In Spain the young as well as the more experienced teachers have embraced the method of the Spanish Dance Society with enthusiasm. Some need assistance, but the more experienced teachers use the method with a subtlety, artistry and love that is beautiful to watch. They appreciate the syllabus for the discipline and results it produces and because it supplies a basis for good teaching. Many times I was told, "The next time you come we will be even, better." During this examination session Sherrill Wexler joined me for the examinations of the five new teachers. I also met seven teachers, who I have not met before. The very complex criss-crossing in the schedule, to the many towns, was arranged by Arcadio Carbonell and it worked like a dream.

Nothing went wrong. It was precision personified because it was so beautifully orchestrated by him. In Barcelona Pilar Martinet and her husband looked after me and in Andalusia Vicky Ramos and Perete, always with such care.

It was a gruelling schedule, but I did meet up with Enric Marti i Mora from the Lo Rat Penat regional group in Valencia, who took the teacher Maria JesBs Garcia and me with a colleague of his from the University, to a charming village, El Palmer, surrounded by marshland in the Albufera, a fresh-water lake. It is only a few metres away from the sea, yet no salt water mingles with it. Each year eels swim all the way from Canada to spawn there. On the way I      saw the charming cottages thatched with rushes on their steep roofs almost reaching the ground, so typical of the region. As this was my first visit to Valencia, it was an added bonus. He came to Washington D,C. in America in 1993 to teach us ten Valencian dances, and this was a reunion. He shared some more information, which I have included in my book.

In Madrid I was, together with our organiser in Spain, Arcadio Carbonell, a guest at the performance celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the city's regional dance company, "Cores y Danzas". It happened to coincide with my visit. To my surprise I was thanked publicly at the end of the ceremonies for my help in preserving their dances. I do it humbly from a sincere admiration of their amazing culture, which they love, cherish and preserve in a way that other European countries would do well to emulate. In America the critic George Jackson once wrote, "Marina Keet, who thinks that everyone should be doing Spanish dancing". Well yes, I think the world would be a better place if they did!

When I left, Alberto Lorca sent me a note that said "I hope you will return soon to the Spain that you love so much and that loves you". I certainly cannot wait to return. I do love Spain and the Spaniards, who looked      after me with such loving care during a month of examining all over their country, and who sometimes produced stunning results with their pupils. They are such a talented people.

In June I travelled with my husband to Singapore where he attended a Rotary Convention. At the behest of the SDS, I took advantage of being in the geographic proximity by arranging with the organisers of both Australia and New Zealand to visit and examine in the centres where the SDS had members and/or teachers interested in our syllabus.

Hilary Kaplan, one of our examiners who has been in Sydney for the past few years, has done a wonderful job of advertising our Society among teachers interested in Spanish Dance and two years ago Hilary invited Luisa Cortes to Sydney. Last year Marina Keet examined in Australia and in New Zealand.

I had heard that there were two teachers who were interested in learning our syllabus in Perth, so 1 made this my first stop. I stayed with my ex pupil and friend, Janine Dowse and her family and from this base I contacted Sheralee Richards. I made arrangements with her to teach her pupils and other interested teachers at her studio. Both Sheralee and Jan, who is her assistant are interested in our Syllabus and in joining our Society. We had a lovely stay in Perth and spent a few days in the beautiful forests and seaside towns down South.

Sydney is a most exciting place. We were met at the airport by another ex pupil who, when she heard we were coming, very kindly gave us hospitality in her home with her wonderful family.

I first examined in Port McQuarry. The owner of the school is Elizabeth Polson-Galloway. I had an excellent day examining pupils from 2 studios. They are moving in the right direction and I was very pleased to see what is developing there. I returned the same evening having thoroughly enjoyed Port McQuarry. I want to thank Elizabeth for her consideration and kind hospitality.

I then commenced examining at Hilary Kaplan's school, which has full and part time ballet students. They were of an exceptionally high standard and all of them did very well. Her session included teachers who also entered exams. They were 911 beautifully prepared and well groomed, and it was wonderful seeing such good work.

One of the teachers, Jenny Thomas, an ex South African, collected me and we travelled to her studio for a few hours. I enjoyed her pupils enthusiasm and commitment.

My final day was at Hilary Kaplans, but I had an unfortunate experience while walking the short distance to the studio. I was confronted by a mugger who was apparently after my handbag.

Despite the trauma of the experience and some superficial injuries, I managed to examine and conduct three classes for the senior pupils and teachers. I thank Jenny Thomas for offering to take me to the station. All in all the session went well. I would like to thank Hilary and her family for their hospitality and Archie (Hilary's partner in the studio) for his exquisite piano playing. I found him to be a very sensitive and caring person.

The trip to Auckland and Napier in New Zealand went well. Marilyn Swan-Ebbs has been teaching our syllabus for many years since Marina Keet went to New Zealand in the early nineties.

Both Marilyn and I were suffering in the cold weather with flu. I examined her and another teacher's pupils and found strong evidence of a very sound training. I taught three classes and even had a guitarist to accompany me. I helped the teachers with the new flamenco syllabus and they were very excited about it. I feel that this is a worthy centre for examiners to visit and continue giving them help and support so that they can grow. Marilyn is very dedicated to the dance and our Society. I would like to thank her for her kindness and hospitality under quite difficult circumstances.

I sincerely wish all the teachers from Australia and New Zealand the very best of luck and would like to encourage them to continue maintaining and improving the standard of Spanish dance. I believe that the Antipodes can be a strong growth point for the Society.

What a thrill it was coming in to land at Malta International Airport. I noticed how barren the terrain was and how the land and buildings were all the same colour. It was interesting to see that the plots were separated by dry stone walls i.e. stones placed to form a wall without the use of plaster. I wondered if this was from the times of the Roman Empirel  Roseanne Maile met me at the airport and then we went to my hotel in Sliema to book in. On entering my room, one could not help hearing the explosions from outside. I thought there was a mini war in progress. In fact, it was a religious festival, known as "festi". Practically every weekend in summer there is a religious festival in one of the island's villages to celebrate a local saints day. Everyone takes to the streets on Saturday evening where there are fireworks, brass bands and the churches, streets and houses are specially decorated. I was amazed to hear that there are 365 churches on this small island of Malta.

It was a late Saturday afternoon, the hot summer sun was high in the sky and still a few hours left before dark. Roseanne took me on a guided tour of St Julians Bay where the bright and colourful traditional Maltese fishing boats (called LUZZU) are berthed. We then went on to Sliema and Valletta where we ate QASSATA which are round short crust style pies filled with either cheese or peas. This I might add was very tasty traditional fare. After a most interesting tour we headed back to the hotel as I had to prepare for the days ahead.

My following four days included entries from Deborah McNamara, Caroline Abela and Roseanne Maile. All the candidates were beautifully groomed and well prepared, which made my examining all the more enjoyable. I simply loved the Maltese lilting accent. I held a class for Deborah and sixteen of her delightful young pupils. We worked solidly for two hours and what a joy it was to teach such enthusiastic girls.

At the end of my examining session I gave the teachers a thorough revision class and we managed to cover a great deal of work.

During a "siesta" Caroline took me on a quick tour of the city where we had a very tasty lunch.

What fun it was exploring, but unfortunately we soon ran out of time.

Malta certainly is an island of sunshine and history. I was impressed by the wonderful hospitality and friendliness of the Maltese people. Thank you one and all for your kindness and good work.

It has been several years since I examined in Greece and the UK and this was the first time in Cyprus. It really was a pleasure examining in these centres, as everything was so beautifully organised. Panikos Georgiou in Athens is doing a wonderful job as Organiser, and although it was a gruelling time-table, he did everything possible to make things easier - "Thank you Panikos".

Only due to a cancellation of teachers' exams did I have one day off, and although I have been to Athens many times, I have never had time to see any of the sights, so I went on an organized tour of Athens, which was really wonderful.

Dame Marina Keet from London joined me for the teachers' exams, and as always, we had a lot of fun together with a lot of laughter. Thank goodness she was with me to celebrate the news of my younger son passing the Board Exam and becoming a C. A., otherwise I would have had to celebrate on my own.
We had a wonderful afternoon out when Panikos kindly took us to a lovely restaurant for lunch down at the sea. It's always nice to get out of the heat and traffic of Athens, and my time spent with Euan Trinder-Smith (Piraeus) and Felicity Carlean (Patras) was also most refreshing and enjoyable.

The work in Athens was as usual of a very high standard in both the Junior and Senior work.
Particularly noticeable was the "style" in the Senior work - this is so important in Spanish Dancing.

I would like to thank all the teachers, some of the students' mothers and owners of the studios for the well prepared and presented teas and lunches.

It was then on to the beautiful Island of Cyprus, where once again the four teachers: Xenis Vattis, Christos Shakallis, Pericles Constantinou and Demetra Moustra presented beautiful work. I found such enthusiasm in all these teachers, which was definitely passed on to all their pupils, and it was so nice to see so many young children dancing, which you don't often see in Europe.

Cyprus was so relaxing after the hustle and bustle of Athens, and I would like to say a big "thank you" to Xenis and Gillian for their wonderful hospitality. They took me around Nicosia to all the places of interest. We also had a wonderful day in Larnaca and Nicosia. I look forward to hearing the news of their first baby.
After the tranquility of Cyprus, it was on to England where I spent a week at Elmhurst Ballet School, where the work taught by Sherrill Wexler and Sue Arkle is always of a high standard. I then ventured into the "country" to Lit Lee in Bungay, Sue Arkle in Marlow, Maria Papadaki in Reading and Gillian Hurst in Warrington. Thank you to all these teachers for all their hard work, and for upholding the high standard we have in the SDS. Thank you too for all the teas and lunches, and a special thank you to Sue for helping my daughter Tanya to really enjoy her day in her beautiful little town of Marlow. And last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to Sherrill and Mannie Maron and Marina and Mikael Grut for all their hospitality during my stay in England.

The highlight of this show for me was the fact that my whole family was involved: My ex-wife Helena, my 2 daughters Maria Lorca and Ariña, plus all my students, Lola, Karina, Magdalena and Rosa. Even more moving was the fact that the principal dancer, Tanya de Ronda, was trained by myself until she went to Spain and was discovered by Antonio del Castillo.

Antonio himself was a guest artist of mine way back when I brought him out here to introduce him to South Africans for the first time.

This year’s show was not the vibrant and colourful España ‘99 put on for the entertainment of the general public in Pretoria. Between Antonio and myself, we put on a dramatic show for the person with a much deeper interest in the roots of Spanish Dancing.

The programme consisted of two productions: Misa Flamenca and Gitano:
‘Misa Flamenca’ is in essence a Mass - a reaching out to God in the form of music and dance or a  religious celebration. The music is very religious and this form of dance is, in fact, also performed in churches or cathedrals.

‘Gitano’ depicts the lifestyle of the gypsies as they are today and as they, in fact, were hundreds of years ago - the nomadic way of travelling around Spain in caravans and never settling anywhere.  The way of dress and culture has been retained and this ballet depicted  these traditions, which even I learnt more of.
Antonio del Castillo is a world-renowned dancer, a tremendous choreographer and a great inspiration to work with, while  De Ronda is a beautiful dancer who matches him very well.

We hope to work with them again in the future.

The show played to full houses and was very well received. In general a production of a very high standard with most interesting rhythmic interpretations.  The videotape of the show has been shown on National television in Spain, which has given our dancers great international exposure.

For those who came expecting the usual glitz and glamour: we’ll bring back the popular music and flamboyancy  again next year;  this year we chose to use the authentic styles to introduce you to the historical background of Spanish dancing.

This production by Pro Arte Alphen Park where I teach Spanish dancing, was brought back this year by popular demand. The program is a showcase for students of the school.

The opening number was 2 acts from the classical ballet ‘La Sylphide’.  The dancing was of a very high standard. The 17-year old Admill Kuyler performed the role of James admirably.  Very well costumed in true classical style, this was well received by all the ballet fans.

The Spanish Regional Suite was a show-stopper.  Vibrant and colourful, the suite depicted the regional dances of Extramadura, Badajoz and Galicia. Very well costumed, and the audience loved it.

The modern dance “Work in Progress”, was extremely well choreographed by Natalie Fisher from Johannesburg. The young students coped remarkably well, showing very good modern lines and interesting variations.

The show ran to full houses for a week, many schools attended and the show hopefully be re-staged again at a later date.

RENTMEESTER FESTIVAL
The annual Rentmeester festival is being run at the Drama – State Theatre from 7th – 12th June.
This is an annual competition sponsored by Rentmeester.  All schools may enter, there are sections for dancing and choir singing. This is a marvelous opportunity for young people and should be encouraged to continue.
It may be an idea for latin and ballroom studios to enquire about this competition and possibly enter their school-going pupils next year. Apart from the many trophies and prizes to be won, the experience of dancing in the Drama theatre at a very well-run event is valuable experience for aspirant dancers.
José Montoya may be contacted for more information @012-803 2054

29th – 31st July: 1½ hour International show with top international acts.  Entry R70 (tbc) includes dinner.
14th August: Latin American evening.
21st August: Indian evening.
28th August: Spanish evening with guest artist singer Johan Scholtz (from Egoli) who has just released a cd.

ANNOUNCEMENT
José Montoya is pleased to announce that his youngest daughter Mandy-Lee, known on stage as Maria Lorca, will be getting engaged to Jacques van Niekerk on the 3rd of July. Jacques is a musician from the Eastern Transvaal and we wish them very well.

INFORMATION
The Spanish Dance examiner, Luisa Cortez, is abroad at present to examine for the next 3 months. She will be examining at international Spanish dance studios in London, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, Greece and Israel.

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