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
We studied bamberas with abanico with Mercedes during the Flamenco Tour.
Now that. was. fun.
After the letra you'll find a quick fan activity from our class that you can try at home.
Bamberas
Popular
Vamos niña pa la bamba
que te voy a columpiar
yo te daré despacito
no te vaya a marear
I'm currently in Prado del Rey in the Sierra de Cádiz where I've been walking and hiking and exploring like crazy. I came after the Flamenco Tour ended, and it is magnificent! (A perfect place to be to nurse Flamenco Tour withdrawals. In fact, I'm dreaming of a Flamenco Tour add-on trip, or just a tour of its own, to visit these white hill towns and walk in the Sierra de Cádiz...
Below find a video of Melchora Ortega performing her signature bulerías - standing, high heels off, interacting with the audience, and dancing throughout - accompanied by Fernando Moreno.
Here’s one of the letras she sings, which she also sang to us last week at our private show on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez.
Five days in, and the Flamenco Tour is well underway. I'll tell you a bit about that (and share photos) in a moment, but first, a fandangos letra for you...
There have been all kinds of shows going on here in Jerez. Below is a letra that we heard Alberto Sánchez, 'El Almendro' sing yesterday at the Peña La Bulería with José Manuel Alconchel accompanying him on guitar. They came straight from playing at Tabanco el Pasaje and were well warmed up. It was an intimate afternoon show in the front salon of the peña. We arrived early and got seats and drinks. It was a small but enthusiastic crowd, and everyone was there to enjoy and listen, except for one guy who kept talking who the guitarist stopped to lecture mid-show.
And now for that letra,
Today, as promised, a mirabrás and a video of Juan Valderrama.
Mirabrás
(Popular)
Venga usted a mi puesto Hermosa,
y no se ponga usted salero
castañas de Galarosa
yo vendo camuesas y peros
Ay Marina,
yo traigo naranjas
y son de la China
batatitas borondas*
melocotones de Ronda
agua de la nevería
suspiritos de canela
The other day my friend David posted a snippet of the video below to my Facebook wall. It's from the 2013 Fiesta de la Bulería, and you'll see Triana dancing when she was even younger (so great!) along with a lot of strong women doing their flamenco thing.
Let's start with this:
I'm still in a bulerías mood as I prepare to head to Jerez for the Flamenco Tour in a couple of weeks.
And so, today I have a video clip to share with you of a little girl from Jerez named Triana dancing bulerías (her signature dance of course) for Rafael Amargo. She starts off by singing the following letra then dances while her dad sings and plays guitar for her. You're going to love it.
Every time I return home from the Flamenco Tour to Jerez I feel stronger. (It’s impossible not to after all of that time in class with Mercedes Ruíz.) I've learned how to turn the physical strength gained through dancing flamenco into mental strength to help me face challenges in my life. At the end of this post, I'll lead you through an activity to help you do the same.
Let’s begin with an excerpt from my journal a few years ago upon returning home from The Flamenco Tour:
I am home, and I feel it,
The strength.
I feel it in my body, and I feel it in my being. (I always forget how this happens.)
The thing I wasn’t strong enough to do before I left. I can now do it. The thing I tried so many times to do before but couldn’t. The thing I kept trying to do but told myself I wasn’t strong enough to do.
If you like exploring how letras can vary, if you're looking to practice bulerías to cante at a comfortable speed, or if you just want to get better at bulerías, then consider today's post a treat. You'll find a video with examples of one letra interpreted in two different ways along with a short activity to help you train your ear and get better at improvising.
First, the letra:
Bulerías
Popular
El sitio donde te hablé
ganas me dan de volverme
y sentarme un ratito en él
A letra por bulerías and a video of Pastora Galván dancing bulerías at the Feria de Utrera last year with Tomás de Perrate and Cristian Guerrero.
Bulerías
Popular
Ahí viene mi moreno
por la plazuela
y yo lo estoy esperando
tras la cancela
y es que en Triana,
los niños chiquititos cantando al alba
After today's letra you'll find that video I promised you of Mercedes Ruíz dancing at this year's Fiesta de la Bulería (and really getting into it) followed by an explanation of what's happening at the end between the dancer (Mercedes) and the singer (David Carpio) along with an important concept to understand that can help you when dancing bulerías por fiesta by yourself. (I've also included a short activity for you to do at the end.)
Bulerías
Popular
No sé por qué será
me duelen más que las mías
las penas de los demás
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.)
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,
I'm still on a tangos kick.
Here's another letra for you followed by a video of Camarón singing it.
There's going to class. And then there's going to class and getting the most out of it. Today I'm going to talk about the latter, about how to get the most out of your flamenco class (or workshop) experience.
Ricardo López is constantly giving us tips when he comes in town for workshops. Perhaps just as helpful are little phrases I hear him say over and over again in class. He doesn't really intend them as tips. They are reactions, spoken in the moment. But, oh, these little comments have a lot to tell us.
So, here you go, four comments from Ricardo and four pieces of advice gleaned from them:
ONE
I'm still on a high from last weekend's tangos workshops. Por eso, a tangos letra for you today along with a video of Rocío Segura singing all kinds of letras, and an activity to improve your tangos dancing from home.
Tangos de la Repompa
Mamá, mamá no quiero eso,
Mamá, mamá no quiero na,
Quiero que vengas a verme
de tu propia voluntad
Mom, Mom I don't want that,
Mom, Mom, I don't want anything,
I want you to come to see me
of your own accord
Ever experienced pain and sorrow and struggled to truly feel into it even though you knew you needed to? Today's letra and video might be able to help with that. Below find a fandangos letra and a video of Rocío Márquez.
Fandangos
La pena grande que se llora
con las lágrimas se va;
la pena grande es la pena
que no se puede llorar;
esa no se va, se queda.
For ten days we simulated being in class with Mercedes Ruíz. We touched on breathing, keeping the shoulders down, maintaining plié, using the hands and fingers well, practicing slowly and deliberately, skirt and non-dominant arm awareness, posture and engaging the core, keeping the arms round, dancing (really dancing), and putting forth effort.
The challenge may be officially over, but I encourage you to keep working on these skills. They will serve you for the rest of your flamenco life, and through repetition they will get better and better.
Read on for some thoughts on repetition, reflection, and guidance on how to continue the challenge on your own.
It’s the final day of the challenge. Olé, you made it!
How did yesterday's activity go? Did it feel good to just put the music on and dance not worrying about all of the other stuff? For me, letting go and dancing in this way is a great form of therapy.
Let's get on with the final challenge.
Today’s exercise is designed to help you keep the challenge going in class or in your home practice.
I remember when I first studied with Mercedes. I felt so overwhelmed with all of the classes I was taking, coming in toward the end of the year, perhaps trying to do too much. So many things felt impossibly hard. ‘I can’t,’ ‘No way,’ ‘Impossible,’ Thoughts like this were constantly running through my head. I even declared them out loud. “No puedo,” I would tell Mercedes. Or, I would just stop dancing.
We’re almost done with the challenge, can you believe it? This series was born out of a longing to be back in class with Mercedes Ruíz. Because I love it there. I love how we learn in her class, the focus on technique, the repetition, watching Mercedes move.
(I’m not the only one who loves being in her class. Check out this post from Julie where she writes about her time with Mercedes and our private show on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez.)
Most of all, I love the feeling I get from dancing in her class.
And that's what today's challenge is about,
Dancing and feeling good.
Below I talk about when in the learning process we should start to dance, and I give you an activity focused on dancing. (I know, hasn’t this whole challenge been about dancing?) Yes, but read on to find out more.
I’m very excited for today’s activity not just because of how it will serve you as a flamenco dancer but for how it can benefit your life and health far beyond the studio.
But before we get to that, let's reflect.
I don’t know about you, but during the past several days I’ve had greater awareness of all of the skills we’ve covered thus far in the Dance Like You’re In Class With Mercedes Home Challenge in all of my dancing (both within and outside of the activities). In class I hear Mercedes in my head giving me little reminders . . .
'Brazos redondos,' I heard her saying during my kids’ class yesterday. 'Mantener el mismo plié,' she called during Sevillanas class last weekend. In practice it’s the same, 'Todos los deditos, Laura,' I heard her saying today.
I can’t seem to get away from the challenge, nor do I want to because receiving these little reminders without my trying is one of my desired outcomes of this experience. Woo-hoo!
So, let’s get on with today’s challenge.
![Wrap-Up : The Importance of Repetition [Flamenco Home Challenge]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/568079e7bfe873f15c115eee/1471215326946-2K20FB6OWE79AGRX69XE/repetition.jpg)
![Day 10 : What to do When You Think You Can't [Flamenco Home Challenge]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/568079e7bfe873f15c115eee/1471132827611-QLP2EFPRZTAOCGUOH8QK/Intenta.jpg)
![Day 9 : When to Dance [Flamenco Home Challenge]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/568079e7bfe873f15c115eee/1471022668562-OBQ80HRQTF659LG98XST/Baila.jpg)
![Day 8 : How to Achieve Good Flamenco Posture [Flamenco Home Challenge]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/568079e7bfe873f15c115eee/1470966127506-EELKJYKO3YSSP5M3MURG/10364098_1499878710225947_6317104273232669234_n.jpg)