Dancing to perfection

Received from our good friend Charlotte, who knows Prospero was brought up in Buenos Aires. The tango was born of different kinds of music that came in to that port city. And, being a port, it was not a place for a woman to be seen. Because of that, women did not dance the tango until the music came back to Buenos Aires from France, where it acquired a veneer of propriety. These two, the Hermanos Macana, here give a masterful performance of the tricky steps of a milonga, a dance that is not considered a tango by the purists, though it looks and sounds very alike. There is nothing 'gay' about the dance, and it is accepted very well in a very 'macho' society.

Flamenco show presented in Jimena to tour America

El Indiano in Jimena, 2008

LA LÍNEA David Morales, the Flamenco dancer of La Línea who now also offers classes at the Instituto Cervantes in Gibraltar, presented a show called El Indiano at the 2008 International Music Festival of Jimena. It was a great success there and everywhere it went. The show brings the rhythms and sounds of South America (e.g. vidalitas, colombianas, tangos and milongas, to name but very few) and joins them with flamenco, not so much in 'fusion' but in  a'there and back' format that is difficult to explain but certainly worth seeing. However, you will have to make a trip to South America towards the end of May in order to do so. Morales is taking El Indiano first to Buenos Aires and other large cities of Argentina, then on to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil - all places the show has been on stage but which are demanding more. This time he will be offering a fresh show to which he has added and taken out pieces under the same concept. Before that, though, he has a date at the Falla Theatre in Cádiz on May 12th, to take part in the Iberian American Festival there. Good friend that he is to Jimena (and to this writer), we wish him the best of luck.

African dance and percussion course coming up

JIMENA A fascinating two-day workshop in African dance and percussion is scheduled at the Casa Verde, Calle Sevilla 51 (just below Town Hall) in Jimena, on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September. Given by professional dancers Liliana and Gamal, registration closes on September 19 and there are only a few places left. For reservations call Carolina on 669 266 461 or 956 640 848.

Jimena's own flamenco dancer, Lucía Álvarez Howard (La Piñona), chosen to compete at major festival

(Photo: (c) Alberto Bullrich)

Regular readers will know her, but newer ones may not (catch up here). Lucía Álvarez Howard, known as La Piñona in flamenco circles, has just been selected to compete in what purists consider the utmost competition of its genre: Festival Internacional de Cante de las Minas en La Unión, in Murcia. Lucía, 25, the youngest daughter of Katharine Howard and Álvaro Álvarez, was born in Algeciras and raised in Jimena. She has recently returned from a tour of Japan, and has danced in Kenya, Holland and other places outside Spain, and, of course, all over this country as well. The competition schedule has La Piñona dancing on Friday, August 12. The La Unión festival is well known for giving young singers dancers and instrumentalists that much needed push toward stardom, so let's wish our Lucia all the very best.

FlickFlock Dance Company in San Roque

The FlickFlock Dance Company of Cádiz is presenting their Los yo soñados show at the Juan Luis Galiardo Theatre in San Roque on Saturday, March 13, at 9pm. You can book in advance on 6610851747 / 669630462 / 691570378. Tickets are €10. See you there? (Please keep an eye on our UpComing Events calendar on the sidebar, which will be increasingly crowded with all sorts of events in the Campo de Gibraltar.)

Theatre in San Roque

The Fundación Municipal de Cultura de San Roque, a very active promoter of all things cultural (and on which we have promised to keep an eye for future events - check our UpComing Events calendar on the sidebar), is presenting the dance company Compañía Atalaya in Divinas Palabras, as part of the Circuito Andaluz de Teatro y Danza. The date is on this Friday, February 26, at 9pm, at the Juan Luis Galiardo Theatre on the main square in San Roque. Tickets €5 at the door.