Did you, like me, begin dancing flamenco as an adult?
I was in my early twenties when I started studying flamenco, and while this is young, I felt very intimated to step foot in an actual dance class.
My understanding was that a “dancer” was somebody who began as a young child like my sister had.
According to Mercedes Ruíz, "Nunca es tarde para hacer lo que uno quiere hacer,”
“It’s never too late to do what you want to do.”
Sure, she began dancing flamenco at the age of four, but that doesn't mean the rest of us are doomed.
Pat began when she was sixty-nine.
Becky got started when she was forty-four.
Many of the dancers I know began in their thirties, forties, fifties, and sixties.
Some danced at a younger age then stopped for various reasons only to come back to it years later.
We can begin dancing flamenco at any age
And there is no 'retirement age' for flamenco dancing.
We can leave it and come back.
We can continue dancing flamenco as long as we want and are able to.
This is something that I absolutely love about flamenco.
It is a dance for all ages.
Older flamenco dancers are in fact respected and honored.
This is part of the flamenco culture, as you can see in the clips below.
A younger dancer may have different goals than an older dancer.
And one's desires as a dancer may change over time, just as desires around all things in life will evolve.
But the bottom line is this,
We can dance flamenco for as long as we want to, and it's never too late (or too early) to begin.
On that note,
Here are three bulerías videos to showcasing dancers of differing ages.
One is an absolute must-watch of Mercedes Ruíz, one of our favorite teachers on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez, dancing when she was little.
Another is a large gathering of many flamenco families where you'll see dancers of varying ages doing bulerías together.
And the last is a snippet of a peña show from a past Flamenco Tour.
First, watch Mercedes dancing as a little girl. (She told me she was nine or ten in this clip.)
And speaking of our teachers on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez, you'll also see Ani, Ana María López, and Estefania Esther” Aranda playing palmas. (Mercedes and Esther used to study with Ani just as we do! You can watch Esther dance during that same show here.)
Now, watch many greats from Jerez in this clip from Carlos Saura's Flamenco, Flamenco. It’s a wonderful depiction of different generations enjoying the art form together:
And finally here’s one that I took during a Flamenco Tour to Jerez at a show at Peña La Bulería featuring some of the same people you see in the clip above. Luis El Zambo sings with Domingo Rubichi on guitar while Tía Curra dances. You’ll even see Zorri playing palmas in the background.
(The peña was packed that night, and we would have been standing smooshed like sardines in the back had it not been for Zorri hooking us up with great seats on the balcony reserved for members.)
What About YOU?
I want to know about the first time you set foot in a flamenco class. How did you feel? Please let me know in the comments below.
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Edit: This post was updated 2/6/26 to fix two of the video links and some other links that had become invalid and to add some additional minor details.