Many moons ago I was a keen Latin American dancer. At a time when most of my 14 year old peers were spending their evenings trying to persuade the local barmen to serve them alcohol I was in a dance studio strutting my stuff with an instructor who was at least 60. We practiced the jive and cha cha cha under the watchful eye of his wife and I was scoring top marks in my exams. Continue reading
‘People in the Gym’ by Mike Fleming via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
January is full of people making resolutions that they ultimately will not keep. One of the most popular resolutions you’ll notice is to eat healthily and exercise more often. Usually about three weeks into January resolutions such as these begin to slip and before you know it they have disappeared completely. The fact is that exercising, usually at the gym, just isn’t suited to everyone and for many it’s simply a monotonous chore. Ask anyone at all and I’m sure that they will agree that the key to exercise is to find an activity that you love and which for you the exercise part is merely a bonus.
A true Flamenco performance is made up of a number of parts, the Baile, Toque, Cante and the Palmas. Each one of these parts plays a crucial role in a traditional and authentic Flamenco performance. The Baile is the familiar dance, the Toque is the Flamenco guitar, the Cante is the singing and the Palmas is the distinctive clapping. The best Flamenco performances display mastery in all of these areas!
Flamenco Dancer by Ruggero Poggianella via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
As the mother of a dance-mad 7 year old, I am well aware that some dance schools and the associated equipment can be horrendously expensive. Some dance schools, especially those teaching formal ballet, can demand their students have leotard, tutu, tights and shoes bought from their approved retailer, and that’s on top of the hefty tuition fees and exam entrance costs. And don’t even get me started on what some places charge parents to watch the end of term show and buy the obligatory DVD. It doesn’t have to be this way, but things will only change if parents and children want change. Continue reading
