The story of “La Chayí"

This weekend in Seville, there will be a homenaje for Pilar Montoya Manzano “La Faraona”.  I will be there in my sprit and I would like to dedicate this blog to her.  

People have wondered and asked me about why I use my artistic name “La Chayí”.  I by nature am not interested in calling myself a Spanish name because I dance Flamenco.  I am happy with my Japanese name because that's who I am and I am proud of my parents who gave me my name Sachiko.  “La Chayí” came from one of my most beloved and influential teachers, Pilar Montoya Manzano “La Faraona” in Seville, Spain.  It was a nickname that she had given to me.  She is a daughter of the legendary and one of the best Flamenco dancers in history, El Farruco.  You could tell that she was a true artist just by watching her subtle movements.  Everything about her was Flamenco and everything around her was moving.  She had a magical energy that stirred up the world.    

Pilar had a special talent of giving students nicknames.  In my case, she had trouble pronouncing my name Sachiko, so she started to call me “Chayí (or Yayí)”.  She tragically died from cancer in March of 2015. As her students, the months before her death were very intense for us. Her passing was so sad for us but also bonded us as her dance students.  She called us “mis niñas” (my girls) instead of ‘my students’.  She gave us so much love.  

In one class, I remember she picked up on me.  She was critical about my facial expressions, basically for not having much expression.  It was very difficult and embarrassing to be directly questioned about something that I was lacking as a Flamenco dancer in front of other students.  I felt like that I was looking for an exit in a dark for a day.  But something lifted up in my mind.  I thought I would try just as she expects me.  In the next class, I felt amazing.  I was not concerned about the steps that I was learning or doing them right.  I for the first time was not worried about doing Flamenco right.  I was purely dancing and being myself but not thinking.  

I was in her last class before she died, and I happened to be the only one who knew the choreography that she had taught us.  She put me in front and we showed her our last Tangos.  I remember that there was such an amazing sensation running through my body.  I no longer knew where I was or what I was feeling.  As I danced tears went down my face. I did not want to lose her and I wanted to dedicate my dance to her.  I had never felt that way before. Afterwards, I ran to her like a little girl and she took my hands and whispered “Has bailao mu bien (You danced very well)”.  That was my last memory of La Faraona.

It makes me very emotional to see this but this is from her last class. 

I returned to Minneapolis after five years in Seville one month after her death.  It was an emotionally intense time in my life. I was grieving her death and leaving Seville, and also I was adjusting to my new life. I decided to use the nickname “La Chayí” as my artistic name to honor La Faraona. I always remember what a giving teacher she was. When I call myself “La Chayí”, it is with pride and I remind myself that I must dance well as she expected me to.  It helps me to keep the memory of La Faraona and her love for Flamenco and her students alive.

Is it too early?

It was a big decision when I decided to do a student show last Fall.  I always thought about it but I offer classes only once a week, and I found it very difficult to build students´ strength or choreography.  The majority of the students thought it would be a great opportunity for them.  I decided to do so because I wanted to know where this would take us to.

Performing Flamenco is an important deal for me.  I danced in Seville, but I had so much respect for Seville´s Flamenco and I always felt that it was too early and I should study more before getting on a stage.  But at the same time, if I had not, I would not have learned what I did by performing.  You can take classes and practice in studio for hours or years and if you don´t put your learning into practice, what you learned will be just a theory.  Indeed, you need a repeated practices in performing to truly understand how it works.  

I decided to do this show as one step of learning process for my students, hoping they will see things and learn about themselves and their dances that they would not in classes.  And I was not wrong.

They knew that they were in charge of their own dances because it would be their solo dances.  They started to notice what they did not know ask questions, even a simple things like Flamenco terms (escobilla, falseta, etc).  They started to notice what base they need to dance an entire piece alone.  

After this show, they need to get back to classes and studio and continue to build their technical skills, strength, and understanding of Flamenco.  They have a long way.  We are all students in Flamenco.  The only thing that makes us valid to share our dances is love and respect for the art form, hours of practice, investigation and learning, and humbleness of our attitude and desire to get better. 

We had a rehearsal with our musicians last night.  It was a pure pleasure to watch my students enjoying so much to dive in their music and just dance.  It was amazing to watch how all those small pieces of preparation came together to create the energy that swallowed us all.  I promise that you will witness a great show.  To read each student´s bio. please go to the Facebook event page.

Whether good or bad, Flamenco is Flamenco

I went to the iconic Flamenco dancer Farruquito's classes for two years when I lived in Seville.  He started to give regular classes at Flamencos por el Mundo school in January 2013 and I went to his first class out of curiosity because I always knew that he was an amazing dancer.  He was getting busier with his tours and performances, but whenever he was teaching and I was in Seville, I went to his classes.  He is the first grandson of the legendary bailaor El Farruco, and he inherited everything about baile flamenco from his grandfather.  Farruquito is obviously one of the finest Flamenco dancers alive, or should I say the best, as the most people would agree.  He was also a fabulous teacher that could teach both in dance and theory of Flamenco.  I loved listening to what he talked as much as his pasos he taught us in class.  I loved his ideas, views and what he knew about Flamenco.  Somehow I understood and agreed on everything he said.  It made sense to me.  

One of my most favorite videos of Farruquito´s dance.  He must have been about 20 years old.

One of the things he said in class and has stayed in my mind to this day is when he talked about cuatro pasos (I will talk about this sometime later), and Flamenco malo or Flamenco bueno.  He said that whether something is good or bad, Flamenco is Flamenco.  He said that someone can dance Flamenco badly, but you would still call it Flamenco if it is done in the way that it should be.

Later, in an interview with The New York Times, he said, “The concept [of Flamenco] is simple..Musicians play and [a dancer] dances, everyone improvising in the moment. It’s Flamenco the way it’s always been done… except that no one is doing it that way anymore.”  

I instantly knew what he was talking about and could relate it to my thoughts when he said this in class. For example, I love Israel Galván. I think he is a genius and an amazing dancer, and I go see his shows. Many people who like so-called Flamenco puro do not like him because they do not think his dance is Flamenco. On the other hand, when I go see him, I don't watch his work as Flamenco. I still love it. I see his dance as his own invention based on his career as a Flamenco dancer, inspirations, values and ideas around Flamenco. But he is still extraordinary and I enjoy watching him very much. It does not have to be Flamenco for me to love something artistically brilliant. However, when his shows are sold as "Flamenco", I have a trouble and feel that we need a clear definition of Flamenco and distinction between what Flamenco NATURALLY is, and inventions by artists or others that make something outside Flamenco, because the danger that we all know is that something named "Flamenco" sells. As a consequence, it causes negative effects such as misunderstanding, misconception, or confusion.

When I listened to Farruquito talking about the distinction of what is Flamenco and what is not, it stuck in my mind.  I have thought about it over years, and gradually, It helped me determine what I wanted to dance and the path I wanted to go through; I might not be the most amazing bailaora on the earth, but I still want to dance Flamenco and be a bailaora in the real sense.  This is not an easy thing even just to say.  Dancing Flamenco in the real sense is the hardest thing I ever tried in my life.  Farruquito´s words also helped me clarify the confusions that many people might be experiencing.  It is not about being good or bad, or simple or complicated.  Whether Flamenco or not is defined by the nature of what you do.