Duende
Abstract:
I will explore the concept of duende in this piece of writing, and imbue it with my own understanding. Aside from meaning elf, goblin or spirit, duende has something of the English terms: verve, panache, flamboyance. The term also has deeper and more florid roots, and, is more than the merely external glint or attractive vigor of verve or the flame in flamboyance; or the pizazz and plume in panache.
Dance, as the most complete art form that comprises the most levels of consciousness —is perhaps the greatest potential embodiment of this chthonic spirit which surges from the tenebrous, ill-defined earth. The land that is continuously interrupted by seismic tremors. The realm of a magical rumor or whisper. We are engaging the shakiest ground upon which cannot be fastened the certain home of the faithful– based upon the sobering, light counsels of the world’s so-called great religions. Peace, security, stability are indispensable modes of life in the world, just as are openness and transparency. However, duende is unreal, and running along a fault line, yet it is so undeniable. The mystical complements of mainstream religions likely account in one way or other, perhaps in annotated form, for the crevices in the walls or tapestry of their tales.
However, it has not been my experience that these are greatly considered; lest the grand narratives become too tattered. Duende, on the other hand, is latent in the negative spaces of any tapestry or dance. Also, in the pictorial landscapes of painters and poets; specifically, the points of threads of color, light and shade—reveal the multiplicative and incomplete worlds they depict. As well as the libidinous spiders that crawl all over the page or canvas. We are dealing with something unconventional and fractious, an alternative to the light-illustrations of harmonious proportions which are distastefully and deceptively complete. Their savor leaves a decaying residue upon the palate.