Feb. 3, 2005

Lisner Hosts Fifth Annual Flamenco Festival

By Julia Jacobelli

The fifth annual Flamenco Festival lights up The George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium Feb. 2–12. The festival features four performances, as well as two events to involve the community in the art of flamenco.

The inspiration for the Flamenco Festival began when Rosanna Ruscetti, director of Lisner Auditorium, first heard renowned flamenco singer Carmen Linares perform.

“World wide, flamenco may be the most popular dance form outside of ballet,” said Ruscetti. Indeed, flamenco has become very popular in Washington, DC; it can be found in nightclubs, bars, cafes, and restaurants, and lessons are readily available all over the city. According to Ruscetti, the idea to hold a festival at Lisner, bringing all of the glory of the dance, guitar, and voice to not only the GW students but the entire community was very appealing.

“GW students are very culturally aware,” she explained. “Bringing the festival to GW represents a happy meeting of interests between the community and the students. Turnout is consistently strong; particularly anything with dance is very popular.”

The caliber of the performers is especially important to Ruscetti and Marketing/Events Assistant Carl Graci. Performers are selected through a process similar to an audition. An intermediary sends video or audiotapes of prospective performers to Ruscetti, who the chooses the musicians based upon the performance as well as the appeal each would have to the community.

The theme for this year’s festival is “Los 4 Elementos,” a dramatization of the four elements through dance accompanied by live guitar, “Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras,” a traditional flamenco dance performed by Sara and her 15 member company, “Mano a Mano,” a duel between a classical and flamenco guitar, and “Crossroads,” a celebration of dance and music that combines the traditional flamenco with the more contemporary sounds experimented with today. This year, the community is encouraged to get involved with dance lessons for all skill levels and an exclusive dinner at Jaleo, prepared by the award-winning chef Jose Andres.

Flamenco is a cultural expression played out in three forms: Cante, or the song; Baille, the dance; and Guitarra, guitar playing. From its beginning in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, flamenco has progressed to its status as an icon today due to a number of influences from the various peoples to inhabit Spain. Although dance is commonly believed to be the heart of flamenco, early flamenco was song — vocal melodies accompanied by rhythmic clapping called toque de palmas. Dance was probably performed by only women, in a sensual style, reminiscent of traditional gypsy dances. Later, when men joined the dancing, the rhythmic stomping of the feet provided a beat for guitar players, who accompanied the singers and dancers. Flamenco gained popularity in the cafes where it was performed, gradually coming into its own definitive style. The music and dances are passionate and exotic. They express both the lament and rebellion of the gypsies, the Jews, and the Muslims, all of whom were persecuted in a rigidly Christian Spain under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella. Flamenco today retains its traditional style; however, some artists have brought more contemporary influences like jazz or classical ballet to their flamenco performances.

GW’s Flamenco Festival is extremely popular in the Andalusia region of Spain. Each year, television crews from that area come to Lisner to cover the festival. Dancers like Sara Baras, and singers like Carmen Linares, both performers at this year’s festival, are well known for their talents. Last year the mayor of Seville gave a speech at the festival on the influences of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism on flamenco. Flamenco is a subject that arouses a lot of passion in Spain, much like football or baseball in the United States, and the flamenco performers achieve a level of celebrity comparable to our sports heroes here.

“The Flamenco Festival will continue as long as we can continue to bring artists of the same high caliber we have been able to see in the past,” said Graci.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

Related Link

Lisner Auditorium