John LeKay. Can you
please tell me when you first started dancing and when
you knew that this is what you really wanted to do with your
life?
Omayra Amaya: I was born
dancing. My mother danced until the first week of her ninth
month and after birth she immediately continued dancing, my
parents, both dancers, were in the middle of their company tour
when I was born and after my birth the tour continued. I don't
remember exactly when I started to dance but I know that it was
not long after I learned to walk. It was when I was about 3
years old when my parents would let me occasionally come out and
dance at the end of their show. I used to dance back stage in
full costume and make up and do the entire show every night
while my parents were on stage.
For me it was not that one day I
decided that I wanted to be a dancer, for me It was more like, I
could not picture my life without dance without movement or
without music. I always knew I wanted to dance.
JL: What would you say is the major
distinction between classical and Spain's
flamenco and Andalusian Gypsy flamenco?
OA: Two very different sets of aesthetics
govern classical Spanish dance and flamenco.
JL: . Can you tell me about your
family's history and your aunt Carmen Amaya and how she has inspired your work?
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OA: The Flamenco I know is the flamenco I learned
from my family, that is the Carmen Amaya school or style. My
parents were both members of Carmen Amaya's company. My mother
began working in the company at 15 years old. My father began
performing in Carmen Amaya's company at the age of 12, but he
toured, studied and trained with the company since he was born.
Carmen Amaya copied no one. Her style was unique and original,
with impeccable technique, great strength, control, rhythm,
musicality, speed, her movements were sharp, precise and
strong and also gentle, soft, fierce, sensual. Her dancing had
depth.
She is a great inspiration. Her influence
is in everything I do. She inspires me not only to become
better technically, but more importantly she inspires me to find my own
voice.
JL: Can you please talk about Duende and
how powerful emotions are expressed through
flamenco.
OA: Duende can be explained and expressed in so
many ways... but here is how It is for me:
When the guitarist is grooving, because the
singer is grooving, because the dancer is grooving, because the
audience is grooving, when everybody is synchronized, in sync,
then everybody begins to speak the same language, then a
conversation begins between everybody, the singer begins to sing
me a story and I respond to it, then the guitarist brings it up
a notch after being inspired by us and every round creating more
intensity, building up to where you are open
out there, talking freely and spontaneously with every move.
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At that point you begin to see the soul of the
person and not the flesh, sharing with you the person's
innermost feelings and emotions in a very sincere, raw and
artistic way to the point that moves you and you express your
feelings back spontaneously in your own way, either through
the guitar, dance, song, palmas, (hand clapping) audience member, who ever is
present creating a very intimate atmosphere where the energy
builds up, and intensifies and bursts out like a volcano, that
is Duende, that moment. That moment of freedom, of expression.
JL: What about Flamenco and its social
history?
OA: Flamenco was a way for the gypsies to
express their political and social situation as well as their
personal and emotional situation. An outlet to express their
fears, their love, their dreams, their hope, their solitude,
their misery, their frustrations, their happiness, their anger,
their longing...... life. Same fears, same problems that
gypsies had then we still have today, they are not that
different at all, that is why flamenco is an art form of today,
it helps me express how I feel today, even though the story was
written a century ago, is the same stories I see today, no
different.
JL: . I noticed that some of the hand gestures you
make look very similar to the ancient Hindu Mudras? Is there a
connection to this?OA: I read that the hand
movements in flamenco dance used to have a meaning but that its
meaning has been lost in time.
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JL: . Watching you dance looks like it can be extremely exhausting,
do you do any other forms of exercise, like yoga, to keep in shape?
OA: I go to the studio and dance, I usually
go between 4 and 6 times a week. I love being in the dance studios.
I do take Jazz dance classes and ballet when I can, specially when I
am in NYC. I also feel very strongly about stretching and Yoga
exercises. I do it everyday religiously, my body asks me for it, I
enjoy it.
JL: Earlier in our
conversation, you said that Carmen has been an influence on your
dance which I can see, but you also have such a distinctive style of
your own. It is as if you have incorporated the tradition of the Amaya
family Flamenco with modern experimentation. For example, in one
part of your dance when you slowly peel of the Flamenco costume with
the long train and then drag the traditional dress behind you and
over your shoulder.
How did this piece evolve and have you ever felt a burden, or a
responsibility to your family tradition to not stray too far in
terms of experimenting with your dance?
OA: I have felt burden and I also have felt
responsibility. But I do feel it is my responsibility to be
truthful, honest. To speak my own voice. The "bata de cola"
piece: The "bata de cola" represents tradition. My struggle in
trying to find my own voice. When I take off the dress my body
moves in ways not traditional to flamenco dance and I feel free,
free to express what I really think and feel. Free to move in
everyway to the flamenco guitar. But tradition is present and
very strong and so are our fears, which tie us down and
paralyzes us... that is what I carry on my shoulders and drag
off the stage with me.
For
more info contact
www.omayraamaya.com
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