How to dance flamenco, flamenco travel in Spain, flamenco dance students and their experiences, interviews with flamenco artists, translations of flamenco letras (songs) from Spanish to English
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flamenco
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One of my favorite sites of the Andalucían countryside,
Below, a verse from a traditional Spanish song. Tío Gregorio El Borrico recorded it por alegrías...
Al olivo al olivo
al olivo subí
por cortar una ramita
del olivo caí
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Here’s another tientos letra that we did with Sol and a video of La Moneta dancing to it.
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When Sol was here we studied cante por tientos. It was scary singing out loud in front of a bunch of people, even though we all knew each other... But it was great fun too.
Below is one of the letras we sang:
Tientos
Popular
Cuando me meto en mi cama
hablo con mi Dios y le digo
que me parece mentira
lo que tu has hecho conmigo
When I go to bed
I speak with God and I tell him
that it seems a lie
what you've done to me
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Last week we were remembering Paco de Lucía.
Today let's remember Camarón with this video and this song
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Today a song that Paco de Lucía composed for his mother from the album of the same name which he dedicated to her, Luzía.
Las cuerdas de mi guitarra
están llorando…
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Today marks the one year anniversary of Paco de Lucía's passing. I reposted some words I wrote last year after it happened along with a favorite video (with you-know-who playing palmas) on the experience flamenco site.
Below, let's revisit one of his most popular pieces,
The classic Entre dos Aguas:
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Today on the one-year anniversary of Paco de Lucía's passing, in honor of him, I share with you some words I wrote last year upon learning of his death.
It was 1:06 am.
I was in bed.
1:06 am last night,
And I received a text from Toshi.
“Paco se fue,”
That is what it said.
Oh my God,
Paco de Lucía passed away.
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The sun and the moon have been hanging out together in Portland today. I guess they're getting along.
(Below you can see the crescent moon I've been admiring in today's blue sky.)
Sol y Luna
El sol le dijo a la luna
vivir contigo no puedo
porque cuando digo blanco
tú siempre me dices negro
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Here’s a letra Sol, our visiting artist right now, loves
Soleá is said to be the backbone of flamenco,
"It touches my soul," she says.
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A letra for you this Valentine's Day
Bendita sea la hora
que te comencé a querer…
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Cat lovers and cat haters (dislikers?), come one, come all. It's a coletilla por bulerías that we sang with Oscar last month, and it has to do with kitty cats:
Me araña
me araña el gatito
échalo pá trás
He scratches me
The cat scratches me
Get him away
(By the way, I myself am a cat lover.)
This is a version of this one.
A note about dancing bulerías and coletillas:
In class, Oscar talked about how when a singer runs out of coletilla while singing for you, he might start doing jaleo instead. (And Ani always says once you hear just jaleos, it is definitely time to get out!)
Feliz finde ~ Happy weekend!
Sol 'La Argentinita' is in town with the Portland Opera's production of Carmen. Lucky us! And the luckiest bit of all is that she's sticking around after the shows to give us workshops. They're happening February 18-22, and she'll be giving a free preview class next Wednesday, February 11 at 5:30pm. Come meet her and even dance and sing a bit too...
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The gathering together. It lit me up at the first flamenco workshop I attended with a guest artist here in town when flamenco was still so new to me. It lit me up with the first workshop I set up with Ricardo in 2007 and with each one since. It lights me up with every Flamenco Tour to Spain.
The FlamencoTour was born of my own struggles studying flamenco in Spain by myself and at the big festivals. The drive to do it was born of my longing to be there studying in an environment that felt safe and fun to me, amongst a small group of others interested in the same thing. Many of my past learning experiences in Spain did not feel (emotionally) safe, and very often the learning did not feel fun at all.
This was a problem.
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We wrap up Ida y Vuelta month with one more guajiras. Check it out then watch Concha Jareño dance.
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My dear friend and mentor, master flamenco teacher Oscar Nieto who is based in Vancouver, B.C., happened to be in Jerez last fall during the Flamenco Tour.*
While he was there Oscar got to meet the students and observe some of our classes and activities. Below read some impressions of the Flamenco Tour that he shared with me during a recent chat:
How do they know where to go?
How do they know who to study with?
How do they know what to do?
In your trips they’re safe in their cocoon.
The students come back, and they’ve had a full Spain experience.
They didn’t just go to a studio and take classes, but you encouraged them to be in the ambiente, to get outside of the studio. And then they build social networks. That is really important. Especially for women who are seeking their dream to finally do flamenco in Spain.
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Today a vidalita letra and a video of Mayte Martín teaching cante...
This is part of the vidalita that Mayte Martin sings on her album Querencia. It's her adaptation of one by Juan Valderrama.
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For seven days I danced as if I were in class with Mercedes Ruíz, in my own way, just as you may have done in your own way. Seven days of class without class. Seven days of "dancing" wherever we were in whatever way we could and in whatever way we wanted to.
And now that the challenge is “over,” I want to look at how it doesn’t really have to be over.
I share below three ways to easily grow as dancers on any given day and in any given place. Whether you participated in the challenge or not, you can benefit from doing these three things. After that I’ll share some gains (expected and unexpected) that I've taken away from the experience.
(... even if you didn't participate in it)
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The second letra in this month's Ida y Vuelta series. A guajiras letra and a video of Rocío Márquez.
Aquella noche, caía
la lluvia muy lentamente,
cantaba triste la fuente…
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I enjoyed spending the last week of the year with you during the Dance as if You Were in Class With Mercedes Holiday Challenge. Today I share with you one small way you can keep the challenge going (along with a video of Mercedes Ruíz) ...
that they spend enormous amounts of time watching those they admire.
Studying their every move and learning by observation.
So, I invite you to enjoy some time observing one of your favorite artists this week.
And since we've been focusing on Mercedes:
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This song will make your life better the moment you press play. You could even just listen to the first twenty seconds though that will likely be impossible because I imagine once you get started you probably will want to hear the whole song.
It's Enrique Morente and his daughter Estrella singing colombianas.
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