By Lubna Abdel-Aziz The world of dance mourns the loss of Antonio Gades 67, the greatest flamenco dancer in the history of Spain, after a long and valiant battle with cancer. August and magnetic in purpose and demeanour, Gades was the high priest of flamenco in Spain's temple of dance. He gained an international audience for himself, and his art was immortalised on film by legendary director Carlos Saura in his classic "Dance Trilogy" -- Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding 1986), Carmen (1983), and El Amor Brujo (Love the Magician, 1986). "While he is the most universal of our dancers -- he of all our bailaores is the one who is most utterly Spanish," wrote Caballero Bonald. The story of Gades is the story of flamenco. The story of flamenco is the story of Spain. Gades's greatest attribute was modernising flamenco while jealously guarding its traditional roots. Gades thrilled millions worldwide and gained praise from flamenco purists. He seized the indigenous art-form defiled at the hands of Franco's nationalists, who turned it into a commercial tourist attraction, and restored it to its elegant grace and mythic glory. His revival of the art was acclaimed in major theatres around the world from Milan's La Scala to New York's Metropolitan, breaking cultural and geographic barriers with his evocative interpretations and compelling choreography. Spanish, French, German, Cuban, Italian, American, Mexican audiences all over the world gave him standing ovations as they clapped their hands, stomped their feet, crying "Gades! Gades!" None could equal his power and lucidity and his extraordinary flare at telling a story, applying theatrical narrative techniques to his explosive choreography. While the "Saura" films made him an international movie star and a world celebrity, Gades remained true to his roots, his vocation and his ideology. Flamenco is the traditional song and dance of the Gypsies (flamencas) of Andalusia. Neither a Gypsy nor an Andalusian, Gades made it his mission to turn flamenco into refined dance theatre, and through it he told his powerful tales of Spain's ancient history and rich legacy. Those heightened dramas, integral to the Spanish temperament, apparent in their bullfighting as well as their song and dance, relay the heart and soul of Spain. To savour it fully one has to wait for the definitive dénouement, unlocking vistas through which our fancy may wander at her ease. The presence of such mystifying elements alone does not make for an immortal art or universal admiration, but without them assuredly, its lure would not rise to its sublime level. To us, flamenco fills us with a special sense of aesthetic and intellectual happiness. To Spaniards, flamenco is but a prelude to a far richer enjoyment, pious in nature, akin to prayer. The major component of flamenco is the song ( Cante ), and some have been known to giggle or chuckle on first hearing the flamenco sound, a primeval wail of centuries of torment and anguish. Gades revised and re-wrote 65 separate song types, preserving this ephemeral tradition, while still maintaining the soulful cry of the oppressed Gypsy. No one could stage flamenco like Gades and Gades had no false modesty about his ability. He once claimed himself, "the greatest male dancer ever!". Few could argue with his claim. Dance is a natural form of expression in all cultures but in Spain it is the air they breathe. With 47 provinces Spain has 47 forms of dance. Traditional Spanish dance is composed of many forms, Classic and Folk dance, Bolero, Fandango, Jota, etc, but it is hard to conceive of a form more suited to the fiery Spanish temperament than Flamenco. Spaniards have a deep understanding of the clarity and conciseness of flamenco, twin to bullfighting. It is a tradition of good luck that a flamenco dancer performs solo in the presence of a torero immediately before a corrida. Comprised of three elements, cante (song), baile (dance), and guitarra (guitar), a variation of the Arabic oud, flamenco's origins rem-ain shrouded in darkness. Pure flamenco is not only old but ancient, deeply rooted in the diversity of cultures and races, Gypsy, Persian, Arabic, Moorish, Andalusian, etc. The research conducted in the field is far less extensive than we would like, leaving its history mysterious and obscure. Between 800 and 900 AD, a large exodus of "untouchables" moved west from India across Asia and the European continent. A second group migrated across Egypt and North Africa up into southern Spain. Hindus were hired to participate and perform in festivals in the ancient city of Gadir (Cadiz), established by the Phoenicians. Despite 700 years of Arab occupation, there is almost no similarity between flamenco and Middle Eastern dance. The resemblances between flamenco and some East Indian dance forms, Katak, Nianipuri, supports the theory that flamenco's origins were probably Hindu dancing. Such mutually shared elements include the "deep-seated plié", the "out-turned leg position", the "sharp angle of body and arms", the "splayed fingers" and "rapid turns" and the "percussive foot movement". During a flamenco performance a spectator's hand clapping is discouraged between beats of the music, as it tends to be distracting. Enthusiastic applause at appropriate intervals however, is greatly appreciated, so are spontaneous shouts of encouragement and admiration. Flamenco was reported in the literature as early as 1774, but the first flamenco schools opened between 1765 and 1860. The word flamenco was applied to the art around the mid-19th century arriving in Madrid in 1853, and in 1881 the first C o lleci�n de Cantes Flamencos was published by Antonio Machado Y �lvarez. Today, in the post-Franco era, it is more popular in Spain and abroad than it ever was. Gades broadened its appeal and restored its soul. He stumbled on dance "out of hunger". Born Antonio Esteve Rodenas in 1936 in Elda, Alicante near Valencia he grew up in Madrid, where he started working at age 11. He took on a variety of part-time jobs including boxing, bullfighting and dancing. At 15 he was spotted by legendary flamenco dancer Pilàr López who took him under her wing. After one year of intense lessons in classical dance, Bolero, Zapateado, Farruca and Jota, he was ready to be principle dancer in her Ballet Espagnol. She gave him the name that became the legend -- Antonio Gades -- but it was the flame of the flamenco that burnt his soul. He formed his own troupe in 1962 and dazzled audiences in world theatres for decades. After reading the works of Andalusian poet Federico Garcia Lorca, he was inspired to revive the flamenco culture. Lorca's powerful play Blood Wedding became his breakthrough production, immortalised by Carlos Saura's film, which was followed by Prosper Merimée and George Bizet's Carmen, and Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo. He wrapped himself in the luxurious blanket of Spanish culture and staged his classic ballets that astounded and dumbfounded. His crowning glory was the staging of Lope de Vega's play Fuenteovejuna, and his unfulfilled dream was to stage Cervantes' Don Quixote. Adding to all these layers of beatic bliss, alas and alas, there was Gades himself. He was the most handsome of men, "the most beautiful male dancer ever". A god, hewn out of the marble of Michelangelo, lean and chiselled even at 67, despite the cancer and pain. Strong, noble, imperial, he cut a Don Juanesque image of irresistible charm and appeal, as his perfect body moved in the moonlight. His indisputable beauty was not inherited, rather he belonged to that mysterious race which appears here and there at recurring rare intervals in the family of mankind. Crowned with the roses and kisses of admiring aficionadas, he wore his crown with the calm insouciance of pride and power. Women flirted with him shamelessly and gazed with loving eyes as he exhibited his dash, his verve, his exhilarating brilliance, a fantasia con brio, a symphony in motion. He stretched his art well beyond the breaking point, quivering with intense emotion and intoxicating passion. I was in the audience once -- I felt it! Although he had fame and fortune, walked with lords and kings, partied with Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, his hero was the man in the street, the loser, the underdog. On his deathbed he asked his wife and daughters "to give special thanks to all those who admired and supported my work", as he smiled and danced his way to heaven. Like the flamenco his song will never end, his flame will never be extinguished!
