Sand Dances - Tips To Make Them Modern

Stacie Strong | Aug 03, 2008 | 0

Last night, I caught Guillem Alonso doing a fantastic sand dance at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project's presentation of JUBA.  Alonso - who hails from Spain - put on the most exciting, innovative and contemporary-feeling sand dance performance I've ever seen.  It's great to see someone carrying on this lost art.  Read on for five tips on how to do a sand dance well.

Here's Alonso doing a dance very similar to the one I saw last night, though this one seems to be in his native Spain and incorporates a bit of a flamenco flair.  You can still see how he has truly mastered the special art of sand dancing, though.

1.  A sand dance is not a tap dance!  Some of the steps are vaguely similar, but you have to adjust your technique to keep it all on the floor.  I recently saw some students doing a sand dance, and they were doing wings and jumps that really didn't produce any kind of appealing noises with the sand.  As you can see in the clip, Alonso focuses on scraping and rubbing movements that go side to side over the sand, rather than up and down movements, which are more typical of tap.  This gives a more consistent and interesting sound.  You can also vary the speed of your movements to produce different pitches.

2.  Consider dancing on something other than wood.  Last night (but not in the clip), Alonso seemed to be on a kind of tarp or plastic sheet with a bit of ribbing, which produced a sound that was much more hip - almost like the kind of scratching you get in hip hop or electronica.  Other sand dancers I've seen have used more traditional wooden boxes to keep the sand in one place and cut down the amount of sweeping the stage hands have to do afterwards.  The problem with boxes is that they can limit the dancers' movements, since the wood is too heavy to make really big.  Also, the wood doesn't produce any novel noises.

3.  Make the pouring of the sand a theatrical moment.  While the student group I saw recently tried to make it cute, Alonso used a dark stage and side lighting to catch the sand coming down like a waterfall.  He used his fingers, as well as waving movements, to spray and move the stream of sand.  This, combined with the dramatic lighting, made the depositing of the sand a show in itself.  You can get an idea of what this looks like from the clip, but he's improved his technique even more since the video was shot.  Truly well done.

4.  Don't be afraid to use your upper body.  Sand dances are slower than tap dances, so you can (and perhaps should) incorporate other movements to add visual interest.  See how Alonso uses some miming and some flamenco arms in the clip.

5.  Tell a story.  Though sand dances are historical novelties, they're still dances that need a point of view and a beginning, middle and end.  Just getting out there to dance on sand isn't enough - you still have to say something with your dance.  Last night, Alonso took a comedic approach that always left the audience looking for the next laugh.  He also showed that he was aware of the futuristic sounds he was making by doing a bit of robotic popping and locking.  In the clip, he has a bit more of a flamenco feel, and uses the emotions and techniques approapriate to that style.  In short, his dances are more than a nod to history - they're modern retellings of different stories using classic elements.

Guillem Alonso is truly a lesson in the international magic of tap dance.  Born in Barcelona, he won first prize at the World Tap Championships and toured the U.S. and the world with some of the best American tap companies in the 1990s.  He was a tap soloist in Fire and Dance from 2000 to 2002, which is where he first choreographed his sand dance.  He's the founder and director of Barcelona Rhythm Tap Company and a member of Camut Band Tap and Percussion Company.  When at home in Barcelona, he leads weekly tap jams at the Cova Del Drac.  He's currently the Chicago Human Rhythm Project's Artist in Residence.  If you have a chance to see him, do - he's a talented and charming dancer.

Print Email Link

• Share
  • add to facebook
  • add to del.icio.us
  • add to digg
  • add to yahoo
  • related at technorati

Tap, Teacher, Enthusiast, Studio, Performance (all tags)