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Flamenco feet on fire
07May08
TOMAS Arroquero might have spent his adult life dancing, but frivolity is not in his nature.
As the former Cheltenham boy explains, there are no half measures when it comes to flamenco.
The son of Spanish migrants, Arroquero grew up surrounded by the distinctive sound and movement of flamenco music and dance at the Spanish Club in Melbourne's own Spanish quarter in Johnston St, Collingwood.
"I didn't actually think of doing flamenco as a full-time thing.
It was just part of growing up," he said.
"I started dancing when I was in my late teens and when I was 24 I went to Spain.
"It just made a lot of sense to me. When you start flamenco, you realise there is a lot more underneath, a lot more going on. It's not something you can just do superficially."
After 12 years studying flamenco at its origins, Arroquero has returned to his hometown as a principal dancer with Flamenco Fire.
The company is taking its show Sol de Otono to audiences throughout the country and will perform at Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre on Tuesday, May 20; at the Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds, on Thursday, May 22; and at Wyndham Cultural Centre, Werribee on Friday, May 23.
Arroquero said flamenco music had its origins with gypsies who settled in Andalusia, southern Spain more than 500 years ago and whose isolation from mainstream society enabled the development of a distinct style of singing and playing guitar.
"The dancing has only really happened in the past 100 years so flamenco is really about the song and guitar, and the dance came out of that," he said.
Arroquero said when he first arrived in Madrid in 1991, he supported himself teaching English during the day.
He took extra dance classes at night specialising in Flamenco.
He soon realised he needed to immerse himself in the culture of flamenco and moved to Andalusia.
"Flamenco involves a lot of time on your own, taking classes, a lot of studio time, and a lot of practice to develop technique," he said.
"You go on your own personal journey. In the end, it's basically about finding yourself."
