Flamenco Yesterday and Today‪.‬

"Flamenco is about wisdom. It is not about putting on a lovely dress and looking the pail Not at all. I've got no interest in going to a performance to see someone play a part." Carmen Romero, artistic director, choreographer and dancer with the Candela Flamenca Dance and Music Ensemble leaned forward as she responded to my question about the recent popularity of flamenco dance among non-Spanish women around the world. "Don't tell me that when a dancer looks aggressive on stage it's not part of her nature. It is some part of her psyche. It takes an honest person to go on stage, not necessarily honest with others, but with oneself. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and that can be frightening." I knew a woman living in Saskatoon who in her late fifties was intensely caught up with a flamenco group thriving there for a number of years. She told me that when she danced flamenco, she thought, "sex." Like her, many women of non-Spanish heritage don imported shoes from Spain, long frilled skirts, tasselled shawls and brightly coloured flowers pinned behind their ears. They learn to play the castanets, to swirl their hands and fingers in flirtatious gestures or saucily wave a fan while their hips move seductively and their feet beat complex rhythms. Some acquire Spanish-sounding stage names like Nana Caceres, Leona Aguila, and Catarina de Ronda. Not many men sign up for lessons.