Bison Robotics October 2, 2016 Vol. 2, Issue 5 The Piqued Geek
Get immersed in San Antonio’s...catechism class in her South San Antonio barrio when a sharp...
Transcript of Get immersed in San Antonio’s...catechism class in her South San Antonio barrio when a sharp...
Get immersed in San Antonio’s hot flamenco scene
BY TRACY L. BARNETT n PHOTOGRAPHS BY WYATT McSPADDEN
Feet on Fire
T
eresa Champion was just 6 years old when she heard a sound that
would change her life forever. She was the leader in line to go to
catechism class in her South San Antonio barrio when a sharp click-click-click
reached her small ears and piqued her curiosity. The next day, she stood last in line, and when the
group rounded the corner, she hung back and returned to the place where she’d heard that
sound. She peered into a window and stood transfixed.
“I saw this older lady, heavy size, and she was …”— here Teresa stops to
demonstrate the motion and sound of the castanets, wooden clapping instruments—
“I had no idea what I was seeing. I stood there, and I forgot about the catechism.”
Every day she did the same, slipping away from her class to go back and watch the
lady dance. After a week, the woman came out and spoke to her.
“Are you a dancer?” she asked in Spanish.
“‘I’ve never danced,’ I told her, and she asked if I’d like to try,” Teresa says.
So began the initiation of a gypsy soul.
MARCH/APRIL 2016 | Texas Journey 2524 Texas Journey | MARCH/APRIL 2016
Jennifer Castillo is a regular performer at Fiesta Noche Del Rio, San Antonio’s annual outdoor variety show series that includes flamenco and folklórico dance performances. >>>
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Paula Sullivan, top, founded Carmens de la Calle, which hosts intimate flamenco performances. The group Alma Flamenco performs.
Chayito Champion holds a photo of her mother, Teresa, and father, Willie “El Curro” Champion, in their heyday.
Teresa practiced flamenco under the tutelage of that teacher for a year or two then paired with a few others until, at age 12, her instructors told her mother that there was no one left in San Antonio to teach her. Teresa’s father took a second job to be able to send her to the Academia de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where she practiced for three years with the best dance instructors on the continent. She returned to San Antonio to be a professional dancer.
At age 16, Teresa married her guitarist, Willie “El Curro” Champion. Until his passing in 2012, he accompanied her for 57 years, strumming rhythms for her performances in the John Wayne version of The Alamo, at the White House, and around the country touring with Latin dance stars includ-ing José Greco and Cantinflas. Nowadays, four generations of Champions preserve the flamenco legacy on the tablas (wooden stages) and in the studios of the Alamo City.
While San Antonio’s Tex-Mex roots influence much of its entertainment offerings, an increasing number of its 32 mil-lion annual visitors are attracted to the Spanish culture of the region’s first European settlers who brought flamenco to the New World. These days, a visitor can find at least two or three first-rate flamenco performances on any given week.
Early StepsAlthough the Champion family has been instrumental in popularizing flamenco in San Antonio, a wide range of teachers at the Spanish-influenced San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department have guided generations of local dancers. The accessibility of low-cost public classes in com-munity centers around the city formed the foundations of key figures such as Elizabeth Sanchez-Lopez, now the direc-tor, choreographer, and emcee of the city’s summertime River Walk performance series, Fiesta Noche del Rio; and the classically trained Belinda Menchaca, who has taken a vari-ety of roles at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in West San Antonio.
The flamenco scene, like the city itself, is populated with enough colorful characters to cast its own telenovela. Paula Sullivan was a food scientist from Chicago whose path led her to San Antonio as operations director for Pace Foods. When the plant closed after a buyout from Campbell’s Soup Company, Sullivan took some time to plan her next steps. She’d always loved the rhythms and the passion of flamenco,
and as a foodie, she was also drawn to the concept of the Spanish tapas bar.
When she arrived in 1988, flamenco was almost an under-ground phenomenon, popping up in little pockets through-out the city: the Champions, the Parks and Rec classes, the annual Texas Folklife Festival, the short sets on the River Walk. Sullivan sensed a hunger for more.
“So many dancers were here, but I wondered how they could hone their skills just doing those performances,” she
says. “Dancing on the tablas, dancing up close, is so different from a staged show. It brings in your audience, and they fall in love with you, they follow you.”
So, 16 years ago, she founded Carmens de la Calle, an intimate venue that seats audience members almost close enough to feel the sweat as it flies from a whirling face or the rush of air from a flourished fan. It remains a popular place downtown to watch top-notch flamenco on weekends.
New MovesWhile Carmens has set a high bar for the local flamenco scene, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center has worked to cre-ate a sense of community among the dancers themselves.
“My generation grew up in an atmosphere where you didn’t go visit other dance companies,” recalls instructor Belinda Menchaca. “Companies were possessive of their danc-ers and there was a fear that you’d leave this group for that group. We wanted to get rid of that thinking.” Their tactic is offering inclusive workshops and festivals, even inviting top-ranking teachers from Spain to help all dancers sharpen their skills.
Other cities have bigger flamenco festivals (Albuquerque, New Mexico, hosts a notable one each June), but something about San Antonio makes it special in the field of flamenco.
“The music, the castanets, the fans, the footwork … is the same as you may see in other places,” says
Fiesta Noche del Rio’s Sanchez-Lopez. “But the performers’ passion is what stands out.”
She cites Chayito Champion, the vocalist daughter of the famous Teresa and Curro,
as an example. “Chayito has worked with bailaores and musicians around the world. People just fall in love with her voice.”
That passion is found off stage, too, in people like Lisa Perello (see “The Perfect Fit,” page 28). A sought-
after flamenco dressmaker, she has watched the local flamenco scene
evolve for more than 30 years. Chatting with her, one senses her excitement about
what’s to come. “When most people think of San Antonio
dance, they picture folklórico, they think of Mexico,” she says. “But we’re stepping up our game in fla-
menco. The rest of the world just hasn’t caught on yet.”
Tracy L. Barnett is a former travel editor of the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her at tracybarnettonline.com.
For information on AAA TourBooks and TripTik Travel Planners, visit AAA.com/maps.
>>>MORE
Flamenco VS. FolklóricoIt is a common mistake to think of
flamenco and folklórico as
the same, or to confuse
the two. Flamenco
is a form of Spanish
dance. Folklórico is a
form of Mexican
dance. Both
flamenco
and
folklórico
are passed
down from generation
to generation. Here,
Fiesta Noche del Rio
Director Elizabeth
Sanchez-Lopez
explains the main differences:
Flamenco dance is an
expressive, emotional style of
dance with strong percussive
footwork and graceful hand, arm,
and body movement. Folklórico
dance is a more festive, highly
expressive, celebratory style
of dance with a set of steps
called zapateados that involves
percussive heel-stomping.
Improvisation is often used
in flamenco dance whereas
most folklórico dances have set
movement or choreography.
Flamenco is often danced
solo or as a duet. Folklórico is
often performed by an
ensemble group.
Flamenco often includes
three components: guitarra
(guitar), cante (song), and baile
(dance). Flamenco may be
danced without music, where
the dancer claps to set rhythm or
uses hand-held instruments called
castanets. Folklórico dances are
often accompanied by a mariachi
or other musical group.
Flamenco dance may be
performed in an informal
setting or small cafés or
cabarets. Folklórico dance is
often performed in outdoor
venues or theatrical settings.
A former dancer finds her real passion in dressmaking
The Perfect Fit
Lisa Perello, the daughter of Jose, a flamenco guitarist from Pamplona, Spain, and Sylviana,
a former professional flamenco dancer, grew up immersed in the genre. Always the dutiful
daughter, she went to classes and recitals from the time she was 5.
“Don’t get me wrong—I loved being onstage, and I loved to get dressed up,” Perello says.
“I just didn’t like practicing. I was lazy.” When she was 15, she reached the pinnacle of her
dancing career at Fiesta Noche del Rio. That was her last performance.
As a young girl, Perello attended Parks and Rec dance classes, and the kids’ grandmothers
sewed costumes for their performances. As time went on, women transitioned into careers
out of the home, and no one was left to sew. “Our moms had jobs in an office and we went to
after-school care or we were latchkey kids. Now, nobody can sew,” she says.
But Lisa Perello can.
Surrounded with her daily works of art—Blue Lagoon, a svelte yet ruffled number she
made for local dancer Monica Moncivais, and Fuego, a black skirt with hand-painted gores—
Perello recalls her early influences: She used to watch while her great-grandmother and other
elder seamstresses created their masterworks. “I’m grateful that I was paying attention and
that God gave me the talent. Nowadays, I don’t know if it’s embarrassment or what, but
people don’t want to say, ‘I’m a seamstress.’ But I do. I used to put my head down … because
people don’t think that the job of a seamstress is elevated enough. But I’m very proud of
it. Absolutely.”
Her mastery was recognized in 2011 when she won the Tobin Award for Costume Design,
and again by the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio when it exhibited some of her dresses.
Perello still lives with the adrenaline flow of uncertainty. “I go to bed every night
with that heart pounding, thinking, where am I going to take it from here, how am I
going to make it better?”
She stops her story for a moment to search her small workshop for a card
someone gave her years ago, which has become the guidepost for her life: “If
your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough!” —T.L.B.
View a sampling
of Lisa Perello’s
dresses at
lisaperello
designs.com.
28 Texas Journey | MARCH/APRIL 2016 >>>MORE
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If You GoTo treat yourself to a taste of San Antonio’s flamenco scene, check schedules with
these resources.
CARMENS DE LA CALLE: Flamenco on
Fridays and Saturdays, plus jazz on Thursdays.
(210) 281-4349; carmensdelacalle.com.
ESPAÑA BAR DE TAPAS: Flamenco on
Saturdays, with a variety of activities on other
nights. (210) 690-4433; espanabar.com.
FIESTA NOCHE DEL RIO: Variety show
featuring a flamenco segment at
the classic Arneson River Theater
on the River Walk. Friday and
Saturday nights May 13–August 13.
(210) 226-4651; fiestanochesa.com.
GET CREATIVE SAN ANTONIO: Click “Events,” then “Dance” at the
Department of Culture and Creative
Development’s website to find local
happenings. getcreativesanantonio.com.
GUADALUPE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: Organizes occasional flamenco workshops
and performances. The annual Flamenco
Fest this year will be in June. (210) 271-3151;
guadalupeculturalarts.org.
VISIT SAN ANTONIO: The city’s
official tourism site features dance
and musical performances. (800)
447-3372; visitsanantonio.com.
(Above) Sonya Ann Casillas a.k.a. “La Sonya” performs at
Carmens de la Calle; (right) Gabriella Rodriguez takes center
stage at España Bar de Tapas.
30 Texas Journey | MARCH/APRIL 2016