Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to so far on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez …

Opening Night Tapas Reception

From Hong Kong to Arkansas to Arizona to California to Washington, all of the Flamenco Tour to Jerez participants have arrived. We celebrated with homemade dishes from Maribel, fresh tortilla de patatas from the take-out place down the street, and an assortment of tapas put together from the neighborhood market. The Flamenco Tour has begun!

A Trip to The Central Market 

Fresh olives, bread, produce, fish, meat, nuts, eggs, you name it. You can get it all at the Mercado de Abastos. We stopped by here on our “basic needs” walking tour before heading to class.

Dancing With Mercedes Ruíz

We can’t take our eyes off of Mercedes in class. We start with technique in the morning then return in the evening for choreography (alegrías) and castanets. Did I mention we are sweating buckets? (in a good way)

We Love The Rooftop

Enjoying leftover tapas and the peaceful moonlit sky.

Bulerías With Ani & Esther

The ladies were offered beer on the first day of bulerías class. ¿Cómo puede ser? How can that be? We practiced entering and leaving with the cante one by one. Throughout the week we danced and danced as a group, in pairs and on our own. Olé.

The Tabanco Shows

We’ve enjoyed a variety of shows at tabancos and peñas in town. I made sure to reserve us a table up from to see Fabiola Barba, Jaime Villar “Candié” & Augustin de la Fuente at Tabanco El Pasaje. Wow! What a performance!

Shopping

Fun is always guaranteed when visiting Fátima Canca.

Cookies

This group loves getting cookies from the cloistered nuns. Somehow we find ourselves walking by the convent quite often …

Cante Class

with Latin Grammy Nominated José Mijita & Carmen Herrera. So. Much. Fun. We “learned” two letras and practiced dancing responding to the changes.

Eating Out

Naturally we love enjoying meals together at the local restaurants. And Margaret came prepared with the first selfie stick the Flamenco Tour has ever seen. Unfortunately it broke toward the end of the week. I guess we overdid it.

The Peña Shows

Juan Lara and Jesús de Rebeco at Peña La Bulería. When Momo (the sound tech and who you see doing palmas furthest to the right) saw the first member of our group arrive, he took her to a great spot to sit with a wonderful view of the performers. After the show we stayed and talked to him about bulerías and about the peña scene and how it has evolved over the years, how before women were not to go out of the house and sing but how that’s all changed now, and continues to change. BTW, a man came and gave us fans and happily informed us that this was the air conditioning of the peña, “Electric bills are high right now” he laughed and of course made us laugh too.

The Rooftop at Sunset

A great place to go to clear your mind.