Ricardo -> RE: Dancers: When is it too late to start? (Jan. 11 2021 14:36:38)
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quote:
And just learning flamenco for the sake of it is not very justified either as it is not a dance you dance in a club with your friends like salsa - you wither perform on a stage or you are a spectator. If anyone here started late, please share your path and experience for some inspiration! To be clear you are talking about DANCING, not guitar playing for dance. My close friend is in his 70’s. He is way into all kinds of ball room dance stuff which he does at medium level, including tango. He is single and loves to take advantage of the opportunity to dance with women when it arises. As far as flamenco, he loves it and has been doing Sevillanas, which is actually a partner dance opportunity and even though many will argue about how it is not flamenco proper, it certainly has flamenco elements involved. Probably for a lot of students it is a gateway to the flamenco world, as you need to learn how compas, zapateado, arms, turns, etc works with the music. Anyway for years he has been doing the sevillanas very half assed for lack of a better word. The last time we had a flamenco festival he was upset that several ladies that danced sevillanas well declined to dance with him. He took it quite personally but I explained to him the importance of precise compas with the steps and that if he put in the time to learn it exactly right, the women would jump at the opportunity to dance with him. He was not very happy at this news at first....but after couple weeks of stewing it over, he asked me for help. Now he new the steps but as a musician I had to teach him how they fit. After a few months this old man was like a new guy...we went to spain last year and he was dancing it up with strangers down in Andalucia and did a great job socializing on his own. He got bold enough to take an actual flamenco class and was a little apprehensive because now he knows what is involved to get the compas correct. So, my main point is it is absolutely doable but it takes some dedication and time. Ricardo
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