How are your pitos, finger snaps?
Here’s a simple tangos marcaje combination you can use to work on details like that as well as:
Arm movements, coordination, hands, head placement, and hips.
Watch the video tutorial here
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 student
How are your pitos, finger snaps?
Here’s a simple tangos marcaje combination you can use to work on details like that as well as:
Arm movements, coordination, hands, head placement, and hips.
Watch the video tutorial here
Looking for flamenco dance tutorials?
You’ve come to the right place.
This past year, I began creating and sharing short flamenco dance lessons online.
Looking for a simple marcaje to add to your bank of bulerías steps?
Here’s one you can use in a variety of ways.
Try it with me here:
Below I take you through a marking step in the compás of twelve.
Add it to one of your dance choreographies, or use it as an exercise to practice changing directions, spotting, holding a focused gaze, or body positioning.
Do you love a little slapping and clapping?
Here I share a flamenco dance tutorial for a bulerías remate with contratiempo.
A remate can be done using footwork or body movements or a combination of the two.
The first full flamenco dance I learned was with abanico.
After our first class Ana, my teacher in Sevilla, told me to go out and get a flamenco fan.
(She also told me to get flamenco shoes which I did not do. )
Do you practice as much as you’d like to? What about simply showing up for class? How do you make time for flamenco in your life?
The following interview with Jackie Pasciak, flamenco dancer from Portland, Oregon, is packed full of gems and a must listen for students.
Jackie and I did this interview as we navigate shelter in place life during the height of the Coronavirus.
“What keeps me in flamenco is my flamenco community. When I’m away from flamenco for awhile the people and the community and the sense of supporting each other…is what I really miss and what always brings me back.”
Learn about Julie’s flamenco journey in this interview where she shares everything from how she got started to how she finds time for it in busy life to what she finds most challenging about flamenco. She even shares some advice for her fellow flamenco learners…
How did you find flamenco?
This is one of my favorite things to ask flamenco lovers.
I love learning people’s flamenco stories, don’t you?
Ever find yourself getting stuck in your head during class?
I know how you feel.
Today I will share with you four things you can do when you find yourself in this situation and I’ll show you a video you’ll LOVE of Beatríz Morales.
But first, a story.
Do you have a hard time finding the motivation to practice?
I hear you.
. . . And I want to help!
The following ideas will not only spice up your practice but will also make you a better dancer. Apply them to a full choreography, part of a dance, a combination, or even a single step.
1. Do it while singing (or humming) the melody.
OBJECTIVE: Connect the music to the dance. Move your focus away from the steps. Improve your memory. Improve your focus.
2. Do one part over and over.
OBJECTIVE: Solidify and perfect a given part.
3. Do it facing different directions in the room.
OBJECTIVE: Stop relying on the mirror. Focus. Test your knowledge of the dance. Learn to adapt to different situations. Prepare for performance.
After a full week in Jerez flamenco no longer simply surrounds us; it lives inside of us. Sounds from our dances play on repeat in our heads. We unintentionally walk up the steps in compás, the rhythms from class guiding us. We find ourselves dancing bulerías in our sleep. There’s no escaping it,
That’s what life was feeling like a week into the Flamenco Tour to Jerez. I’m now back home in Portland, and Jerez feels worlds away. Here’s a summary of the second week of our trip.
Bulerías is arguably one of the hardest flamenco forms to dance due to it's improvisational nature, complex rhythm, and nuanced cante. But dancing bulerías is less mysterious than you may think. Once you understand the components of the dance and how they relate to the music (the singing and the compás) you'll be well on your way to obtaining bulerías freedom.
Below l explain the basic bulerías por fiesta structure and how it relates to the cante. After that you'll find a video of Pastora Galván along with an analysis describing where she dances each component of the structure. Finally I give you an activity to help you internalize the information.