Kick That Ruffle

That is what our teacher tells us.

When you kick the ruffle of your skirt with your knee, it flies up in a swirl of flounce and polka dots, looking like a more modest version of a can-can skirt. And then you stamp your feet hard on the wooden floor--bang!--and the dozens of little nails that are hammered into the toes and heels of your shoes make a sharp crack.

Your torso is lifted, your head held high, and you are fierce.

Flamenco is h-o-t. (Not that tango isn't, of course.) It's a different kind of hot. Like if tango is a panther quietly prowling towards its prey though a lush bed of jungle, flamenco is a falcon that will swoop down on you and take your heart and fly off into the sky again.

Tango is voluptuous, stealthy, perfection in shadows. Flamenco is in your face, like the flash of a magnesium flare, audacious and wilful.

Like I said, it's fierce. I like it.

***

Last night in my class, I had a glimmer of hope in that I will not always look like a special-needs person dressed up as a flamenco dancer.

I had little flashes of what it will feel like when I can actually do this dance without screwing up.

I have band-aids on both heels this morning from flamenco class last night. I don't remember scraping my skin off yesterday, but I guess I did somewhere in that hour.

***

In class, we have live music. A guitarist named Jorge plays and sings for us. We rode up together in the old clanky elevator at the dance center yesterday, and I said my little Hola, que tal? (because that is all I know, I really must try to learn Spanish) and he quietly reciprocated.

I told Jorge what an honor and a pleasure it is to have him play for us in every class. I told him that I am not used to having a musician play in my dance classes (although in ballet we have a piano accompanist, but that feels more like background music than music you dance to). Flamenco guitar is very passionate but his gypsy singing is what makes it soulful.

***

After class, my muscles ache. I feel stretched and loose and sore and sweaty. My neck feels longer and so do my arms. Even though it's cold outside, I am not wearing my jacket. I think of that John Mellencamp song, Hurts So Good.

So what I am learning from all of this?

I think that flamenco is going to help my tango. I am finally using and working that infamous core that my tango teachers talk about. I realize now that I am getting the training and warmup exercises I have needed for tango all along, but I am guessing it is needed for any kind of dance. I have not had a tango class that has focused on exercise to develop the intrinsic form and internal strength of the dancer, aside from the walk, even though that form is talked about a lot in class.

I think flamenco is going to help my tango a lot because I'll finally be developing that dancer's stance. We'll see. I'm going to Cellspace tonight so I'll be evaluating myself to see if I notice anything new in the way I carry myself.

I'll just have to be careful not to stamp my feet.