Meet Dancing Queen FlamencoVero
It’s a hot August night when I arrive in Madrid. On the advice of my friend Veroncia Gillmer, I’ve taken the 203 bus from Barajas airport to Atocha Station then hailed a cab up the hill to Amor de Dios Studios.
Veronica Gillmer (aka FlamencoVero) is a well-known Aussie flamenco dancer and teacher based in Katoomba NSW and is attending an evening workshop at the studios.
Amor de Dios is one of the most famous Flamenco schools in the world, situated smack bang in the centre of a lively, colourful area not far from the Prado Museum and Puerta del Sol and a popular area for young people going out in the evening for tapas and fun.
Amor de Dios Studios Madrid
I expect to find her learning some new complex zapateado footwork but she’s in another room doing a cajón workshop seated on a low stool surrounded by a group of other impassioned, mostly male, students.
Over the years I’d attended a few of her concerts and knew she was skilled at palmas (hand clapping) and flamenco rhythms but I had no idea about the cajón, nor about her new found passion for it.
“Not many people in Australia play flamenco rhythms on it,” she tells me later. “It can be 12 beats, 6 beats or 4 beats but the accents can change a lot. Everyone can play 4 beats differently. “Good players such as Byron Mark, Peter Kennard and James Hauptmann are hard to find, especially in Australia.”
Veronica playing the Cajon
This box-shaped percussion instrument played by slapping the front is not what most of us associate with flamenco, nor with female flamenco dancers.
Originally from Peru, the cajón was developed in the mid-sixteenth century as a means for African slaves to preserve their roots and now has National Cultural Heritage status in Peru. It only found its way into flamenco music 50 years ago.
Veronica outside Tununtunumba musical instrument store, Madrid
According to Blog Peru,
“Around 1977 a cajón found its way into the hands of the percussionist of Paco de Lucía’s band at a party organised by the Spanish ambassador in Peru. Rubem Dantas incorporated it into the music of the guitarist’s sextet, which, as he set the rules, meant that it would be incorporated directly into the music of flamenco. In an interview on Flamenco-world.com, he said that ‘the cajón was more sober for flamenco’ than other percussion instruments that had already been used, such as congas, bongos and drums.”
One of the teachers Veronica studied with for a long time
Veronica and her late husband Michael (whose stage name was Gabriel Heredia) took classes at Amor de Dios at its original home at Calle de Amor de Dios during the 1970s and 1980s.
“World famous flamenco dancers such as Antonio Gades and Mario Maya would gather there to practice, rehearse and find out if there was work happening anywhere. We met lots of people there at the cafe.”
As a girl, Veronica had taken ballet classes for eight years in her home town of Melbourne then tried studying flamenco in Sydney but didn’t really learn flamenco until she arrived in Madrid.
Flamenco dancer at Las Carboneras, Madrid
She also learnt rhythmical patterns as well as dance at Torres Bermejas, a famous flamenco tablao (venue) in Madrid just off the Gran Via.
“When we were there, that era (1969 – 1975) was regarded as the epoca de oro (golden era) of flamenco because of people like Paco de Lucia who modernised flamenco,” she says.
“Singer Jose Monje Cruz (Camarón de Isla) was also at Torres Bermejas for ten years and changed flamenco singing due to his revolutionary approach. He was a gypsy and was considered the best singer for contemporary flamenco and one of the most important figures in flamenco.”
Flamenco on the Global Stage
According to the authors of Flamenco on the Global Stage:
“Flamenco is a relatively young art, dating from the second half of the nineteenth century, and the formal teaching that transformed flamenco into the art it has become is even more recent.“Enrique el Cojo (Enrique Jiménez Mendoza, 1912–1985), who later became the most famous flamenco teacher of Seville, says, ‘I went to learn flamenco with a maestro who was called Frasquillo, the only one who had a flamenco academy in Seville.’”
Veronica points out that flamenco is constantly evolving and has become more complex today.
Flamenco shoes
“Today women dance much more doing footwork (zapateado) than in my day and use much more complex patterns. In those days, women used their arms more and waved their skirts around.
“Fashions change but shoes still need to have thick heels with little nails in the toe cap and heel.”
On my last night in Madrid, we visit Las Carboneras where modern, contemporary touches are combined with traditional flamenco. I meet co-owner Ana Romero who hails from Melbourne and am struck by the brilliant improvisation of the young guitarist with the dancers.
Ana is one of six socios (owners) who set up Las Carboneras 25 years ago.
Ana Romero at Las Carboneras
They were pioneers of the tablao business as it is run today. Most other tablaos have set choreographies, not improisaitonal content.
“You have to be more creative when working in a tablao because you’re not expected to dance the same choreography every night,” says Ana.
“It’s more like a jazz group in which people do their own dance and can change it every night. You don’t get that in a theatre show.”
I’m really looking forward to seeing Veronica play the cajón when she returns from her sojourn in Madrid and to witnessing how flamenco continues to evolve in Australia.
Flamenco dresses on sale in Madrid