Flamenco is a category of Spanish music, song and dance from southern Spain, noted for its energetic and staccato style. The singing, guitar playing, dance and handclaps are the main aspects of flamenco. In recent years flamenco has become popular all over the world and is taught in many countries. Antonio Gades was one of the persons who had great influence in flamenco dance and he did a great job in presenting this dance to the world by movies such as “Blood Wedding” and “Carmen”. This research will aim at Antonio Gades bibliography and his affection in Spanish dance and culture during his period of time.
Antonio Gades (1936-2004) never imagined that he would become a professional dancer, let alone one memorialized in ground breaking films. However with the dexterity and magnificence of a skilled matador, noted for his still hips and tight turns, Gades was not destined for privacy. In a career that reach over a half-century, he earned more dance awards than any other Spanish dancer to date. He performed worldwide, directed four major companies, choreographed numerous works and was an outspoken human rights activist (straus p78-80).
Antonio grades brought the intensity, seductive attraction to flamenco’s powerful vocabulary. Turning to sources that tapped an enduring Gypsy mystique and style. He took flamenco’s stylized movements and recast them in dramatic narrative terms.One of the finest flamenco performers of the 20th century, Gades created a sensation performing at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. Concentrating his performance on spare gestures, tight matador-pirouettes, and powerful footwork, he exuded masculinity (Bennahum p101-102).
The movie called “Carmen” directed by Carlos Saura. For the second film in his Flamenco Trilogy, Saura evidently wanted to give the same dance company who showcased in Blood Wedding (1981) a bigger stage on which to perform not an irrational idea, at least on paper. But Blood Wedding’s stripped down, simple central performance was part of the attraction, not least for the way removing any distractions let you appreciate the almost magical way Saura’s cast appeared to go straight from practising dance steps to living and breathing their parts with nothing in between (Towers p56-56).
Resource
• Web. 10 Jul. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c1905b3e-5a31-4aa9-94f8-b8fcf598df97@sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=15>.
• Bennahum, Ninotchka. "Dance Magazine." 78.12 (Dec2004): p101-102. Web. 10 Jul. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=15&sid=ee36e94c-70df-4e8a-b656-155ce8b82661@sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==
• Towers, Deirdre. "Dance on Camera Journal." 13.6 (Nov/Dec2010): p56-56. Web. 10 Jul. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e9365678-30e1-4236-bdbd-59611958fa2f@sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=15>.
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