Essay Sample on The Art of Flamenco

Introduction

The current study is aimed at investigating how flamenco has been spread and received outside Spain since the 19th century. Keen attention will be paid towards examining how the art of flamenco has evolved from the traditional song to a dance that has been widely recognized as an international art. The original form of flamenco involved only voice, chant or primitive cry that was accompanied by rhythm created through beating the floor using a wooden material (Roberts, 2015, 1). The art then evolved into a dance that involved handclapping, foot-stamping and playing of musical instruments such as guitars. The performance of the flamenco has over the years preserved certain elements of cultural value such as the passionate expression of anger and sadness that ultimately evokes the feeling of happiness and joy (Washabaugh, 2012, 14). The current study will pay close attention to the sentimental value of the art of flamenco in order to guide the reader towards understanding the elements of the art that have been preserved in its performance outside Spain as well as the factors that have contributed towards its international acceptance.

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Flamenco originated from the Gypsies who arrived in Andalusia, Spain, in around 1425, from India. These immigrants faced severe oppression in their host country to a point that they were legally prohibited from practicing any activity aimed at promoting their culture and identity (Washabaugh, 2012, 58). The Gypsies were further subjected to a forceful conversion into Christianity lest they would be expelled from Spain. The severe oppression and sufferings motivated them to come together, join hands and sing songs that would express their emotional distress. As a result, they introduced flamenco which has since then been performed with keen attention to evoke outward expression of their emotions. Despite the fact that the art holds sentimental value to the Gypsies, it has been accepted as an international art across different countries such as Russia, Egypt, India, Japan, and the United States. Therefore, the current study will be focused on analyzing how the art has been spread and received outside Spain since the 19th century.

Methodology

The current study will be conducted using a qualitative methodology which will be based on the narrative analysis approach. This methodology was chosen because of the fact that it is appropriate for critical analysis of arguments, and it is useful when drawing conclusions from a diverse pool of ideas and opinions. In addition, narrative analysis is a useful approach in analyzing points of agreement as well as divergence in a diverse pool of sources (Boje, 2001, 52). In this case, given the fact that there are divergent views regarding the development of the art of flamenco into an international art, it is necessary to use the narrative analysis approach in order to thoroughly examine the points of agreement as well as divergence among the different authors who have dedicated their works towards documenting the art.

A thorough conduct background research will be conducted in order to understand the points of view of different authors regarding how the art of flamenco has been spread and received outside Spain since the 19th century. In this process, the study will acknowledge the divergent views among the different authors in order to critically analyze them. Following a careful review of different sources, useful conclusions will be made in order to help the reader to understand how the art of flamenco has been performed and received outside Spain since the 19th century.

The study will rely exclusively on secondary sources in order to analyze and compare arguments from different authors regarding how the art of flamenco was spread and received outside Spain since the 19th century. A total of four credible sources will be relied upon in order to provide useful information for the current study. The sources will be sourced from the university library using key phrases such as "the art of flamenco", "flamenco dance", "flamenco performers" and "flamenco in 19th century". Critical inferences will then be made upon analysis of the identified sources in order to examine how the art of flamenco was spread and received outside Spain since the 19th century.

Potential Limitations

The current study is likely to face two key limitations which include potential bias of the information used and insufficient data to make certain conclusions on issues such as who can be credited for spreading flamenco outside Spain, what motivated the performers to make flamenco an international art as well as whether there were certain cultural elements that were abandoned during the process of modernizing flamenco. These potential limitations are likely to be influenced by the fact that there are divergent views regarding modernizing and spreading flamenco outside Spain. In addition, reliable records on the performance of flamenco started to be kept in the 19th century; therefore making prior information regarding the art and its elements subject to speculation (Roberts, 2015, 3). This means that it might be challenging to trace how the modern flamenco differs with the original form of the art.

Analysis

The performance of flamenco has been deeply tied to the Gypsies to a point that many performers in the opera pretended to be Spanish Gypsies in order to attract bigger audiences and advance their careers (Washabaugh, 2012, 39). Washabaugh (2012, 40) further explains that the sentimental value of flamenco is deeply manifested in the sufferings and oppression that the Gypsies went through in Spain in the quest for preserving their identity. Although the Gypsy performers did not focus on popularizing the art due to the fear of being expelled from Spain, the art attracted other non-Gypsy performers who spread it outside Spain during the late 19th century. In the year 1880, flamenco reached its golden age whereby its performance began to attract both tourists and locals in Spain who gathered in cafes and entertainment venues to enjoy stage performances.

According to Roberts (2015, 4), Antonia Merce was among the first non-Gypsy performers who expressed interest in popularizing flamenco. She was amazed by how attractive flamenco was to both locals and foreigners in Spain hence deciding to spread it outside the country. She took time to study the traditional flamenco among the Gypsies in Andalusia in order to understand all cultural elements of the art and preserve them in her performances given the fact that she was born in Argentina to Spanish parents hence being detached from the Gypsies' culture. She performed flamenco in different countries such as France, Russia, India, Egypt and Japan and won the hearts of many audiences. However, following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in the year 1936, Antonia Merce withheld her ambitions to continue touring the world and spreading flamenco (Roberts, 2015, 4).

However, Merce's challenge in spreading flamenco did not stop the art from gaining international recognition. This is because of the fact that an Austrian dancer named Fanny Elssler had arrived in the United States and started spreading flamenco across the Atlantic. Elssler was considered to be one of the greatest ballet dancers, and she incorporated aspect of traditional dance in ballet. As a result, flamenco became one of her favorite dances due to its traditional moves and cultural value. Flamenco was received tremendously well in the United States hence giving Elssler a perfect opportunity to spread it. In fact, Elssler's performance of flamenco caused the Congress to be suspended as legislators cheered and carried her into the streets (Roberts, 2015, 5). In addition, the arrival of the popular dancer, La Argentinita, in the United States gave a boost to the growth of flamenco since she used the company that she had formed with her sister in New York to advance her dance career with special interest in the performance of flamenco (Roberts, 2015, 5).

The Americans loved flamenco and its Spanish heritage to a point that flamenco performers gained tremendous fame and recognition in the country. For instance, Santa Fe dancer Vicente Romero, one of the flamenco performers, performed the art before an audience of 19,000 in Madison Square Garden. In fact, the 20th century was a phenomenal era for flamenco performance in the United States especially in New Mexico. Many performers of Spanish origin found it easy to integrate into the New Mexican culture, art and heritage. In addition, the hospitality of the New Mexicans and their receptiveness to the Spanish culture made it favorable for Spanish performers to settle and spread their dances including the flamenco (Roberts, 2015, 5).

Unfortunately, most of the performers who spread flamenco outside Spain between the 19th and the 20th century were not from the Gypsies origin. This realization then casts doubts on the authenticity of the modern flamenco and the level of preservation of cultural elements that was done during the transition between the traditional flamenco and the modern one (Washabaugh, 2012, 58). Although performers such as Antonia Merce had to study the art in Andalusia among the Gypsies, one might ask: is learning a culture same as practicing it first-hand? If Antonia Merce was so committed to spreading the original flamenco to the world why did she fail to take some of the Gypsy dancers to perform with her? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions cannot be provided currently given the fact that there is not sufficient information documenting the quest for Antonia Merce as well as other non-Gypsy performers to spread the art around the world as well as their motives.

Flamenco has had such a huge impact around the world to a point that it was recognized as a World Heritage Treasure in the year 2010. The art is currently performed not only in theatres but also in schools as a cultural learning resource (Cuellar-Moreno, 2016, 1). Cuellar-Moreno (2016, 2) goes further to examine the success behind flamenco and the reason behind its global acceptance even in regions where the Gypsy culture does not mean anything. She explains that flamenco has been widely received across the world because of the fact that the art itself is not just a dance but a way of life (Cuellar-Moreno, 2016, 12). In fact, flamenco is a true manifestation of the culture preservation struggles that the Gypsies went through. If it were not for the resilience of the original flamenco dancers, the Gypsies' culture would have died and the people of the Gitano heritage lost their identity. The value of the art is deeply manifested in the struggles that the Gypsies had to go through to preserve it. The preservation of flamenco went through a tough struggle that involved a conflict between political interests and artistic interests. In this case, there had been several laws passed in Spain prohibiting the Gypsies from engaging in any cultural activities that would be deemed as aimed at promoting their identity. In fact, politicians made a lot of efforts to eliminate any cultural identity belonging to the Gitanos to a point that they forced them to convert to Christianity or be expelled from Spain (Washabaugh, 2012, 7). However, the passion of the Gypsies towards preserving their culture was so immense that they opted to be meeting in hiding places to sing songs that remind them of their heritage and struggles. Therefore, the traditional performances of flamenco were done in homes behind closed doors.

However, as years passed by, the artistic interests triumphed over the political interests in that performers of different cultural background as the Gypsies saw value in the art and began to practice it. In this case, the Spanish government could not take any punitiv...