January 9, 2004 - page 2



Carlos V took over the Alhambra and built his own palace using Renaissance, Roman, and Gothic styles, though the Gothic section was never actually built. This rectangular palace is intriguing because the interior is a rotunda two stories tall with separate colonnades on each floor. Sacremonte is the name of the hill opposite the Alhambra and is filled with caves. When the Spanish government decided to begin conserving the Alhambra, they evicted all of the

Gypsies and homeless people living in the sultan's abandoned palaces. Those people then took to the caves, and many have been there for generations since.

We went to a Gypsy cave and watched a flamenco presentation. There were six or seven women and two men who performed. It was interesting to watch the interactions between the dancer and the guitarist and between the guitarist and the singer. The rhythms of the guitar fed off those of the dancers heels, and the other dancers clapped along in varying rhythms as well. The best performers by far were those who most genuinely felt the emotion of the piece. Some left you simply breathless. The state of trance that is the goal of all flamenco is called "duende," and it makes all the difference in the caliber of the dance. One of the women looked to be approaching seventy. She sang and danced with so much emotion that one hardly noticed the lack of grace that age had afforded her. It was a lively performance that left us all crying for more and yelling words of encouragement along with the other dancers throughout the performance. Ole!