Analyze a Baile: Guajiras
The Anatomy of a Baile: Guajiras
Let’s analyze a baile (dance). Watching is one of the most important things that a dancer or aficionado can do to expand our understanding of flamenco. Let’s take a look at Paula Comitre performing a Guajira in the Semifinal of the 29th Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas.
A little background on guajiras from the amazing resource, Flamencopolis.
Guajiras falls into the flamenco song style (palo) category of cante de ida y vuelta, songs that were brought back to Spain from the Americas and given a flamenco style. Guajira comes from Cuba and I can never hear one without imagining the heavy heat, and humid nights of a Cuban summer evening. I see beautiful ladies lolling in their lace chemises on balconies covered with climbing jasmine and bougainvillea, fanning themselves and perhaps even smoking an illicit cigarillo.
A lot of the lyrics speak yearning for the love of the ladies on the balconies, but also desperately missing Spain.
The guajira has been part of flamenco for a long time. There is a record of one being presented in Jerez in 1860. The guajira is counted in a composite 6/8 + ¾ measure like the buleria or soleares. Flamencos refer to this measure as a 12 beat. It is often danced with an abanico (fan), a semipericon (half-sized large fan) or a pericon (large fan).
Let’s take a look at the baile.
The dancer enters with a lovely salida (entrance) to a beautiful falseta de guitarra (guitar instrumental). Movements in guajiras tend to be more balletic than other types of flamenco styles. We see her costume is very evocative of the image I talked about above. A dancer’s costume should be a reflection of the palo that s/he is dancing. In guajiras you will often see light colors, lace, and homages to the Victorian silhouette. One cannot dance an angry, dark or intense guajiras. It would feel wrong.
Can you spot the end of her falseta when she does her llamada (call) to finish the section and bring in the singer?
The Ayyyyyiiiiii, is a typical entrance into the cante by the singer. The singer is finding his tone, warming up his voice and also has the license to personalize his/her style. Paula punctuates the salida del cante with some nice remates de pie (rhythmic accents of the feet). Then she is off dancing another more percussive falseta which, of course, ends with a clear llamada to move the structure along.
The first letra (verse) begins and she fills the singer’s respiro (breath or short break between stanzas) with remates. It is followed by falseta to enter into her escobilla or footwork section. Can you spot where she changes the intention and energy of her footwork to signal the end of the falseta and then she does another llamada to call in the second letra which leads into a bulerias to finish. Can you feel how the rhythm and the entire energy changes in the second letra? After the melodic, rhythmic chorus (estribillo) the cuadro (group) drops the intensity and finishes with a brief salida por guajiras.
Takeaways:
Use of the fan and the emphasis on the salida and demonstrating creativity and technique of dancing with an abanico.
Combination of falsetas and letras to build the structure.
Use of remates/llamadas to change intensity and carry the group through the choreographic structure.
The dancer’s costume and aire is appropriate to the traditional feel of the guajiras style.