Daphne Lepla: Flamenco, Fusion and Creativity
How did you first get into Flamenco dancing?
I remember a friend of mine in school did a presentation about Flamenco and she showed her dress and shoes. I was just really amazed by it and I thought the dress was beautiful, the shoes were cool, so yeah I started as a child. The more I did it the more I loved it!
Are there any aspects of flamenco that you think resonate with you as a person? Any part of the Flamenco dancing history maybe?
In general, it is a type of dance that is very old and has existed for ages, nobody really knows when it exactly started, which I think is amazing. There are about seventy different styles called Palos. They are all Flamenco, so they are similar in a way, but they all have different kinds of music, different tempo, different counts, different subjects and emotions. I love that because you can put different parts of yourself in the dance.
Is there a performance that you have been a part of that is most memorable to you?
I recently did one in the Lotto Arena, so this is a really big arena here in Belgium, more than 6000 people can be in. We performed with a famous Belgian singer called Belle Perez, she is also Spanish. So, we were able to perform on stage for her 25th anniversary of her career – it was really amazing to be a part of something like that, to dance in front of so many people.
Do you have future goals surrounding Flamenco?
I would love to choreograph more because right now I am just dancing in companies, and I only have a little say in the choreographies. Maybe in the future I would have my own show or something like that that I can really contribute to creatively.
I know you are also part of the skin positivity movement on Instagram alongside your flamenco dancing, what else do you do in your spare time and how do you balance everything?
I love to do so many creative things! I’m very into film as well, I studied it last year and I wrote my master thesis on flamenco dance storytelling in film. I love flower arranging! I love fashion, to read about fashion and to style myself and things like that. Balancing it can sometimes be hard, I really have to tell myself ‘okay now this week you’re going to watch movies or you’re going to do this or that’. I want to be able to do all of my passions, I want to do all of these creative things, but it can be hard to find time for that. I have to choose my priorities, so when I was studying I might have had to do a performance and skip on an exam. If it’s something that can help me go forward then I choose that over something else.
If you could perform in any venue in the world, where would you choose?
Yes my dream would be to perform somewhere in Spain, of course because that’s where Flamenco is from and I have never really performed there, so I would love that! Important theatres here in Belgium would also be great because this is also my home and there are a few theatres here that I would love to perform in some day.
Daphne Also took the time to tell me more about her style of Flamenco…
I do traditional Flamenco, but I also do Flamenco fusion. The traditional flamenco group that I am a part of is called Compañia Al Andalus from Peña Al Andalus. Last year, a group started for Flamenco fusion and I’m a part of it now. We make choreographies that mix traditional Flamenco together with urban dance styles like house and hip-hop. We also participated in a competition it was called ‘Choreographers Ball’ and we got 5th place, which was great because it was our debut it was our first time performing our piece! We got a lot of positive feedback, both from the Flamenco world as well as the hip-hop world, and everyone was really amazed by it. So, we are trying to do more of that in the future, to mix those two worlds that are so different but can be connected through dance. Flamenco is very traditional and very different from other things so people don’t really come in to contact with it, but yes maybe if we mix it with something they are more familiar with the door to flamenco can open up a bit more.
