With much anticipation, we finally kickstarted our inaugural Classical Spanish Dance residency with Paloma Gómez in Singapore.
This is an ongoing blog that will SUMMARISE elements of what was covered in each technique class, so as to help participants build their understanding of the Spanish Dance techniques, remember what was taught and apply to all forms of dance they do. Particularly helpful to those doing Flamenco too, as Classical Spanish Dance shares many ‘borderless’ elements and techniques. As we have 3 weeks of tech classes, interested dancers can join any time, as tech classes don’t follow a consecutive choreography. If you need to discuss which class can best suit your learning, you can have a chat with Tania (tania@spanishdance.sg).
Technique Class (Sat 23 Sep) ~ Panadero
Day 1 of tech class – we focused on the Panadero basic steps (without castanets). Here, Paloma slowly and clearly demonstrates the proper arm positions and where to change your arm/elbows. She walked us through the 6-beat steps, the body line and posture. This also included correcting students on the head position (feeling the extension from the back of the neck). Once we were more familiar with these, we then had fun working it to different pieces of music, rhythms and solo or duets.
The Panadero steps are danced with castanets in the repertoire ‘Sevilla’ that we work on in the last class. So students keen on hearing how the rhythm (chin-pan, ta-ria-pi-ta, ria-ria-pi-ta) t into these steps can stay back to observe. It is really great for building rhythm and coordination!
Day 2 – Technique Class (Tues 26 Sep) ~ Vuelta de Pecho & Vuelta Quebrada
On this day, we focussed two types of turns – the Vuelta de Pecho (chest turns) and the Vuelta Quebrada (‘broken’ turn) – understanding the posture, the arm position (you can see in the video Paloma showing us where the arms pass through, how they rotate, where they have to end). Tips were given on how to position your feet and how adjust them as you end your pose. In this class, What was also important, was the eye focus. Paloma corrects students so that they maintain eye focus on a point before them. We then worked on a dance sequence where we had to apply what we had learnt, working to the beautiful music chosen.
More to come as we share what we learn in our Spanish Dance technique classes! Meanwhile, read our other posts and watch the helpful videos within! Nos vemos pronto!
