Bring your discipline – dance, guitar, singing, percussion. Bring your material from your existing repertoire and experience – and use it in the cuadro to unlock new opportunities for yourself and your colleagues in the cuadro.

SCHEDULE AND LOCATION

Location
The Mask Center
Located inside the Little Five Points Community Center, 1083 Austin Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307

Time
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. all dates

Dates / Guiding artists
Sept 18 and 19
José Moreno guides sessions.

Sept. 27 and 28
Valeria Montes “La Chispa” guides sessions
She also teaches one llamada (not letra, not pataita, just a llmada) nightly. One session is a llamada por tangos and the other a llamada por bulerías.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Mastery is not a requirement to take the classes, but experience is. Participants who attend class should arrive with a solid understanding of 12-count compás (for soleá por bulerías and bulerías), as well as 4-count rhythms (for tangos). They should have technical proficiency to execute the components presented in classes. For example, dancers should be able to perform a redoble, but do NOT have to be masters at this at high speeds or in complicated combinations. Guitarists should have experience with rasgueado, but do NOT need to be masters at this. Singers should know when and be able to begin and end singing at the correct beats of music. These are just examples to give an idea of what constitutes experience as it pertains to readiness to learn in these classes.

This residency is meant to expand capabilities of a person who is on the road of mastery or expanding mastery, by gaining knowledge and experience that can be applied to situations outside of this residency. For this reason, technique and basic rhythm will not be taught as part of this residency. This is why it is important for participants to consider their experience level when joining classes. Technical skills and rhythm are still important. They can be practiced after the residency ends, in tandem with repeated use of the new knowledge and repertoire gained in these classes.  

PROGRAM

Bring your material – a llamada, a remate, a letra, a short choreography, a full choreography, a falseta, what you need and want. Do it in the caudro! Receive critique, suggestions, and new options for action and reaction in the cuadro.

This means: Get shaken up. Fail. Stretch. Succeed. Grow. But, don’t stay home.

Participants apply the scientific method. Guiding visiting artists give feedback, criticism, and offer insights for new opportunities to amplify performance in the cuadro.

For example, a guitarist might hear about how to use a pulgar technique on a certain beat that he/she had not before accented, to recognize a moment of tension in the singer’s interpretation of the letra. Everyone present observes the lesson and can add it to the body of knowledge that each person pulls from when creating flamenco in the cuadro. Then, participants try again with the new information and a new, shared experience. 

Ideally, participants apply the new material (AKA get several turns) during sessions, during a generous two-hour time period.

OPTIONAL PERFORMANCE COMPONENT

There is a performance component to this residency. A limited number of participants will be selected to perform during a future performance with visiting artists.

After attending in at least three of the sessions, participants are eligible to perform in the concert at Red Light Café on Friday, Sept. 29. La Chispa will perform, along with Pepele Méndez on vocals and José Manuel Alconchel on guitar. There will be no rehearsal for this performance. You may elect to sing a letra or a series of letras. You may elect to accocompany singing or dance. You may elect to dance pataitas and short choreographies or you may elect to play palmas or you may elect to perform by sitting in the audience and cheering ¡Olé! No matter what, if you participate in that performance on Sept. 29, your admission will be comped, your tuition to Aperture will be refunded to you, and you will receive a modest stipend.

REGISTRATION & TUITION

Single class: $40

Four classes: $100

Please register for APERTURE 2023 by sending an email to julie@atravesarts.com no later than Sept. 17, 2023.

PRESENTER

This residency is produced by A Través, which is a non-profit (501c3) that connects flamenco artists from Spain with local American communities in projects that have deep connections and lasting effects through performance and education. Through our work, children and adults in the U.S.A. spend time with singers, dancers, and musicians from southern Spain while learning about language, lifestyle, and themselves, through interactions with people who want to share their artistic heritage. Projects build bridges that will change the future of those who choose to cross them – in both directions. Berdolé is kindly donating its registration service, and participants will be directed to that company´s website to pay tuition.