Hundreds of people heard the
clapping, singing and stomping of Spanish Gypsy music in
Halifax last week. El Viento Flamenco was in town to perform
for the New Dance Series. When they left for home on Sunday
afternoon, they weren't returning to the balmy villages of
Spain -- they flew back to Newfoundland.
By: KIM GARRITTY Editor: Scott MacDonald Posted: Feb. 15, 2000 Updated: Feb. 19, 2000
Evelyne Benais stomps and
claps her way through Halifax. PHOTO: Courtesy of Live Art Productions
Sounds of El Viento
Flamenco . (1:10 clip). RECORDED BY: KIM GARRITTY
Halifax says 'ole!'
The guitarist's nails are long, gothic and covered with a fine
varnish. Before he plays, he stares into space, breathes deeply and
clutches the guitar. Sometimes he holds his breath until the rhythm
breaks. You can hear his breathing from 20 feet away. When he first
strokes the guitar, he attacks and caresses the instrument like he's
been playing flamenco for decades. But he's only been playing for
four years.
The singer steps to the microphone, and the ancient sounds of
North Africa, Roma and India flow from his deep voice in Spanish
lyric. It's hard to believe these two are blues singers from St.
John's, Nfld. The two intertwine lyric and guitar rhythms in
intensity and volume for several minutes before the percussionist
starts clapping. The music builds until it is time for Evelyne
Benais.
As she steps on stage, Benais steps into character. She wears a
long black skirt with a pink skirt underneath. Her shoes have a
slight heel and lace up around her ankle. Her hair is tied back into
a roll with red flowers. Her hypnotic footwork moves in perfect
syncopation to the ryhthm and voice of her flamenco musicians. She
has a wild, sometimes pained, look on her face, and occasionally she
cries out in Spanish. Yet her body moves in complete control, feet
tapping feverishly while she tenses her arms and opens her hands,
letting her fingers delicately draw gestures in the air. Benais
dances for more than an hour until she shines with exhaustion.
Tony Tucker, Bob Sutherby, Sean
Harris and Evelyne Benais are El Viento Flamenco. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIVE ART PRODUCTIONS
The El Viento Flamenco troupe has just performed the last concert
at the Dalhousie Arts Centre in their four-show visit to Halifax.
They receive two standing ovations.
Flamenco is the music and dance of the Gypsies of Spain who
migrated from India to western Europe. "The dancing and the guitar
are all structured around the verses of the singer," Benais says.
Singer Sean Harris explains that flamenco music is more of a form
than a set of songs. "There's no real lyric or lettre or
verse. It's all just pretty much words that go along with the piece."
Many of the stories deal with the Roma or Gypsy experience in Spain
and reflect "a lot of longing, a lot of unrequited love, a lot of
hardship."
The group roused the audience. One woman commented after the show,
"She makes every woman want to put on this red dress and dance."
Another observer said the show was "controlled but forcefully
expressive." She adds, "It's a beautiful dance. I wanted to learn it
anyways, but now I see how much work it is."
Chris Majka, promoter for Live Art Production, invited the group
here for the New Dance Series after their performance in the Local
Currents modern dance festival last year in Halifax.
"Even at that performance, people stood and cheered and shouted
'ole!' " Majka says. "On the basis of how well that worked, we
decided we wanted them back for a stand-alone show."
More than 1,000 people saw the group over the last two weeks Majka
says. All the shows were nearly full. Majka says only a few people in
Halifax play flamenco, but the high turnout shows interest is
growing.
It didn't seem to matter to the audience that El Viento Flamenco
is based in St. John's.
Merill Rasmussen, a member of the audience
said, "I kept thinking it's so odd that these people are from
Newfoundland. You would never suspect it."
The group's Newfoundland origins are directly linked to the
passion and career choices of Evelyne Benais, the troupe's founder.
Benais was raised by French immigrant parents in northern Ontario
and spent her teen years living in Paris.That was when she first
heard flamenco. A friend lent her a tape of flamenco music. After
that, she says she started listening with a different ear and fell in
love with the music. She renewed her love of flamenco when she
discovered the Don Quixote bar as a teenager in Toronto. It was a
dance bar and restaurant that brought flamenco musicians over from
Spain for six-month contracts. Benais says she was a regular.
After her exposure to flamenco, Benais says she used to day-dream
about it all the time, especially when she studied all night at
school. "I really didn't know all that much about flamenco. I knew
about the music, but I didn't really know about the lifestyles of
Gypsies," Benais explains. "I remember visions of myself in a small
village far away from everywhere where I was listening to that
music."
Benais told herself she would take up dancing when she finished
her BA in French literature. But flamenco would remain a dream for
Benais for a long time. She received a scholarship and went on to do
her masters at the University of Toronto, met her future husband, and
moved with him to St. John's. She stayed there for a year until
deciding to pursue her PhD in Paris.
It would be a turning point in her life. While in Paris, Benais'
mother became ill with cancer, and Benais returned to Toronto before
she died. During this tumultuous time, she went back to St. John's to
decide what to do next. Benais says she realized that life was too
short and said it was time to follow her dream.
She had received two extensions for her doctoral studies and had
just one more paper to hand in if she wanted to continue. "The next
deadline for the grant application for the Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts Council was approximately at the same time. I had a week or a
week and a half, and I couldn't do both. I had to chose one and I
chose the grant."
Benais' arms caught in quick
movement. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIVE ART PRODUCTIONS
So she went to Toronto to study with renowned flamenco artist
Carmen Romero. When Romero asked her to dance in her troup, Benais
jumped at the chance. She commuted between St. John's and Toronto for
another year until it became too expensive and tiring. She moved back
to St. John's permanently and started looking for musicians.
Someone had mentioned Bob Sutherby to her. Benais showed up at his
door one day with sheet music and instructional videos and asked him
to consider playing flamenco.
They started performing two months later. Sutherby continued to
practice and train. Benais arranged for guitar teacher Patricio Tito
to come from France to teach Sutherby for a month. During his stay,
Tito wanted to see Sutherby perform in his natural element with his
blues band, the Gravelpit Campers. That night Tito saw Sean Harris
sing for the first time and suggested him to Benais.
Benais says Tito told her, "He can learn Spanish later. Listen to
how powerful a voice he has, the rhythm he has, and also how much he
gives of himself on stage. He's not up there trying to look cool,
putting on airs. He's just singing his heart out and that 's what you
need for a flamenco singer."
Tito trained Harris for a month before Benais took over. Harris
says learning to sing in Spanish wasn't difficult because of his
classical training. "I was singing Italian, French, and German ... So
when I was asked to do the same thing in Spanish I just had to get my
head around it."
Along the way Benais has tried to get others involved with the
group but finds many artists leave St. John's for other centres. Now
she has a young percussionist, Tony Tucker, working with them.
"It's really good," Tucker says. "The timing is really similar to
African music." He says the pieces where Benais dances are his
favourite. "It gets you stoked. It's much more exciting and gives me
a chance to do a lot more."
Benais says she loves being in St. John's and has no plans to
leave for Spain. "Lack of pollution, lack of crime andthe daily good
humour make it very easy to live in St. John's."
Harris says Newfoundland is very open to new music and they have a
regular group of people who support them.
In addition to shows at the Dalhousie Arts Centre, El Viento
Flamenco performed at a variety of workshops for voice, dance, guitar
and percussion over the two weeks they were in Halifax. On Saturday
afternoon, they gathered at the Maritime Conservatory of the
Performing Arts for a juerga (hoo-where-ga), an informal
gathering of musicians. With paella, punch and enthusiastic flamenco
fans, the juerga allowed students to show off some new
talents.
Musicians and dancers gather for
juerga on Saturday at the Maritime Music Conservatory. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIVE ART PRODUCTIONS
Some of Benais' students at the conservatory describe the
workshops as exciting, but hard work. "She pushed us really hard,"
says Sarah Rozee. "The best part of it was when I finally got the
rhythm."
Flamenco students Sarah Rozee,
Deshayne Fell, Nancy McNeil and Victoria Ridler share their
new flamenco skills. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIVE ART PRODUCTIONS
Barb Dearborn, head of the dance department at the conservatory,
organized many of the events inluding the juerga. After seeing El
Viento Flamenco perform last year she approached Live Art to organize
the dance and music workshops. More than 80 people participated in
the workshops, and Dearborn says, "My feeling is people want more."
Dearborn says next year they will organize the juerga in the
evening after all the shows are finished so they can "spike up the
punch a bit" and celebrate longer.
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