#MARIN JONDO PROFESSIONAL#

I was able to finally earn a living doing what I adored.ДЄs it turned out in my case, it was about 10 years before I had the occasion to dance with guitar.

In initial years I joined the various organizations such as ActorвЂ™s Equity, AGVA and SAG and other Organizations in order to work.

These dances to written music gave me the necessary tools to enter the entertainment profession.

#MARIN JONDO PROFESSIONAL#

Subsequently, I had an opportunity to learn some dance routines in a more theatrical style from friends who were professional performers. Later I attended classes with Carmelita Maracci, a great artist who had a marvelous ballet technique in addition to her own individual style in Spanish dance and expanded my horizons further into the art of dance.ДЄround this period, I finally heard the magic word FLAMENCO! Not once did I hear the word Flamenco!ДЄfter two and one half years, I left Brigante to continue exploration of the work with JosГ© Fernandez, a brilliant dancer and teacher and player of castanets. We even were given introduction to some of the Mexican folkloric material such as Jarabe Tapatio, and Chiapenicas, augmenting the repertoire more widely. These last included choreographed arrangements to music of Albeniz, Granados, De Falla, and some other popular works. We learned Pasodobles, Jota, Bolero in addition to theater or stylized pieces to written music of SpainвЂ™s composers. Apart from daily classes in traditional ballet, there were two classes a week in Spanish dance concentrating on castanet technique. In this I had my initial introduction to this dance expression. In my early studies, with Michael Brigante, an Italian American dancer and teacher of classical Ballet who was versed in the basic vocabulary of the Iberian dance forms I was introduced to the Spanish dance. There were many pitfalls along the way and it was never easy. From my early вЂteenвЂ™sвЂќ I felt a fascination so overwhelming that I wanted to devote my life to doing this and developing my skill and knowledge. No one could have been more enamored of Spanish Dance than I. Above all, its sensuality attracts the public. And the stage wardrobe is so visually appealing. It is the only thing that sells! Of course. In my view, I see a reason for the outstanding popularity of Flamenco. Knowing people from other parts of Spain and their fierce pride and knowledge of the special material they offer has been an honor. Having been exposed to many different forms of Spanish Dance throughout my career, I know the wonderful examples of dances and songs of different provinces and have had the privilege of learning some of these pieces and in addition the pleasure of performing them. To place this subject in perspective, I must point out that in some ways it is understandable. One was from a respected flamenco guitarist who accompanied me in Madrid at the opening of the Castellana Hilton in 1953 and another instance in the same year, of a prominent Spanish dance teacher in Spain whose references to flamenco and the people who perform as very low class!

In recent posts and comments I have made on social media and on my own Website Flamenco-Inesita, I related two experiences about hearing serious disparaging remarks about the form and its practitioners which shocked me at the time.

Strangely, within Spain it is not always appreciated as widely in other parts of the world. Many years ago, Antonio Triana, the great Spanish Flamenco dancer and father of Luisa Triana, told me вЂќ Inesita, you are only performing dances of one province, Andalucia!вЂќ in fact the material I knew at the time was basically arrangements of flamenco rhythms and melodies adapted to a written score. It excites the senses as no other form in the ethnic vocabulary. The special aspects that are admired world-wide are the tensions and energy of movement, the stark tonal contrasts of the song and grittiness of the instrumentation along with percussive counterpoint penetrating the basic beat. Essentially flamenco is Andalusian.ДЄs is generally known, the dance, song and music of this genre was born in Andalucia in the south of Spain. The name for the flamboyant art form is Cante Jondo or Deep song. That word which for so many decades appears to stand for all dance expression of Spain has acquired a meaning apart from its true definition.

Marin jondo