Do you know how to dance bulerías with the cante?
Watch how it’s done in the clip below as Carmen Herrera dances while José Mijita sings at the Feria del Caballo in Jerez.
Then find the words, and translation, of the letra you hear.
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Carmen Herrera
Want to better understand how cante and baile work together in bulerías?
Check out this incredible video of José Mijita and Carmen Herrera at Peña la Bulería along with a breakdown of Carmen’s dance below.
If you want to go even deeper to learn about how to dance to the cante join us for a virtual bulerías workshop Sunday!
So you want to better understand how to dance bulerías with the cante?
I have an idea for you,
But first, here’s a letra.
(You can watch Carmen Herrera dance to this as José Mijita sings in the video to follow.)
This will knock your socks off.
It’s a video of José Mijita singing bulerías in Jerez. At the end Carmen Herrera joins him to dance.
Here’s one of the letras you’ll hear José sing:
Can you name one thing a dancer can do that shows they’re in tune with the singer?
Below Carmen Herrera demonstrates how to dance respecting the cante in our class with José Mijita on the last Flamenco Tour to Jerez.
We studied a few letras with José.
Here’s a video of Carmen Herrera dancing at Viernes Flamenco back in 2013.
This is a coletila José Mijita sings to her:
Dice que tiene
la novia nueva…
Here is another letra José Mijita sang to Carmen Herrera during that house concert:
Soleá por Bulerías
Al de la Puerta Real
me aliviara estas duquelas…
Here watch Carmen Herrera and José Mijita doing a concert from home during the 2020 lockdown in Spain.
Here’s one of the letras you’ll hear:
Bulerías
Me ha costao un dineral…
Do you know how to dance bulerías to the cante?
This is what you’ll see Carmen Herrera doing in the video below as José Mijita sings and Carlos Grilo accompanies on guitar.
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Here is a bulerías letra we studied with José Mijita last weekend here in Jerez. It’s from his Latin Grammy nominated album, Se Llama Flamenco.
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Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to so far on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez …
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Greetings from Jerez. I’m here on the Flamenco Tour, up to my ears in bulerías and loving it. So, here’s one for you today along with a video of Gema Moneo.
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You've heard many examples of different artists singing cuplés in the previous four posts. Now it's time to see how one dances to a cuplé, and I've got one of the best possible examples for you, Carmen Herrera. Following the video I'll talk about how to dance bulerías to a cuplé then share one of the songs you'll hear and its translation
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Dancing to the cante. It is what every dancer from Jerez does, professional or non.
It is the dancer conversing with the singer.
In order to dance to the cante,
You must become familiar with the letras (song verses) and engage with the singer when dancing.
To gain familiarity with the letras:
1. Listen a lot.
2. Take a cante class, and study the letras.
To engage with the singer when dancing:
1. Observe what other good dancers do. (Hint: Notice the way Carmen responds to José in the video.)
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On the past two Flamenco Tours to Jerez we've had a cante class with José 'El Mijita.' Exciting, Scaaaary, and FUN! You can see video of that at the end of the post.
Above is one of his favorite letras to sing por bulerías; it's one we worked on in the classes.
Why do we study the cante?
We do it to expand our understanding of flamenco as a whole. Because as we know, the dance does not exist on its own. We do it to broaden our understanding of the language of flamenco. To learn new things. And, of course, to have fun...
During the class last spring Lily, one of the students, held onto Héctor Raúl for the duration of the class. She wasn't quite sure why, but I'm pretty positive it was a subconscious act done for support.
Because this experience took people out of their comfort zones.
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My biggest issue with bulerías when I got to Jerez was transitions. Well, ok, that’s not really true, my biggest issue after fear. But the transitions.
It was like all of a sudden I couldn’t see them.
And I didn’t know what to do.
I've since learned how to approach difficult transitions more gracefully. (I'll tell you how in just a moment.) I'll also explain to you in detail the transition that almost gave me a nervous breakdown along with some things you might like to know about "counting" bulerías de Jerez.
But first, allow me to give you some background ...
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It was November 2012, and I was in Jerez. My exotic pets had all gone home, except for one that is. And I kept getting messages, important messages... November 7, 2012
I started getting them about a week ago, the messages. Or that's when I started hearing them.
They were sent on various occasions.
But always during class.
And they were all more or less the same.
Occasion #1 | Monday morning at the peña
Things changed in bulerías this week.
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I've been in Jerez for about a month now. Kind of immersed in bulerías. They're everywhere. And I love them more and more each day. Really.
So here begins a little series. A nod to Jerez as I get ready to go. I'm leaving for Madrid in a few hours...
Un saludo a Jerez como ya me voy.
Because bulerías doesn’t exist anywhere as it does here. And if it did, it wouldn’t be what it is.
It’s just its own thing here.
And that's that.
I'm not saying you have to be in Jerez to do bulerías or anything like that. No, no. I’ll keep dancing them in Portland, of course, because there's no way I can stop. And we have a lot of fun doing bulerías in Portland, even though it's not the same.