Ritmo de pasodoble

Last week, Jean-Marc Genereaux, that savvy showman, choreographed a paso doble for Jason and Caitlin that was... a hot mess. Sorry, but I hated it. The costumes have been compared elsewhere to Disney's Aladdin (or I Dream of Genie meets Princess Leia) while the music (the same overblown music from Carmina Burana that Brandon used for his audition) was a crime against the paso doble because it simply was not the right rhythm. The poor dancers were told that they were supposed to hate each other and were given a lot of stomping and flailing to do, but whatever tenuous grasp of the character of the dance the non-ballroom public might have picked up over the last few years of watching SYTYCD (or even DWTS) was stamped out. I got so annoyed I couldn't enjoy a thing about it, even how ridiculous it was. I don't expect dance purity from SYTYCD, or even an attempt to educate us about the origins of various dances. But if they weren't going to even gesture toward the Spanish popular origins of the pasodoble at least they could respect more stylized conventions the ballroom paso! The dancers can't be faulted for their performance; Jean-Marc is a generally a crowd pleaser, but in this case I think he went too far trying to sell a spectacle to a non-ballroom audience instead helping his dancers understand something about the character of the dance that would make their posture, arm gestures, head position, promenades, poses convey something about the paso doble and look like something better than a kind of pompous hustle. I think that's why they ended up in the bottom 3 last week.

So, to rinse out my brain, I went looking for some REAL pasodoble, both Spanish and ballroom. Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but enjoy dancing ballroom as an amateur, and I have spent a lot of time in Spain in the last fifteen years because my daughter's dad is Spanish. I thought I'd share some of my ideas about the paso doble, not as prescriptions for the show, but just to take us beyond what the show is able to show us about the dance.

Start with the rhythm. This 1902 composition "Suspiros de España" (presented on Spanish TV with reverence by opera tenor Plácido Domingo) is a Spanish example of the song genre called the pasodoble, Listen to the rhythm: this is the essence of the pasodoble whose very name tells us what is basic to this genre of music; translated as "two step" or "double step", the music that gives origin to the dance has the 1-2 1-2 rhythm of a quick march, but it's not a stomp stomp stomp.


The singer here, Rosa, doesn't camp it up like some of the copla singers of the past (Isabel Pantoja , Rocio Jurado are wonderful examples of great popular singers of the pasodoble) but gives it to us simply and from the heart. Spaniards are incredibly fond of this kind of song and see it as a part of their cultural heritage. This particular song is so iconic in Spain that it has been used in the soundtrack of two films about the Spanish Civil War to convey something about the conflict: in Soldados de Salamanca the song was reinterpreted in a slowed-down style that brings out the North African/gypsy elements of Spanish heritage, while in Ay! Carmela, Carmen Maura sings it when forced to perform for the Germans and Italians who were the allies of Franco. In both cases, the words and rhythm of this pasodoble are supposed to communicate something important about what it means to be Spanish, however complicated that might turn out to be.

The pasodoble is also a rhythm associated with the promenatde of the bullfighters, the entrance of toreros, because it's often played by brass bands (its probable origin in the 19th century is as a military march, later played by bands for popular entertaiment). This march was made internationally famous by Bizet in his opera Carmen, and even today famous pasodoble songs are performed on TV by some of the most iconic diva singers of Spanish pop culture. The social dance called the pasodoble (which, of course, looks almost nothing like they highly stylized and athletic dance of International Dancesport competitive ballroom dance) is danced socially in Spain (and in some other countries like Colombia) at events like weddings where families get together. I have dance the pasodoble at weddings in Spain--it's a hoot.

What is the "character of the dance?" In this clip from Carlos Saura's film of García Lorca's play Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding), you can see the wedding band playing (and singing) a pasodoble as the wedding party poses for a photo, drinks a toast and begins the first dance. The bride (the splendid Cristina Hoyos) dances first with her groom, but then with the man she really loves (Antonio Gades, he of the wolfish eyes). The entire film tells the story using flamenco-based dance, but what I love about this scene is that is conveys the intensity that ballroom paso doble wants to convey, but using entirely Spanish cultural, musical and dance idioms.

The character of the dance is not just its basic rhythm, but also the posture, the gestures, the emotions: here the love that is a mix of lust and resentment, the danger of dancing with a former lover at your own wedding in front of everyone, the pride of both the man and the woman, is not just danced by the couple but by the entire group.

To convey the character of the dance, the choreography and performance of woman's part in the pasodoble should give us the FEELING of Lola Flores singing "Pena penita pena."

When ballroom instructors who don't know much about Spanish culture try to explain to students what the paso should look like they often fall back on the analogy of the bullfighter: the man is the bullfighter the woman is the cape (NOT the bull, please!) but what does that really mean? Here's an example of the movement of a bullfighter who is a master of the cape, the current idol of Spain's bullfight aficionados, Morantes de la Puebla (WARNING: don't watch this if you will feel sorry for the bull!). Look at his posture, the quality of his movements, the incredible stylization of this bloody ritual that survives in spite of the protests of those against animal cruelty because of its amazing artistry and danger.

This of the best ballroom paso doble as an extremely stylized set of moves, always set to a few basic Spanish paso doble songs. Although it no longer has much direct connection to its Spanish roots, it is almost always danced in competition to the pasodoble song "España Cani" (aka the "bullfight song") which preserve the musical rhythm of the popular genre, and attempts to capture some of the spirit of the Spanish attitude and movements that come from the bullfight, flamenco, and Spanish popular culturel. Here's a fairly straightforward example, danced as a showcase by international champions Michael Malitowski and Joanne Leunis:


Our SYTYCD dancers aren't going to be able to do this, but the judges need to have a talk with Jean-Marc.
crossposted at SYTYCD 5 Social