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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Letras
So, Danica Sena introduced me to this estribillo, from the end of a farruca, which she danced beautifully. Gracias, guapa!
Báilame Malena
Báilame Malena
tira al viento todas tus penas
rompe ya todas tus cadenas
y olvida tú sin razón
Mira que el cariño que te tengo es de niño
yo te quiero más que a nadie en este mundo
Los Habitantes del Mundo Perdido
Niño Josele/Javier Limón
Corazón perdío
que me vuelve loca
y a caramelito me sabe tu boca…
We'll be solidifying all that we've learned so far about bulerías beginning tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a letra...
El sol le dijo a la luna
vivir contigo no puedo
porque cuando digo blanco
tú siempre me dices negro
Popular
A letra por fandangos.
This week I'm visiting my sister and brother-in-law and my three nieces for the holidays. When I arrived on Christmas Day Ada and Margot put on their flamenco dresses that I'd gotten for them in Spain last year. Each niece got a fan as well, that is tres abanicos for tres sobrinas. Since Ellie isn't really into the whole flamenco thing, she has been loaning us her fan this week and assisting in letra translation instead of dancing.
A villancico...
A la Nanita
Popular
A la naninta nana, nanita ea, nanita ea,
Mi Jesús tiene sueño,
bendito sea, bendito sea.
Is this why I do it? You see, I’ve noticed that flamenco is always telling me things, important things that go waaaaaaay beyond the art form. Sometimes I am able to hear, sometimes I am not. So it tells me things again and again, just in case I need reminders... which I usually do. Estoy muy agradecida, and I’m working on becoming a better listener.
Maybe you’re wondering just what kinds of things it tells me. Here are some of the important ones…
Navega Sola by Mayte Martín
Al primer rayo de la luz de la mañana
despierto siempre preguntando dónde estás.
Con mi aliento empaño el cristal de mi ventana
y veo mi barquilla echarse a la mar.
This week, a sevillanas by Lorca.
And look, here's our favorite Ricardo dancing to this very song in a bata de cola in a video dancing with Compañia Rafaela Carrasco.
Here are some tangos:
Tangos
Traditional
Mañana, mañana
los van a prender mañana
a todos los ojitos negros
los van a prender mañana
y tú qué negros los tienes
échate un velo en la cara
Below Diana Welch, Oregon photographer, writer, videographer and flamenca shares one of her experiences with bulerías last Spring during her time in Jerez. Reading her story brought back memories of practicing with her in the living room, kitchen, wherever we could make it work. I also remember that she took a bus for about an hour to get to class, dedicada. Enjoy… Here in her blog, Laura has been discussing her learning process with respect to bulerías. While Laura and I are in different stages on the bulerias learning continuum, I experienced a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel in my own beginning class in Jerez last April.
Más bulerías.
(Traditional)
Que cosas dice este loco
Que no ha dicho una mentira
Pero una verdad tampoco
What things this crazy person says
He hasn't told a lie
But not a truth either
Today un tientos entero. I pretty much begged Diana to learn this tientos from La Niña de los Peines (or the first part at least) so that I could dance to it. I told her about how it brought me to tears every time I listened to it.
Yikes.
That's what she thought.
I remember singing it with her on the phone in the kitchen. And she got it. And I danced to it. And it felt wonderful.
No te he dao motivo
Porque yo no te he dao motivo
que yo no te he hecho daño
tú te fuiste de mi vera
de mi verita te fuiste
te apartaste tú de mi vera
sin yo haberte dao motivo
Tangos de Granada
Yo no quiero que me digas
Que me quieres más que a nadie
Teniendo a tu madre viva
For quite some time I have been thinking, "I should share letras on the blog." Because I like them. Because they're always running through my head. Because they speak to me. So, here’s number one,
Bulerías
I am very excited to be teaching Sevillanas again. And, I am newly energized after recently having danced them at the Fería de Caballo in Jerez, In fact, my time there inspired me to teach Sevillanas al estilo de Jerez. Perhaps you're wondering what that means. Perhaps you're worried about what that means. Perhaps you're thinking, "Oh no, she's changing them AGAIN; not another new way!!!" Perhaps you've never done Sevillanas, have no idea what they are and no idea what I'm talking about.
Whatever the case may be, I'm still excited.
The bottom line is that Sevillanas are fun.
GUEST POST This article comes to you from Diana Welch, Oregon photographer, writer, videographer and flamenca. Reflections on her time in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain in April.
May 31, 2011
When I first heard that Laura was going to be in Spain for a few months, I wanted to be there, too. Images of sun splashed Arab architecture, flamenco classes, hearing Spanish in the streets, photographic possibilities, intrigued and lured me. Somehow, it came together and after 30 hours of travel from Portland, I was stepping into the culture of Andalucía.
Laura met me at the train station in Jerez. It was a brilliant day and the scent of orange blossoms wafted on a light breeze as we walked to our piso on the other side of town.
