Authentic Flamenco

Oops, its been a while since I gave an update! Basically last week was spent catching up on school, sleep, and saving a bit of money after our Italy trip.

We went to the movies on Thursday night with a group of Spaniards who also study at our school. The movie chosen was “The Hurt Locker” which was in English with Spanish subtitles. I really loved the opportunity to speak completely in Spanish and meet some Spanish girls, I find that they’re a lot harder to get to know, but we met a group of really nice ones, and one of them has sent me an email to hang out again – yay Spanish friends!

On Monday, after enjoying some gofres in the evening, we went to a very authentic Flamenco show that was taking place in Triana, a neighborhood next to where we live. The directions to get to the place where “Through an old bookstore,” and indeed it was atop an old bookstore and completely not labeled.

The show that we saw was of such a higher quality of the “touristy” Flamenco you can find in the city center. Sure, that’s enjoyable, and will give you a taste of what Flamenco is, but this was just spectacular.

Per usual, the guitar and the Flamenco singer began the show with Flamenco singing and Spanish guitar. Flamenco is all about expression and passion, and brings about some ugly faces for the sake of great music.

After this, a group of Las Palmas (the clappers) joined the singer and guitarist, and they began another song while adding in the claps (my favorite part).

The dancer arrived out of nowhere and went crazy – she was all over the stage moving her feet in ways that I didn’t think feet could move without breaking. This was her first time back to the stage in 10 years – she left to raise her family – and she came back ready to show off!

After the first intermission, there was the same cycle of performance with different songs and a different singer, but after our first standing ovation, some of the other clappers began to sing and dance, and then others would join in and improvise.

The show went on until well after midnight, but I could have stayed there for another hour.