Carole Edrich Weblog

Dutch Surprise

We arrived as Nuria Mangalano was performing the final numbers with her group “Flamenco Vivo”. Currently living in Amsterdam, her stage name “La Granaina” proclaims her birth place to be Granada. Most serious flamenco dancers dance either traditional flamenco or 'new' flamenco. Since Nuria's portfolio shows that she has danced both flamenco puro and flamenco jazz, she's a little different.

The whole thing was a surprise. I'm only here for a few days and had just been told to keep the late afternoon free. I lived in The Hague for years and never expected to see live flamenco performed in the late summer sun in a Dutch plein (square), so am now very interested to hear more about the show that Nuria says she's developing and to see what her lessons are like.

“Serenata Mexicana” followed. Not only did they play the audience wonderfully (there were times when it seemed like everyone in the square was joining in, in Spanish) but they got the kids up and dancing too! One gentleman in the audience; Roberto Girigorie, had a particularly rich voice. It turns out that he is an accomplished musician and performer himself. Roberto seems to organise annual reunions for all those who attended his conservatory way back when... One is scheduled for next week and is expected to be a huge Latin jam session, with anyone who wants welcome to come and dance to the music that results. Roberto invited us to yet another annual Latin dance festival in Rijsvijk tonight but unfortunately we already had plans.

Serenata Mexicana is a Mariachi band that has been running for fifteen years. Its lead singer who is larger than life in character, size and voice is from Croatia. Their Manager; Koen also plays in the band and talked to me of how much pleasure they get when the audience shows its appreciation and joins in. With a day job teaching music and providing music therapy as well as rehearsing and managing a band that's so obviously successful, it must be difficult for him to find spare time for life’s more mundane tasks.

Next in the line-up was a Brazilian group; Pinga. They didn’t have much of a stage presence but held a steady beat and since; by this time people were dancing wherever they could, it didn't really matter.

So if you’re thinking of visiting The Hague next year, the first week in September looks great. You can do all the normal tourist things and go to some fantastic parties at the same time!

La Granaina
Serenata Mexicana

Photo blog starts here and ends here

Fiesta de la Plaza is organised by Het Lint

Mature talent at Costa Dorada

Yo Marakuni; a journalist friend who writes for the celebrated Japanese magazine “Paseo Flamenco”, suggested we go to watch Gemma de la Cruz at Costa Dorada last night. Gemma has spent the summer away from her home in Madrid teaching her regular August slot at Escuela de Baile and we wanted to see her perform before she left. I wasn’t able to take her lessons this year, but everyone who did says they were great.

Gemma has a warm, humorous pragmatism that is as evident when she performs and teaches as it is in her conversations. Her dance is expressive, beautifully executed with a grace that makes even the fastest taconeo seem a well articulated and completely natural form of expression.

Yasmine and Tito Villalobos provided the music of the consistent, professional standard I’ve come to expect and Oliver was the male dancer. When younger, Oliver’s dance was really exciting. He put so much feeling and expression into it that you couldn’t help enjoying his performance and being excited for his future.

Flamenco is danced with the whole body. Feet, legs, hands, body, arms, the position of the head and facial expressions are all an intrinsic part of the performance. More, flamenco is about feeling, passion and life experiences and it's important for the dancer to project all of this. Gemma does it really well but I wished she was with a less self-indulgent and more partner. Wearing the same slightly supercilious expression for the entire evening, the only feeling I received from Oliver’s dancing was boredom. I even found myself thinking he was too young to have enough life experiences to express in his dance. Since, this would not have crossed my mind when he younger and certainly never has when I watched Rocío Molina or Mercedes Ruiz, I can only assume that this negativity was also in response to his performance.

Gemma is a lovely person as well as a real professional. She came over for a chat and was particularly happy to see one of her recent students (Yo has taken her classes all summer) and asked me why I had not been there this year. Look out for her; she performs all over the world, and if you can, try some private classes with her in Madrid.

Escuela De Baile is based at the Latin Quarter in Euston