Review: Bandaluzia Flamenco at 505 on Friday 26th September
Review by Sophia Dorn and Roxane Grolleaux
When we walked into the 505 Theatre in Cleveland Street, Surry Hills on Friday night to see some Flamenco dance for the first time, we were very excited imagining what it was going to be like. Then, we were actually entering a room which was crowded with a lot of people sitting in an area in front of a small stage or standing around with a drink in their hand. Due to the fact that, to our surprise, there was nearly no space left when we arrived, we just had a seat on one of the comfortable sofas in the corner right to the bar and waited for the concert to begin. Looking at the small stage, we were wondering how it is possible for a group of musicians to perform on such a little platform and, most important question, how they would be able to dance there.
While this question was still in our heads, we had a look around the theatre to get familiar with this place and the ambience in it. Well, in fact we can say that it didn’t take us a long time until we really liked the atmosphere in there. It was very comfortable, relaxing and amusing. The light was dimmed, it was warm inside and somehow also wicked like in an old pub. Furthermore, what made the atmosphere even nicer and extremely cosy was that there were some candles on every table, which made the light seem like a little spot shining in the dark surrounding the rest of the room.
At the beginning, there was only guitarist Damien Wright from the ensemble ‘Bandaluzia’ sitting alone on a chair in the middle of the stage, all eyes focused on him. It was just him and his guitar. He seemed to be quite relaxed because when he started to play his guitar, we thought that he was playing all of the music out of his memory, spontaneous, without really thinking about what exactly he was playing. That was very impressive and the songs he played were very good as well. It was quite an unusual experience to listen to music without any singer in it, but in fact, this was exactly what made the music so nice. We realized that it isn’t always necessary to have a singer who accompanies the music. Just listening to the sound of the guitar and watching the man’s fingers quickly slipping over the strings of the guitar was amazing.
Then, after a few songs, the other musicians joined him one after another and we enjoyed the performance and their Spanish inspired music more and more. It was a passionate, lively kind of music set within a really subdued atmosphere. This passionate facet was later emphasized by the dance of the two women, both wearing a long beautiful flamenco dress. One of the dancers was Jessica Statham, Dance Australia Magazine’s “Most Outstanding Dancer of 2013” and even co- winner of “Best Dance Show” at The Adelaide Fringe 2014.
At first, they were only clapping their hands to the rhythm of the song. It was really fascinating to see that there was a technique of clapping the hands in order to make a good sound which contributes the music. Then, suddenly, in the middle of a song, both of the women stood up and started their flamenco dance. The tap-dancing of their heels became totally a part of the music, like a drum or percussion, their body became instruments. They were just exactly like the fingers on the guitar or on the piano. Their dance was so impressive, full of so much passion, fire, heat, power, vitality and energy. It was surprising that nobody was dancing in the audience, but we think that everybody was just absorbed by their show. We were completely overwhelmed by their dance and the way they moved to the music. It can be compared to spending hours in front of a big fire looking at the twisting flames. They were mixing slow, elegant and graceful movements with sudden quick and fitful movements. The rhythm and the speed of the music always adapted to the movements, which means that there was a lot of variety within one song. After a while, we really got the feeling of being right in Andalusia, in Spain, the original country of Flamenco dance. It was awesome.
Concentrating on the rhythm of the music
After more than one hour, we thought that it must be so tiring and exhausting for the dancers, as well as for the musicians to play that kind of passionate music. We recognized that being able to dance like the women and to play that precisely and that long makes it necessary that they are strong, not only physically, but also mentally. Looking at all the artists on the stage, you could see that they were totally immersed in their music, feeling the beat and the rhythm in their body. Consequently, you could even say that they became a part of their music.
At the end of the show all the audience applauded with the same fervour with which the artists had played and danced before.
Looking back at this evening, we could really feel the passion and the heat that was portrayed in both, dance and music, in our body as well. It made us want to join the dance, to go onto the stage and move with all our energy and with every part of our body. It was a night that we will never forget because it was unique and we have never seen something like this in our lives before. It was impressive, extraordinary, inspiring and just fascinating. Moreover, it was a very good experience and if we get the opportunity to participate in a show likes this once again, we will definitely do it. Maybe we’ll even be able to dance with the women on the stage ourselves, because now we really got interested in learning how to dance Flamenco…
Passionate Flamenco dance