The Unique Art Form of Spanish Dancing

The Spanish dances are among the most varied and technically developed that a single country has produced. There are many different groups of Spanish Dance, the four main ones being Flamenco, Escuela Bolera (classical), Regional and Neo-Classical. These four groups can then be taken separately and each category can be explained and divided into dances of their own. Below are very brief descriptions / explanations of these four different groups:

Flamenco:
Flamenco itself can be divided into many different rhythms – those rhythms fall into two major categories – those that you count in a ‘compas’ (rhythmic cycle, measure of time) of 8 and those that you count in a ‘compas’ of 12.

In both your 8 and 12 compas you have three depths of emotions when describing your rhythms

Baile chico – light hearted
Baile Intermedio – ‘intermediate’ level  (inbetween baile chico, and baile jondo)
Baile jondo – very heavy / serious

A few examples of rhythms from you 8 compas and their category (each dance can be researched on its own even further with regards to history etc):

Tangos – Baile Chico
Tientos – Baile Jondo
Rumba – Bile Chico
Farruca – Baile Intermedio

A few examples of rhythms from you 12 compas and their category (each dance can be researched on its own even further with regards to history etc):

Alegrias – Baile Intermedio
Soleares – Biale Jondo
Bulerias – Baile Chico

The above rhythms mentioned are only but a few of the many different flamenco rhythms that you find. This above is also with reference to the guitar, please note that Flamenco singing (cante) has as much importance as that as the guitar and dance.

Escuela bolera:
The Escuela Bolera emerged from a blending of traditions. When classical ballet was brought to Spain in approximately the eighteenth century (where madrilènes and sevillanos were already doing their own dances) the two forms combined and the escuela evolved – very much classical and very much Spanish! The movements, recognizably balletic and lively with jumps, are done with the use of castanets.

The Pericet family in Spain have carefully preserved exercises and choreographies of the escuela as it was originally performed by Angel Pericet Carmona (1877 – 1944). The Spanish Dance Society are priviledged enough to have some of these exercises included in their syllabus.

A few examples of Escuela Bolera dances would be ‘Cachucha’ and the ‘Panaderos de la Flamenca’.

Regional:
Each region in Spain and often each province (and sometimes even villages and towns) have their own dance style – this style therefore has its own music, costume and choreographies and are relevant to the traditions and even the climate in that specific region.

It is most interesting to study each specific dance, and its costume, from each Region – and to see how it varies from place to place. The dance itself is usually named after the specific region – an example would be the Galician dance originating from Galicia, or the Valenciana originating from Valencia.

The history, costume, music and dance style vary greatly from Region to Region – even incorporating the landscape and climate (as mentioned above).
There are some dances that may resemble the style of Flamenco, but are actually regional dances such as the ‘Sevillanas’ and the ‘Fandangos’.

Neo- Classical:
Neo-Classical can basically be described as choreographies that are done to music by Spanish composers (such as Albeniz), or to music that sounds Spanish (a good example of this would be the ‘Bolero’ by Bizet) – the dance form would usually have a more classical style, with flamenco technique (i.e. even though the style would be classical – high heeled Spanish shoes would be worn for the dancer to be able to do zapateado (footwork).

With reference to notes from The Spanish Dance Society