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BEFORE JEREZ January 2016. I’ve begun working on a dance-music duet FORGE in a new collaboration with a Western Classical pianist and composer. FORGE is about reckoning with oneself in the evolution of selfdetermination. In our first week of rehearsals, such conversations normally inspiring, became pivotal to the project’s development. We are part of the flamenco family, the flamenco Diaspora and so any commentary on our own work will be perceived as a challenge to flamenco. Regardless of what is being ‘broken down’ my work will always in some way be viewed as an ‘import’ into the flamenco milieu. Flamenco is (already) pure fusion: a melding of Arabic, Sephardi and Gypsy (Indian) cultures plus Cuban, South American and Christian Byzantine influences. In 2013 UNESCO declared Flamenco an ‘art form’. Franco’s dictatorship ended in 1975 and flamenco moved from exaggerated, often-touristy style of tablao (club) performances
to highly sophisticated concert form on the world stage. Today, its development incorporates European contemporary dance, multimedia and Brechtian aesthetics that are anti-stereotypic. Some of the leaders in this are Israel Galvan, Rocio Molina, Eva Yerbabuena and Juan Carlos Lerida. The space between my ‘bilingual’ practice is a place I love to live in, a sweet spot that somehow feels real. Tension between flamenco and contemporary is high. There is an almost gravitational pull toward one or the other. The simple act of wearing shoes or dancing bare foot defines posturing and coded meaning. Torso torque with overtly bent arms goes into battle with straightened lines, released spine and suspension. Dropping to the floor becomes a curation rather than a place to naturally move in and out of. Revealing awkward leg line can only happen if the dress is lifted well above the knees - ungracious in flamenco--but leaving it down potentially looks like a reworking of Grahams’ Appalachian Spring.