Photographing Flamenco Dance
By Jason Kravitz
27 Feb 2007
The complex rhythms of Flamenco music are a reflection of the many different cultures that have shaped it over the centuries. The clash of different religion and people still come through in a storm of staccato clapping hands and stomping feet. Each clap sounds slightly out of phase with the others adding its own unique voice and texture.
Flamenco dance is a visual form equally as powerful as the music which drives it. Movements are sharp and deliberate with fluid spinning dreamlike transitions. Every part of the body, down to individual fingers, is precisely positioned at each moment.
While visiting Southern Spain I had the fortunate opportunity to photograph a talented Flamenco group. They performed at a private party which gave me the flexibility to approach the stage from different vantage points and experiment with different techniques. I was trying to capture a visual representation of the full Flamenco experience. The following photos and text are an effort to recreate this performance.
The musicians, seated in decorative red and green wooden chairs, start slowly, building up. The four dancers, sitting at first, are clapping. Each one finds their place somewhere between the beats. Their percussive hands echo each other, phasing in and out of a melody as they focus their attention inward, into the music. A solitary voice cuts distinctly through the off beat strumming of the guitar. Then two rise up, as the music elevates. Their gaze is trance like, staring forward with unblinking eyes as they begin to dance.
My first impression is the color and shape of the dancers as they spin around the stage and each other at strange angles. The red ruffled underside of her dress inflates and turns like a polka dot carousel. Her feet in bright red shoes step down in rapid motions on opposite beats of the clapping hands that fill my ears from all directions.
The man, dressed in pin stripes, stomps his leather boots into the dusty stage with the discipline of a tap dancer while his upper body remains stiff and deliberate as the music intensifies. I am inspired to use a longer shutter after watching the hands of the guitar and percussion player thrashing in quick syncopated gestures. I want to catch the rapid movement as they play. The lights cast an eerie purple glow over the band which is augmented by the longer exposure time.
The blurring hands and bodies add motion and amplify the brilliant colors. Soon I am zooming the lens slightly as the shutter clicks. The resulting photos compliment the mood and music well. Curving shapes are exaggerated, weaving a sort of dimensional divide that matches the phasing effect of the music.
It is an intriguing parallel between the zoom effect and the performance. The music wells up, blurring together, yet at each moment there are distinct independent components that simmer to the surface, announcing themselves before fading into the mix. The dancers move faster, while different poses and positions seem to burst out and then linger, leaving an impression. So too on the photo frame, distinct forms emerge in the subjects and the ghost like halos, the longer exposure and zoom capturing the same object in two places at once like some sort of meaningful coincidence.
The photos depict the wall of sound and energy that pours from the stage in otherworldly colors, shapes and waves. The dancers and musicians, deeply focused, now open vessels, channeling the tradition and emotion of hundreds of years of experience into a cohesive moment that flows in an ordered pattern, automated yet organic. Finally it builds to a spectacular crescendo and in an instant the music stops at the exact moment the dancers finish with a dramatic pose, their eyes wide open and aware. The ritual complete and the audience releases a storm of clapping of their own.
