Class Description
To start, we survey flamenco’s historical development, from nineteenth-century cafés cantantes to modern dance companies and studio recordings. In the process, we generate a working knowledge of core musical forms, choreography, and performance venues.
We then explore flamenco's kaleidoscopic role in Andalusian society. For many Gitanos (Romani people, or "Gypsies," in Spain), flamenco is a cultural heritage, a family business, and a mine field of racial stereotypes, which some Gitanos have creatively upended in their performances. The dance is a platform for expressing gender and sexuality as well—often in the shadow of Bizet’s Carmen until feminist and postmodernist dancers took the stage in the late twentieth century. We conclude with flamenco fusion, connecting an influx of blues, jazz, and other musical styles to distinctly Andalusian perspectives on cultural encounter and exchange.
Brian Oberlander holds a PhD in Musicology. He has conducted research on music in France, Spain, and Morocco. He is co-editor of A Sea of Voices: Music and Encounter at the Mediterranean Crossroads (2022) and has offered courses in music history at the Newberry, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia College Chicago.
All virtual classes are recorded and made available to participants registered in the class. These recordings are password-protected and available for up to two weeks after the class ends.
Materials List
Required
- Digital Course Packet
- Other Instructor-Distributed Materials
Recommended
- Peter Manuel, Flamenco Music: History, Forms, Culture. University of Illinois, 2023. ISBN: 9780252087455 (Please Note: We are unable to stock this book, but you can buy it directly from the publisher, at online stores like Bookshop.org, or from other bookstores.)
Optional First Reading
- Read Part I: "History" in Peter Manuel's Flamenco Music: History, Forms, Culture.
A Brief Syllabus
- Historical Survey of Flamenco in Andalusia
- Race and Ethnicity in Flamenco
- Gender and Sexuality in Flamenco
- Cultural Encounters in Flamenco Fusion
Cost and Registration
4 Sessions, $200 ($180 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.
We offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($200), Community Supported ($190), and Sponsor ($210). Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.
To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.
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