Dear friends and Flamenco lovers:
It's been a nice summer with lots of activities and news and I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I did. The month of July finished with the Spanish Dance Society Summer Course in London where I could make the most of the amazing artists teaching there: Ángel Muñoz and Charo Espino for Flamenco, Javier Palacios for Stylized Spanish Dance and Antonio Estepa for Folk Dance. There, I could learn many different new steps to refresh my knowledge and now I'm ready to share them with the students, great!
August was a quiet month (not for me: I got married!) and then September came with the Hull Freedom Festival and the workshops at Moor End Academy and St. Augustine's Primary School.
But summer is gone now and autumn brings us new melancholic winds so it's the perfect time to speak about Tientos (we're practising this palo in the Fridays class at the Dance Studio Leeds)
The Tientos is -along with the Soleá and the Alegrías- one of the most common palos for any Flamenco class, as it needs from the dancer to work through different skills: footwork technique, arms movements and a huge amount of expressive capabilities as well as compás understanding. It is believed to be born at the end of 19th Century, and Joaquín el Feo is considered to be the Tientos "father".
Tientos is a 4 beat palo, in the same family as the Tangos, but slower and with different topics, lyrics and mood. Actually, every Tientos becomes a Tangos at the end of the song/dance. Tientos lyrics tend to be pathetic, sentimental, and speak about the lack of love, disillusionment and revenge. Tientos dancing has to be imposing, majestic, grave and dramatic, that's why a considerable amount of interpretation skills are needed.
It can be danced by a man or a woman, but it's specially appropriate for women and checking the following youtube out you will understand why. It's a Pastora Galván performance in an Andalusian Tablao and shows how a Tientos must be played.
I hope everybody enjoy it and as always...
Feel the passion
Feel the dance
Feel Flamenco!
It's been a nice summer with lots of activities and news and I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I did. The month of July finished with the Spanish Dance Society Summer Course in London where I could make the most of the amazing artists teaching there: Ángel Muñoz and Charo Espino for Flamenco, Javier Palacios for Stylized Spanish Dance and Antonio Estepa for Folk Dance. There, I could learn many different new steps to refresh my knowledge and now I'm ready to share them with the students, great!
August was a quiet month (not for me: I got married!) and then September came with the Hull Freedom Festival and the workshops at Moor End Academy and St. Augustine's Primary School.
But summer is gone now and autumn brings us new melancholic winds so it's the perfect time to speak about Tientos (we're practising this palo in the Fridays class at the Dance Studio Leeds)
The Tientos is -along with the Soleá and the Alegrías- one of the most common palos for any Flamenco class, as it needs from the dancer to work through different skills: footwork technique, arms movements and a huge amount of expressive capabilities as well as compás understanding. It is believed to be born at the end of 19th Century, and Joaquín el Feo is considered to be the Tientos "father".
Tientos is a 4 beat palo, in the same family as the Tangos, but slower and with different topics, lyrics and mood. Actually, every Tientos becomes a Tangos at the end of the song/dance. Tientos lyrics tend to be pathetic, sentimental, and speak about the lack of love, disillusionment and revenge. Tientos dancing has to be imposing, majestic, grave and dramatic, that's why a considerable amount of interpretation skills are needed.
It can be danced by a man or a woman, but it's specially appropriate for women and checking the following youtube out you will understand why. It's a Pastora Galván performance in an Andalusian Tablao and shows how a Tientos must be played.
I hope everybody enjoy it and as always...
Feel the passion
Feel the dance
Feel Flamenco!
RSS Feed
