The Flamenco Diaries Part Two

Part two of my GoLearnTo course! If you missed part one, never fear, links are here!

As buses from my little village to Seville are nothing short of a nightmare, I had to leave at 9am to ensure I got to class by 11am! I chose to see the silver lining to the cloud and add something sweet to my wait on the Alameda, treating myself to a breakfast that I've long had a love affair with...

CHURROS: literally fried dough, freely available for dipping in super-thick hot chocolate.

Probably not the healthiest way to start a morning of exercise but ho-hum! Who can argue when they are made freshly in front of you?!

yes that's a portion for one, and yes it was only 1.50€!

Filled to bursting, with some left over for snacking, I waddled my way back to school. 

For our first class, we switched teachers for an hour of technique with Lydia. Of course, we couldn't get down to work without an impromptu photo session first...

 Canadians left, Brits right, teachers centre stage (where they belong!)

To our horror, the first thing Lydia asked us was which style of palmas we'd learnt in our final lesson yesterday and whether we could repeat them for her!! Turns out those were the rhythms that we were going to translate in to footwork today...whoops! Luckily, she was also a fan of diagrams and soon her white board filled with memory jerking scribblings of yesterdays compás and palmas! Soon enough we were double stamping with the best of them and styling our arms, wishing we were swishing around in voluminous, spotted dresses.

After a quick break and a cuddle with Lydia's little Yorkshire terrier (in for one day only unfortunately!), we switched back to Carmen's room for an intense two hours of choreography. Combination, watch, repeat, again, on the other foot, whilst standing on your head! It was quite a bit to take in, but soon we had our own mini routine going, showcasing all the things we'd learnt.

At the end of the morning, the lovely Carmen presented course certificates to us all with kisses on both cheeks! We asked her rather cheekily if we could film her doing the routine, so we could practice at home. She tried to convince a couple of us to do it with her to show you all the wonderful cannon she'd put together, but we were all too shy....

Here is the master at work (I'd love to see her dance something other than our baby flamenco routine - I bet she's feisty!):

Free from 2pm until 9pm, we had the afternoon at our leisure. The other members of my group dashed off to squeeze in the cathedral, the alcazar, the bullring and a mountain of other sights. Thankfully Seville is a pretty compact city and nearly everything is walkable. I, however, took an amble around the streets nearby (stumbling across La Basilica de La Macarena...photos to come tomorrow!) and took a long tapas lunch at Eslava (which also has a post in the pipeline! phew!).

With a few hours left to kill, I decided to wander towards La Casa de La Memoria (our show venue for the evening) as the surrounding streets are filled to the brim with flamenco dress shops with accessories galore. With the famous Feria de Abril just round the corner and a question mark over my outfit, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try some on!

You know you've got flamenco problems when skirts block your every exit!

I had a rummage through the racks and picked out a rather colourful floral number in my normal clothes size. I dragged it to the changing room (my god those things are heavy!) and pulled the curtain shut. Surprised that it wouldn't go over my bum, I had the bright idea of putting it over my head.... BIG MISTAKE. Not only did the dress not fit, I was now stuck in it! Let me tell you, there is nothing more terrifying than being jammed in huge swaths of paisley fabric when shopping alone, with no one to help you escape. After a few minutes of panicking, I told myself to breathe and managed (thank the lord) to wriggle my way out Houdini style! Turns out everyone takes a size up in flamenco dresses (who knew?!)

Defo need some stomach sucking in knickers with this!

This coral number is my favourite, but with a 220€ price tag it had to go back on the shelf! The cheapest flamenco dress I found was and 150€ and some go up to 700/800€ a pop...worth noting that these things are rarely worn twice! Astounding - going to have to be a cheapy flamenco skirt for me I think!

After some cafe hopping, it was show time. Thanks to our impeccable English-ness (read earliness) we were first in the queue and managed to snaffle front row, centre stage seats.

A very intimate gathering (they aren't kidding when they advertise limited seats!), every stamp of the dancers feet and every piercing high note the singer hits reverberate off the walls. 

What I liked most about the show at Casa de La Memoria was that everyone got their chance to shine, the singer, the guitarist and the individual dancers. I loved that there was very little pomp and ceremony, just commitment to art. If you want to see girls in brightly coloured spotty dresses parading around then this isn't the show for you. Its gritty and passionate with not a polka dot in sight. If you want flamenco posers, you can find them in most bars in town. Casa de La Memoria amazed us with their artists - expect to fear getting kicked in the face, and feeling the occasional bead of sweat being flicked your way if you're near the front (all part of the experience of course).

I will certainly be taking visitors here to catch of a glimpse of the authentic flamenco and the fiery gypsy spirit.

Final thoughts on my GoLearnTo experience? Worth its weight in gold! It was a very well thought out package with authenticity and quality clearly in mind - no tourist trash here. Would I book again? In an instant! In fact their website should come with a warning: IT WILL SUCK YOU IN. 

I am literally starting a golearnto travel wish list...

The Ultimate Mind and Body Retreat, Costa Blanca, Spain

Pizza, Pasta and Gelato Cookery Holiday, Sorrento, Italy

Wine tasting weekend, Provence, France

...looks like I'll have to buy a lottery ticket!!

As ever my lovelies, until next time...

The Flamenco Diaries Part One.

So way back at Christmas, my lovely boyfriend Rich got me a wonderful present.

There we are on Christmas Day, complete with a horrendous jumper

 I got for Rich as punishment for being a Scrooge!

He is the worlds most thoughtful gift giver - expert at remembering little things I've mentioned in passing and whipping them out on special occasions, much to my surprise!

As soon as I found out I would be in Seville on placement, I said I wanted to learn flamenco. That was on the 5th March 2013...Richard being Richard, on the 25th December, there in my lap was the confirmation letter of a weekend flamenco course. I was over the moon!!

Booked through GoLearnTo.com, my course included 3.5 hours of technique and compás and palmas (the clapping rhythms that accompany the singer), 2 hours of choreography and entrance to a flamenco show in the evening on the second day.

Starting on friday at 6pm, I went straight from work to the school, Taller Flamenco. It was easy to find, located on Calle Peral one of the streets leading off the Alameda de Hércules (a buzzing hub of tapas bars and children shrieking in the spray of cooling water fans). As I approached, I could hear telling claps and chords being strummed from a flamenco guitar, but couldn't quite work out which building they were coming from as the sound bounced off the other houses in the narrow street. I soon got my answer...

As I was ridiculously early (over half an hour), the lovely receptionist invited me to join a flamenco party that had been in swing since 2pm. As she ushered me up the stairs, offered me a drink and sat me at the table, I realised that the music hadn't been coming from a classroom at all...

...but from the roof. As well as the locals, there were Americans, Russians, Japanese and Germans and, of course, me, the little Brit in the corner, all basking in the sunshine on the terrace. Everyone had nothing but praise for the school and its staff so I was excited to get started.

At five to 6, I wandered back to the office, was presented with my welcome pack (a discount card, a map and a flamenco event/shopping guide) and told to head for Carmen's classroom. With mirrors on two sides, there was nowhere to hide - thankfully as a beginners class they were expecting nothing at all!!

The five of us made a lovely group (two Canadians and three Brits). Carmen was a wonderful teacher, guiding us through our first tentative steps and stamps! There were certainly no photos to document the event - we were all to busy absorbing all the information, brows furrowed in concentration. It was hard to believe that those 'basic' rhythms we were taught make up the fast and furious combinations you see the professionals use -  at 100mph, its hard to distinguish left foot from right, let alone distinguish the actual movements their making.

My only worry about the courses of Go Learn To was that they are clearly intended for tourists. I was worried that we would get a tourist friendly experience (as in 'Well done, you're doing great' when in fact you look like walrus having a fit) rather than an authentic experience where you actually learn something, are corrected on your mistakes and helped to improve.

I needn't have worried about that, I can tell you! Carmen was a hard taskmaster and had us doing thing within the first hour that we never imagined we'd achieve in the whole course! We exchanged pained faces when her back was turned, convinced we'd screw up the latest combination she'd given us, but were usually pleasantly surprised (and if not, we laughed it off!).

After an hour and half of stamping (the poor neighbours), we headed upstairs to our class of compás and palmas. Who knew clapping could be so darn complex?! I mean look at this white board:

 There is our teacher, poised and ready to wipe off the board for a second round of scribblings.

He explained not only the bases and accents of the rhythms but how they combine with the other accompanists (the singers and the guitarists), the hierarchy of accompanists, which rhythms belong to which music style, which rhythm would accompany each stage of the dance...I was almost dizzy!

At some points in the lesson, there was nothing left to do but laugh, as our claps sounded more like a messy round of applause than the rhythm we were trying to follow. I know as a teacher its often laugh or cry...he chose the former and laughed along with us! As our clearly not very musical ears tuned in to the subtleties of the music and our hands turned an alarming shade of red, he was overjoyed when we finally clapped out something coherent in unison!

I will never look at clapping the same way again.

Feeling accomplished, at the end of day one, us Brits rewarded our efforts with a sharing plate of tapas and a well deserved glass of wine...

...anticipating what Saturday would bring.

P.S. Look out for part two, with Saturday's exploits and the flamenco show, coming soon!