Chamarita or Chamarrita -- how ever many Rs you use to spell it, it is fun to dance! We wonder how many families owe their very existence to encounters at Chamaritas danced at the Sausalito Portuguese Hall over the last 126 years of Festas? We hope everyone has noted that in preparation for the Chamarita dancing at the Festa on June 8, we will be having some very informal practice at the Sip & Savor event this Friday night. Everyone is welcome - from total beginners to those with more experience. As with all of our Sip & Savor events, the goal is to have FUN! Some of you may know Jason Santos, who is the Chef de Cuisine at Cafe Lucia in Healdsburg. Jason has quite a bit of experience when it comes to the Chamarita - both dancing it and calling it (just as in a square dance, the Chamarita has a caller who calls out the mandos which guide the dancers). We recently asked Jason for some information about the Chamarita and thought we would share with you below the very informative text of an email he sent, complete with a link to a YouTube video and commentary on the mandos used there. We hope you will find this of interest (incidentally, Jasons reference to the documentary was to Não me importava morrer se houvesse guitarras no Céu (I wouldn’t mind dying if there were guitars in heaven), the Chamarita documentary about which we posted a few days ago). ============ Jasons Email: I watched the clips and am very interested in getting a copy of that documentary as well. I have asked a few people about it, and will let you all know if I get a copy of it. The documentary looks interesting from a historical aspect, but doesnt look like a good/easy means of learning how to dance. The reason is that it is based on the Chamarrita from Pico, an island known for its fast paced folklore. Although the step is the same, and a lot of the calls are similar, it would be like learning to run before walking. The Chamarrita that is most commonly danced here in California is a combination of the different Azorean style, and tends to be quite slower. The clip in which the gentleman is making the calls could be confusing to focus on because he says a lot of thing that are not actual mandos but are instead place holders or embellishers placed in between the mandos. Things like esta e outra, so mais uma, tudo certinho, just mean to continue doing what you were already doing. They make the dance more beautiful but arent totally necessary, especially when people are learning. Here is a link to a Chamarita that is much simpler to follow: https://youtube/watch?v=HrWfr6yFyA4 (Ironically, I searched chamarita on Youtube, and one of the first videos contains a bunch of people from my home town, including my uncle and aunt and the group of musicians that I learned to play mandolin with...small world.) Here is a list of basic mandos in alphabetical order and my best description of what they signify. Also, I have included the times in the YouTube link that correspond to the specific mandos so you can have a visual. This sort of thing is hard to describe in words. • Fica e Baile - Dance in place, by yourself, used mainly to end a call and get ready for a new call. (0:13) • Fecha a Roda- Close the circle, by grabbing the partner to each sides hands • Quebra- Men pass in front of the lady to right, women pass behind the man to the right (0:16) • Quebra e Transea- starts as a quebra, and then you continue around the next partner in the form of a figure 8. (3:32) • Quebra e Rola- similar to a Quebra e Transea but once you get to the next partner, you join arms and complete a figure 8 locking arms and going around the original partner. (0:20) • Quedairinha- used almost exclusively after Quebra e Rola, it means to grab the lady on the lefts hand and alternate going in and then out of the center of the circle. (2:03) • Cheia- Grab the lady to the left and dance as normal. (2:14) • Trouca a Senhora- When dancing in cheia form it means trad ladies. Men go to the lady on the left and women go to the man on their right. (0:42) Aside from the calls, the step is also important it is easy to see the step in the video when they are dancing in place. I think it is called a box step, but I am not totally sure about that. I hope this helps. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me.
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 01:58:46 +0000
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