Welcome to the website of Flamenco Dance School “Almas del Fuego”

"Bailar, es una manera de existir" (dancing is a way of life)

What is flamenco?

Flamenco as a performing art is very well described in the following article:

In its purest form flamenco exists of four elements in between which there is a constant exchange.

In the centre is the singing. A good flamenco singer (cantaor) does not just sing the text and the melody of a song (cante), but is able to deliver a particular emotion through specific intonations and long kept tones. Some cantes are cheerful, others are passionate or sad. They all have their own tendency. As long as the singer sings, the guitarist (tocaor)and the dancer (bailaor) have a serving role. The guitar supports the melody with chords and percussion, the dancer represents the emotion through gracious movements. When the singer stops singing, the guitarist can show his/her skilfulness with artistic variations and falsetas. The dancer speeds up the tempo with the stamping of his/her feet and varies to the basic rhythm (compàs) with very rapid feetwork. Until guitar and feet stop and the singer starts another verse.

And the fourth element? This is the audience, who encourage the artists to bigger actions by cries and shouts. And if all four elements co operate in full, than, sometimes, something special occurs which is known to those who really know flamenco as 'duende' A higher power gets into all who are present, magnetized by one magic emotion...!

(translation from: Tablao Flamenco 2005 ©)

More information about flamenco like origin and history, go to the 'links' on top of this site.

last update: 17 March 2007