The Filipino family of Flamenco

By Rome Jorge and Photos by Rene Dilan

CLARA RAMONA strikes a pose that commands attention and rapture: hands weaving the air and legs poised for seduction, she begins to dance flamenco.

Her son Isaac del los Reyes enters the dance floor, stomping on the floor as he does with a startling staccato. His feet herald this don of dance with a riveting machine gun salute. Ramona, world-renowned flamenco dancer trained by her husband and mentor, legendary Spanish flamenco star Ramon de los Reyes, is also mother of two internationally acclaimed flamenco dancers.

Isaac’s younger brother Niño joins and together they pummel the dance floor into a percussion instrument, spurring the hearts of audiences as they do to beat at a gallop’s pace. The stage is theirs to drum and our hearts are theirs to strum. Lost in a dervish trance, their fiery eyes and gesturing hands summon unseen forces and spellbind all who gaze, listen and feel. This is true flamenco: Vigorous and virile, sensuous and intense, riveting and macho.

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tags: flamenco, baile, cante, flamenca