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On
the
evening
(March
30,
2023)
that
we
learned
that
former
United
States
president
Donald
J.
Trump
had
been
criminally
indicted
in
New
York
for
crimes
not
then
disclosed,
the
Steiny
Road
Poet
was
treated
to
a
world-class
flamenco
ballet
by
Sara
Baras
at
the
Kennedy
Center
in
Washington,
DC.
The
ballet
is
entitled
"Alma"
and
translates
as soul,
something
many
of
us
news
junkies
believe
Trump
may
have
little
to
none
of.
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Gertrude Stein said, "Americans are like Spaniards [sic]" and she wrote in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas that "Gertrude Stein and Spaniards
are natural friends." Her long-time friendship with Pablo Picasso embodies
those declarations. Numerous scholars have written about Stein's radical
experimentation in terms of dance. For example, Daniella Aguiar and João
Queiroz in their paper "From Gertrude Stein to Dance: Repetition and
Time in Intersemiotic Translation." All of this to say, that Steiny sees
intersections between Donald Trump, Gertrude Stein, and flamenco dance.
First Steiny's impressions of "Alma"—a cross between radical tap dancing,
martial arts, belly dancing, a Moslem call to prayer with jazzed overlays,
and Sufi whirling. While repetition frames every move in flamenco,
creating a mesmerizing trance state, nothing is exactly the same. Having
come out of Andalusian Gitanos (gypsy) culture, it has always been outside
traditional dance forms. Another feature of flamenco is its tricky off beat
timing, which the musicians enhanced with rounds of handclapping. What
was apparent in Baras' presentation is that she mixed the hubris of, say, a
matador in the bull ring with her intention to show her loving concern for
both her audience (throwing them kisses) and her fellow dancers and
musicians (going to each one and hugging them). Clearly it was a
performance Baras did not want to end as she offered up multiple encores.
The show with its excellent musicianship (guitars, drums, flute, saxophone,
and those rhythmic dancer heels) inspired the same kind of awe that
Steiny experienced when, in the 1980s, she took her son to Spain, and they
attended a bull fight by the top matadors—it was a cultural learning
experience.
So, the crossovers between Donald Trump, Gertrude Stein, and flamenco
dance are over-the-top repetition, offbeat timing, and a certain diva
attitude that defies all criticism.
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Writings
