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My first time accompanying a dancer...
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Rob
Posts: 60
Joined: Apr. 26 2004
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 My first time accompanying a dancer...
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Well, some of it seemed easy (so I thought, as I sat there thrashing through a few rhythmic compases of soleares) and some of it was tricky, but I feel I managed well. She is an experienced dancer, and I am a novice flamenco player. What was difficult was the verbal communication between us.
She would say 'do the da da da bit' and I would do the 'daga daga bit'. 
I would start on 1 and she would start on 12. 
I got the impression that she has either worked with experienced guitarists who just know what she is going to do, or she has mainly danced along to recordings and expected me to do what was on the disc. She even played me the CD she uses with her dance students, but it was more complicated than I could absorb at one hearing. I'm willing to accept that I got it wrong when it went wrong, but despite being a novice flamenco player, I have been a professional musician for many years. I can certainly count to twelve, and, between ourselves, felt that she was getting it wrong on occasion.
How do you guys work it out with your dancers? What language (I don't mean Spanish or English!) do you use to communicate?
Enjoyed it though!
Rob 
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 13 2004 19:50:26
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eslastra
Posts: 134
Joined: Jul. 12 2003
From: Livermore, CA USA
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RE: My first time accompanying a dan... (in reply to Guest)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AndyB
quote:
she would start on 12.
I could help you more if I heard the recording. But I think the main places where the accentuation could shift from 1 to 12 would be in the tacaneo between letras or after a
desplente in the escobilla.
Eddie? Does this agree with your experience?
The escobilla starts on 1, but a desplente could end that section on 10 and a new rhythm start on 12. That's what desplentes are for, technically. But today dancers come up with these almost random splicings of different choreographies so the rules don't always apply any more.
Sometimes the dancer will jump right into footwork on 12 after a letra, in which case you have to imagine the last line of the letras chords ending on 10 and the new rhythm starting on 12 of the same compas. Or at least that helps me.
I got the biggest kick when Vicky's mom told me that back in the golden days ALL desplentes started on 12 and ALL llamada on 1. She said that was just common courtesy, so that the guitarist doesn't have to guess what the dancer intended to do. Those were the good ole days for accompaniests. Today they expect you to memorize their choreographies.
-andy
Andy,
Without actually seeing and hearing what is going on, it's hard to make a suggestion. But here's the important thing. Whether the dancer starts on 12 and the guitarist starts on 1, you all must be together on beats 3 and 10, very important landmarks in the compas. If it's Solea or Alegrias, I'll hold strong to starting on 1, closing on 10, except for the sections where tempo picks up in the escobilla sections. A shift to 12 usually happens here as you mentioned. This is where things can get muddy because a desplante and llamada can be hard to detect, especially as the tempo increases  . These parts are usually worked out in advance. I've learned to read the body language to help determine which is which. On desplantes the body position and momentum signals they are going to continue dancing for another round of compases. On the llamada, the body language is usually very distinct in saying 'Okay I'm done dancing, here is my mark, let's end on 10'. Of course this depends on the dancer's skill and style. With some there is no visible distinction, so you kind of have to wing it. A lot of what's done these days is a cut and paste of different steps from different choreographies, because everyone is learning different steps from different teachers and styles. For the guitarist this can be frustrating because while the pieced together sections might make sense to the dancer, it may or may not make rhythmic sense to the guitarist. The difficulty for Rob is that he's having to work out alone with an experienced dancer. The craft of accompaniment is usually learned or passed down from a mentor by playing along side them. So for this reason I can understand how confusing or frustrating this could become. Breaking the communication barrier with dancers is an art in itself.
_____________________________
Eddie Lastra
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 14 2004 22:11:29
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. I can certainly sympathize with you. Here is a link to the Miguelito's DC Flamenco website. There's a nice article he wrote there regarding dance class acompaniment. 
Maybe a group effort? 
