Flamenco in Carmen

[Thanh Dang Nguyen <nguyet1@Eng.Auburn.EDU>]

Hi bac Hung,

> Ca?m o+n ba'c Thanh dda~ gio+'i thie^.u version phim truye^.n. Tui xin ho?i
> 1 ca^u nhe': carmen la` co^ ga'i bohemienne, nhu+ng ddie^.u nha?y
> trong phim la` ddie^.u flamenco phai kho^ng? Tui kho^ng biet dda^u,
> bo+?i vi` tui nho+' trong vo+? carmen co' 1 ddoa.n "danse boheme".
> Va^.y trong vo+? carmen co' ddie^.u flamenco kho^ng?

Well, I just wanted to share some of my random thoughts about this famous
musical piece; I'm not the least an expert on either Spanish music in
general, or flamenco dance in particular. I know virtually nothing about
different dance styles and their origins, so please correct me if I'm
wrong.

Back to Carmen again. Bizet's Carmen was originally written as an opera,
so I really doubt that one can watch flamenco, or whatever dances in 
the theatrical performance of "Carmen". I think the "Bohemian Dance"
was simply entitled so to characterize the boldness and wildness of
Carmen who is a young Gypsy queen in the story. Flamenco is a Latin
dance.

> Nha^n tie^.n, bu+~a truoc tui no'i lie^`u: flamenco chi? copy 1 pha^`n
> ddie^.u mu'a bu.ng, go^'c va^~n la` vu`ng Adalousie (sp?) phi'a ba('c TBN.

I really don't see much influence of the arabic "belly dance" on flamenco.
But I might be wrong. Again, I cannot suggest anything about flamenco
other than the movie by Carlos Saura. I highly recommend it, since it's
*not* simply an usual adaptation of "Carmen", but about the making of
"Carmen", the parallel situation of a love triangle between what happens
in real life and the story itself (the choreographer falls in love with the
young dancer who plays Carmen, and at the end kills her out of his
uncontrollable obsession, exactly the way it goes in the opera). There are
uncountable beautiful dance shots in this movie which were arranged for flamenco.

Actually the movie was my only most memorable experience with this dance
(plus some other things I've heard from Paco de Lucia once in a while).
So I guess you need to turn to somebody else to get some hands-on
experience with this.

Later,

-Thanh