Flamenco lovers from throughout the US and Canada gathered for what was an incredible flamenco weekend with Mercedes Ruiz and Santiago Lara.
Here’s a summary of our workshops with these two incredible flamenco artists in images:
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Santiago Lara
If you love watching flamenco dance videos, this is for you.
Here are five flamenco dance videos, in no particular order, that are sure to inspire.
Bulerías
Aguilar de Jerez
Pa caballo el cartujano, pa torero Rafael
y pa cante y vino bueno
San Pedro bajó del cielo
y dió su llave a Jerez
Raise your hand if you love watching flamenco dance videos.
Below find twenty one flamenco dance videos that are sure to inspire, so bookmark this page to come back to when you need a flamenco fix.
Here is a siguiriyas letra in the style of Manuel Torre that we danced to in class with Mercedes Ruíz last weekend
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Twenty years ago when I went to Spain for the first time, I got to see Paco de Lucía perform at Teatro de la Maestranza during the Bienal de Sevilla. This happened after I had been living there for about six months at a time when I was just beginning to understand what flamenco was.
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Below you can watch Curro de Utrera singing today's letra along with a couple of clips from our private workshop with Mercedes Ruíz during the last Flamenco Tour to Jerez.
Alegrías de Córdoba
Popular
La hija de la Paula
no es de mi rango
ella tiene un cortijo
y yo voy descalzo
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This week's letra made me think of an experience I had years ago which has nothing to do with flamenco. It has to do with dishonesty and fear. It started with a question, which led to a lie, which in turn led to facing a fear. The facing fear part actually helped prepare me for flamenco where I'm forced to confront my fears over and over again. To my surprise, all of the practice meeting my fears in flamenco has only made it easier to do so in life outside of the dance.
More on that in a minute, but first let's take a look at the letra and watch a video of Mercedes Ruíz, our teacher on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez, dancing caña, all in red, with bata and mantón.
Caña
Popular
Subí a la alta montaña
buscando leña pa’ el fuego
como no la encontraba
al valle bajé de nuevo
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If you ever get frustrated with flamenco, feel like you don’t belong, or feel like you’re too old to be doing this, read on for some words of wisdom from Mercedes Ruíz taken from past interviews along with a video to inspire.
(And if you’re curious to know more about this incredible woman we spend so much time dancing and learning with on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez, check out the links to all of the interviews I’ve done with her in full at the end of this post.)
When You Feel Like You Don’t Belong:
In our first interview Mercedes mentioned that she encountered a lot of problems on her way to becoming a flamenco dancer. This got me wondering, about what those obstacles were, and more importantly, how she handled them.
I thought about the flamenco world and it can be easy to feel left out or like you don't belong. (For me at least, because I let myself.) I wondered if any of that went on for Mercedes. Especially coming from Jerez, where people have some strong opinions about flamenco, how it is to be done, and who ought to do it. Prior to Mercedes, no one in her family had anything to do with flamenco. They still don't. Nor do they even like it really. So, I wondered how it must have felt for her, an outsider, to enter into this community. I learned that Mercedes, well,
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Below find a letra that David Lagos sang during our private show on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez.
That night David sang granaína, rondeñas, caña, fandangos por bulerías, alegrías, bulerías...
We were all in HEAVEN.
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As I mentioned last week, we've been studying caña here in Jerez on the Flamenco Tour (along with bulerías por su puesto). We learned from Mercedes that la caña has six ays (iis) while el polo has five.
For baile, that is.
And there is a set of ays in the middle of the letra and at the end.
For cante, it's more open.
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We're studying caña with Mercedes right now. (Here in Jerez on the Flamenco Tour that is.) Watching her dance while listening to Santi play the guitar can make it hard to focus on the steps. I'm sure you can imagine . . .
Below is a letra written by Paco López for her show Perspectivas.
Caña
Paco López
Ya la nieve se hizo agua
de tanto llover
Los ojitos tengo secos
de sembrar y no recoger
The snow has turned to water . . .
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You've likely read all of the written interviews here with Mercedes Ruíz. You've probably seen the interview with her husband, Santiago Lara.
And now, here's that video interview with Mercedes Ruíz that I've been promising you
We filmed it in Jerez last spring just after the FlamencoTour.
In the video below Mercedes talks about the road to becoming a soloist, how she navigates motherhood and flamenco dance, her thoughts on teaching those of us who are not pros, and some other stuff.
Oh, and by the way, you'll probably love her even more after seeing this video, so get ready...
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When we're on the FlamencoTour, we hear Santi practicing. A lot.
Santiago Lara, that is.
We're in the studio dancing. He's either in the bathroom or upstairs practicing.
When it's time to play for us Mercedes calls for him,
"Santi!"
I can hear her saying it now.
Actually, if you listen carefully you can hear her saying it in the video below at about 1 minute 50 seconds...
I first interviewed him in the spring of 2013. Unfortunately, I lost all of that footage. I know, back up.
So, I interviewed him again last fall.
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Below find a snippet of my journal from Jerez, a video of Mercedes Ruíz dancing bulerías, a letra por bulerías, and a short activity for you to do while watching the video.
October 30, 2013
I played bulerías to help me fall asleep during siesta time.
Bulerías with lots of palmas and jaleos of course.
Who does that?
Someone who is in Jerez I guess.
Someone who is in Jerez and just can't get enough. It's a good thing I'm going back.
I listened to one that I recorded at the peña last night.
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I am in Sevilla where the bells of the catederál keep ringing and the birds keep singing. That was not meant to rhyme, it just did. In Jerez there were lots of birds but not so many bells. And speaking of Jerez, last Saturday we went to hear José Carpio, "El Mijita," sing at a new little bar called Zoniquete. I mean it when I say that the place was small.
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It's more from the interview with Perico Navarro. You can catch the previous segment here.
Today's interview, I have to warn you, gets a bit technical. But just keep reading, I think you'll be glad you did. Pedro talks about outside influences, playing with incredible artists - You'll see an great video of him playing with El Torta and Jesús Méndez in Jerez - and the beginning of his career with Mercedes Ruíz and Santiago Lara.
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Perico Navarro.
I've mentioned him before.
Should you ever meet him you'll see what I mean about his eyes.
And you'll see that he's nice, so nice. I mean it, súper simpatico.
I interviewed him last fall in Jerez. That's where he's from. You can read the first segment here where he shares some thoughts on bulerías.
Today we talk about how he first became interested in the cajón, how he learned to play, and when he started getting into flamenco.