Flamenco is a way of life for Tamar Ilana.
A Toronto-based flamenco performer who has experience dancing and singing all over the world, she’s excited to bring her six-piece ensemble, Tamar Ilana & Ventanas, to Halifax for Flamenco Fusion Fest, a collaborative event put together by Atlantic Flamenco and the non-profit FabCollab in their Women in Song performance series.
Ilana, who is also the executive director of FabCollab, says it’s been a dream to play the Seahorse Tavern since she was last in Halifax to celebrate her wedding anniversary.
“We were out on the town, seeing what’s going on, checking out cool places and we found the Seahorse Tavern,” says Ilana. “We went in and there was like this crazy dance party and a rave downstairs. What is this awesome venue? I want to play here.
“Two years later, here we are.”
Ilana was raised with flamenco as a part of her life. Travelling with her ethnomusicologist mother from a young age, she experienced the arts in Spain, Greece, Turkey, the Balkans and throughout the Mediterranean. Sometimes she would perform with her mother.
“I was exposed ot a lot of different music and cultures since I was born,” says Ilana, circling back to the present day. “My daughter’s coming on tour with me now.”
Her interest in flamenco began when she was five or six years old. She witnessed a flamenco dance and was immediately awe-struck. She told her mother that’s what she wanted to do, and her mom encouraged her to go speak with the dancer.
From there, her interest was solidified. Ilana studied flamenco vigorously, moving back and forth from Spain many times over the years so she could be closest to the craft.
“You’re a forever student as a flamenco artist,” says Ilana. “There are some incredible masters out there. Constantly learning, constantly studying, constantly returning to the art form and checking in with the source. It’s just always evolving. It’s a beautiful, addictive art form.”
To Ilana, flamenco is a language without the need for words.
“Flamenco is like a language. You and I are conversing right now and we know the topic, but we don’t know exactly the words that are going to come out of our mouths. Flamenco is really like that. It has subgenres and different, different keys. Once you’re in that kind of subgenre, they call them palos, a palo, you’re kind of improvising within the form and you’re all speaking the same language.”
It’s also a constant conversation between the musicians, vocalists and dancers. The vocalist can sing a verse, the dancer will respond with footwork, and the musicians respond to the footwork with an accompaniment.
“In other forms, I feel like the dancer is usually following,” says Ilana. “In flamenco, it’s really a conversation with the dancer, so the dancer can change it at any time she wants. She can change the length of a piece. She can go to a different section, come back. She’s really in command. Then, she can toss the ball, so to speak, to another artist.”
For the show in Halifax, Ilana is joined by Lia Grainger, another Toronto-based flamenco dancer who is also the artistic director of the Flamencolia Dance Company and a lead dancer with the touring ensemble Fin de Fiesta Flamenco. Maria Osende, a Halifax-based flamenco dancer and the artistic director of Atlantic Flamenco, joins them along with Halifax-based cellist and vocalist Blanche Israël.
If you haven’t seen flamenco before, Ilana highly suggests you check out their Halifax show.
“It has all the emotions,” she says. “Sad, angry, happy, excited. Everything you have, you can bring and is welcome. You can feel all the feels and it’s just beautiful to witness.”
Flamenco Fusion Fest will take place at the Seahorse Tavern on Friday, Aug 7, with doors opening at 7:30pm. Tickets can be purchased here.
We love flamenco, when we spend time in Spain. I often wish that someone would create an ENGLISH lyric song for flamenco, because I don’t speak enough Spanish to follow the words. I know that idea seems to go contrary to the philosophy, but one song can’t hurt.
We would be happy to explain some of the songs!