MEDSOK Home Page » Events » Flamenco Fire! workshop
On Sunday, February 10th, MEDSOK will host an afternoon of Flamenco dance tailored to intrigue and delight Oriental dancers of all persuasions. Diana Dinicola, a member of Flamenco Louisville, will present a program on FLAMENCO which will range from Flamenco's history and principles to the relationship between middle-eastern dance and flamenco and what kind of movements and rhythms would work in fusion dancing.
All are welcome. There is no charge for admission. The event will follow our monthly business meeting and run 2 - 5 PM. The event will be held in Louisville at Ruric-Amari's dance studio on Lexington Road inside Distillery Commons, easy to get to from I-64, I-65, and I-71. For complete directions to the studio, click [ HERE ].
2:00 - 2:30 PM: Meet and greet, drink some tea, eat some cookies, find a chair.
2:30 - 3:15 PM: Diana will present the history of Flamenco as a system of music, singing and dance with tangled roots reaching all the way to India along the Gypsy trail. Out of the crucible of systematic oppression has arisen an artform that provides one of the most challenging opportunities for individual expression available to the dancer. She'll explain the rhythmic underpinnings, principals of movement and the 'secret path' toward improvisation. A short demonstration will conclude the first half.
3:15 - 3:45 PM: Refreshments, meet the artist, possibly some vending.
3:45 - 5:00 PM: Diana will present an experiential exploration of Flamenco rhythms and principals of movement. She will examine how these movement principals do (and don't) relate to Middle Eastern dance traditions and how the dancer can make specific choices to reflect the different forms in practice or performance. Be ready to move!
In the second half of this segment, Diana will perform a demonstration of Flamenco 'props' including castanets, manton and bata de cola to examine how Flamenco and classical Spanish dance (in the tradition of the Escuela Bolero) influence one another. In addition, she will show us how castanets reflect the use of zils, manton work reflects veil and how bata work can inspire creative, interactive costuming.
5 PM - 5:30 PM: drink some more tea and talk to more friends!
Hope to see you there!
ABOUT FLAMENCO: The roots of Flamenco reach back at least 500 years to when Moors, Gypsies and Jews found themselves pushed further and further south in the Iberian Peninsula into a region called Andalucia by the 'Reconquest' of the Catholic monarchs. The mingling of these cultures in exile gives Flamenco its unique sound and look due to the combined influences of North Africa, India, the Middle East and the indigenous people of what was to become Spain. Only in the last two hundred years has it coalesced into a theatrical form to be performed on stages in a café setting and later in theaters. Flamenco is made of up three components: cante, baile and toque. The true essence of Flamenco has been preserved over the years in Calo or 'Gypsy' families and their communities on the fringes of society. It is something that, in its purest form, takes place in homes or in the local tavern late at night after the day’s work is done and the evening’s meal is complete. It is the artform of an oppressed people and in that respect bears a similarity to the Blues of the American South. Over hundreds of years, Flamencos have developed a system of palos that allow musicians, singers and dancers to improvise around a commonly known structure and in that way, it is similar to Jazz.
ABOUT DIANA: Diana Dinicola holds a diploma for the advanced level intensive training program at the Fundacion Cristina Heeren de Arte Flamenco in Sevilla, Spain. She has attended the National Flamenco Institute at the University of New Mexico (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006) and returns to Spain yearly for continuing professional development. She performs regularly and has appeared with Antonio Vargas, Angel Munoz, Arturo Martinez and Jesus Montoya. Diana is a co-founder of Flamenco Louisville and an active educator, teaching flamenco dance in Louisville, Kentucky, in surrounding cities and for the Governor’s School for the Arts. In addition, she is a Showcase Kentucky and Kentucky Arts Council Education Roster artist taking flamenco into the schools as a medium for teaching core Arts & Humanities curriculum. She also works with underserved communities in Louisville and throughout the state through ArtsReach.
Diana trained as a theatre major at Northwestern University where she received a BS in Communications and her teaching certification. She is a member of the inaugural class of the Kentucky Center for the Arts' ongoing Artist Educator Seminars, the prototype for a national model preparing artists as in-school educators. Diana is a veteran arts administrator and holds an MBA from Emory University.