closed, and people just wanted to go home. They couldn’t. So then they starved us some more.
They told us the flight had been cancelled and that the next flight would be at 12.45 the following afternoon.
They told us they would put us up in hotels and pay for taxis for those returning to London.
They told us there were no baggage handlers available at that time. That’s what we were told.
Those are some of the things we were told, by a lot of different people wearing strange multi-coloured hats and scarves bearing their names and pictures to remind them who they were and what they looked like and what they were supposed to do. I suppose. Because that’s all they did seem to know. One of our dancers lost it gloriously and addressed the assembled masses with defiant revolutionary fervour and got one round of applause out of the weekend.
Some of us, the lucky few who could at least take their disappointment to a bed or bar somewhere, eventually staggered out in the first wave, gallantly leaving our starving, increasingly vocal companions behind to their fate.
Then just as a finisher, to add that essential garnish of genuine nightmare, as I was fleeing through one of many gleaming white hermetically sealed sci-fi corridors the two large men in black showed up.
Walking slowly down the corridor towards me getting bigger all the time. Men with very functional, obviously expensive, long, matte black objects born visibly on their chest among a lot of other dark, hard objects of various shapes and sizes. It was not a nice sight to see. And after the day I’d had, they looked like my coup de grace, and I wasn’t quite expecting that.

I swore audibly and involuntarily. A medical curse. The larger and more sensitive of the two took exception. I was told in no uncertain terms not to swear as there were children around. There were’nt, of course. They were all back in the Starvation Lounge listening to their parents swearing and passing out.
But nevertheless, I was convinced that if I opened my mouth again, he would kill me. So it’s OK to starve children, but not to swear in front of them. And this from a man apparently on his way down to mow them all down for being a nuisance. They dress to scare the Bejasus out of you, and then when it works, they apparently threaten to kill you. That, presumably, is what you’re meant to think. After a day of British European’s hospitality I was very, very tempted.

Filed under: Road Diary