[Gocamino] FW: flamenco on the camino

[blaroli@aol.com]

Hello you all,
I am getting ready to go to Seville for Holy Week, as I have done every year for the last twenty years or so, and the messages about Flamenco have enhanced my anticipation.  Because my mother's parents were frrom Granada, I often visit that lovely, snow-mountains-ringed, city as well.
Flamenco may be found any time not only in Seville, Granada and Cordoba ... but in other Andalucian cities, such as Malaga and Cadiz.  In small towns, like Antequera, or Rio Frio, flamenco singing and dancing may erupt any time, anywhere. 
 
What is mostly danced in the famous "April" Fair in Seville (which may take place in May, as it will this year), is not Flamenco, strictly speaking, but another type of regional dance which is called "Sevillanas".. At any time during the year, even in Semana Santa, if you go to a dance "bar" in the "Remedios" neighborhood (across the river Guadalquivir), you will find ordinary patrons, in ordinary dress, dancing "Sevillanas", women may dance with women, men with men, or men with women.  The dance is an extremely demanding series of steps and arm movements, and the participants cannot touch one another. The steps, the choreography, and even the rythm of the "Sevillanas" music is dofferent from flamenco.  Most people in Seville begin to learn to dance "Sevillanas" in kindergarden.
For Flamenco proper one may go to "bohemian" or gypsy neighborhoods in any Andalucian city, and is sure to find it in some cafe, bar, or even in an open "campo". 
 
The famous fair in Seville is not really "public".  A family, or a club, or a group, will have a "caseta"... that is, a fancy tent with musicians and a wooden floor ("tablao") for dancing.  But you need to be invited to go in.  While there is a "public" tent.... it is too crowded with on-lookers and it is not really enjoyable; not too many people go there.  What is very nice about the Fair is that women, and men, go about dressed in Andalucian costumes, on horseback, and stop here and there at their friends' "casetas" to dance or to have a glass of "fino"  (Sevillian sherry, also called "Manzanilla" which, alas, doesn't travel well.).  If you are familiar with the opera "Carmen" you will remember that in one aria Carmen asks Don Jose to meet her at Lilas pastia's bar in Seville to have a glass of manzanilla.  (The horseback riders at the Fair often have a sherry glass in a holder attached to a leather strap hanging from their necks).
 
There are, of course, several places for tourists with "tablaos"  (wooden platforms for the singers and dancers of flamenco); these are open all year long... but they are too touristy.  Of these, the better ones are in Granada; perhaps because they are located in caves (really) which are illuminated with oil lamps and candles, and the whole ambiance is impressive.  All tourist places, including, if not particularly, those in Granada, are crowded, noisy, and apt to overcharge.
 
When I am in Sevilla and really want to see, or hear, flamenco "jondo" (from the gut) I go to small gypsy , out-of-the-way places in Triana or the Alameda environs. There's nothing quite like it:.... immense, naked, passionate expression, through dance and song, of the innermost recesses of the human soul. 
 
I would'nt advise you to seek those places unless you find a trustworthy local person to take you.
 
Best regards,
 
Rosina
 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Cooney <cooney at valis.ca>
To: Wendy MORRIS <wendy.morris at ecu.edu.au>; gocamino at oakapple.net
Sent: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:22:32 -0800
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] FW: flamenco on the camino


Hi Wendy

The only place you will find truly spontaneous Flamingo dancing is in the
south and in particular Seville during the huge Spring Festival which takes
place two weeks after Easter.  If you want dancing this is the place and the
fair is really worth the trip.
Dennis Cooney
Vancouver, Canada
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wendy MORRIS" <wendy.morris at ecu.edu.au>
To: <gocamino at oakapple.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 9:32 PM
Subject: [Gocamino] FW: flamenco on the camino


>
>
> Hello all,
>
>
>
> This is my first posting to the list. What a great forum it is!
>
> I've learnt heaps from reading all the discussions.
>
>
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> I'll be walking the Camino Frances with 2 friends in late September.
>
> My first trip outside Australia in over 40 years (I'm 58)!!!
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> My question is: Can we see Flamenco dancing along the Camino? Are there
> any particular places people know of to catch spontaneous performances?
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>
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> Look forward to hearing.....
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> Best wishes to all,
>
>
>
> Wendy Morris
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> Joondalup,  Western Australia
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> <http://www.ecu.edu.au>
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> <http://www.ecu.edu.au>
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> Gocamino mailing list
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