One of the best bits of advice I’ve received was after my last class with Andrés Marín before leaving Spain. I’d spent the last ten months or so studying at his studio, Flamenco Abierto, in Sevilla with the funding of a Fulbright Grant. I learned a lot about flamenco in that time, but the following nugget of wisdom is something that will stick with me:

“Siempre trabajar con consciencia.”
(Always work with awareness/consciousness.)

That seems like a no-brainer. But it’s one of those things that is easier said than done. To not just hit my heel into the ground from muscle memory, to not lift my arm because that’s typical technique in a given step, but to do everything with awareness and intention. That’s what keeps dancing real and relevant. That’s what allows the dancer to connect with the audience and be more than an empty vessel for movement.

For the season in Santa Fe with EntreFlamenco, I’m doing the same dances over and over, six nights a week performing them, and many more times per week including rehearsals. (There are a total of 54 shows this summer!) It can be easy to start to rely on muscle memory and let that awareness and consciousness disappear. Estefania, the rehearsal director and principal dancer, pointed out that when we start to feel overly comfortable in the movements our bad habits start to show up. In that way, doing the same dances over 50 times in two months is actually a great way to grow and work on correcting bad habits, as long as one keeps a high level of awareness. It’s actually a great opportunity to be able to work on the same steps so many times. I can really work on my technique rather than worry about the steps.

 

There’s this strange paradox in dance, that you want to have the steps in your body so well that your mind is free, that you’re not thinking about the steps themselves, yet you aren’t mindlessly going through movements–the movements must have an awareness, musicality, and present-ness to them.

So that’s been one challenge I have become hyper-aware of doing this season in Santa Fe. How do I keep the dances fresh, how do I not let them become mindless repetitions or become so comfortable that I forget my good technique? For one, continuing to create and work in the studio. Breaking the steps from the dances down and using them outside of their initial context; that allows me to have a deeper understanding of the movements and their original context. There is always more details to be worked on in any dance, more musicality that can be gotten out of the choreography, more expression that can be found in the movements. Also, working on my own dances to keep my mind learning and growing–that in turn lets me see the repeated dances in new perspectives.

We’re four weeks into the season, and I am excited every night to perform because I’m putting in the work to keep the dances fresh. (It also helps that they are fun and musically interesting choreographies to begin with).