About Us
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About Us
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Yomenco: The Connection Between Yoga
and Flamenco
Kathak is known to be the origin of
Flamenco and other gypsy dances. The word "Kathak"
means storyteller. It started in the temples of the ancient
Yogis. The Kathaks were mainly men who narrated the scriptures
using music and mime. They also traveled from the temples to
villages to teach people through story and drama. Over time,
the dance has gained a fluidity and refinement of movement that
is distinct and perhaps less stylized, more natural than some
of the other forms.
After the Moghul invasions, Kathak was
taken from the temples and used in the courts for entertainment
where both men and women participated.
There is also a "Bollywood"
version used in Indian films due to the highly adaptable form
of this style as it has evolved. Every Indian dance has
two aspects: Nritta is the abstract, purely rhythmic aspect in
which there is no intellectual significance to the movements.
As in jazz, this aspect is characterized in Kathak by the lines
and shapes created in space and the often-syncopated rhythms of
the feet corresponding to the tabla. It is pure energy,
touching, as all classical dance forms do, on the universal
principles of visually beautiful shapes in space.
Kathak is also distinguished by its mood of
inner absorption. Even if the dancer is not in every way
technically perfect, if he or she has that mood of intoxication
with the object of one's desire, the dancer can, with a single
glance or wave of the hand, make the audience gasp. The inner
mood gives Kathak a coy flavor as well. After all, many of the
pieces center on Radha and Krishna--the Hindu god and goddess
known for their flirtatious love. Radha and Krishna can be said
to symbolize our human longing for union, for completeness, for
an all- consuming experience of love.
This brings us to the second aspect:
Abinaya. In the expressionistic dance of abinaya, you
will find Radha, Krishna, or any Hindu deity acting out their
stories through the human emotions. Here the classical Indian
mudras, or hand gestures, found in scriptures and seen in the
paintings and sculptures of the deities are used.
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We do not need to understand the significance
of every gesture at least half of a Kathak performance will be not
a sequence of events or symbolic movements, but abstract items of
rhythm and joy.
"Do these have meaning? Yes, in their
effect on the nervous system of the dancer and the viewer.
Kathak's Nritta caters to our love of seeing certain geometries
repeated. Straight lines and ornate circles, sharp motions and
sweeping softness, contrast and repetition, all encased, as
Indian dance is, in exotic colors and ornamentation. The result
is a deeply sensual experience that satisfies the senses, the
mind, the heart, and cultivating, if we're fortunate, in a
sense of both expansion and quietness.
The idea of worship through dance involves
a spiritual relationship of the dancer being firmly rooted and
connected to the earth, as a means of escaping the limitations
of the thinking mind. The soles of the feet generate
energy which stream through all cells of the body as the body
moves in tune with the energy. The energy dissolves the
thinking mind and a harmony of body mind and spirit is
realized. At this level the dance becomes yogic, a moving
meditation.
Born from the expression of a persecuted
people, most notably, the Gypsies of southern Spain
(Kathak descendents) , Flamenco’s unique blend of
influences and musical complexity can be attributed to the
consequences of the decree made in Spain 1492 by Catholic
Spanish King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella that everyone
living under their domain convert to Catholicism. This
proclamation was issued under the threat of varying degrees of
punishment, the most severe being the death penalty, by fire.
Gypsies, Muslims, Jews and anyone living in Spain at the time
was ordered to convert. It is believed that because of this
decree these different ethnic groups came together to help each
other, and within this melding of cultures Flamenco was born.
For thousands of years humans have created
art forms to recreate, teach and transmute pain and suffering.
In Yomenco we honor the connection between these two
powerful movements. In doing so we appeal to what Carl
Jung referred to as the collective subconscious human
experience we all share. We believe that Yomenco can
awaken these past memories for the benefit, healing and unity
of mankind.
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