Do you know how to dance a bulería corta? And do you know when it’s appropriate to do so?
Below find out exactly which components you need to include in your short dance, see four examples (each deconstructed to help you better understand the structure), then practice doing one of your own!
Before we get to that, here’s a letra you’ll hear in the video to follow:
Bulerías
Traditional
Me quitan de que te hable
pero no me podían quitar
los ojitos para yo mirarte
They won’t let me talk to you
But they can’t stop
my eyes from looking at you*
You can hear Antonio Malena sing this one at 1:30 in the video below:
¡Qué gusto!
*A translation note:
This last part literally says:
“They can’t take my eyes away to be able to see you,”
but I felt the other sounded better and made more sense in the translation.
What do you think? You can let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Breaking It Down
In the video above, each dancer does a short and sweet bulería corta, perfect for the fin de fiesta at a show or an actual fiesta, appropriate especially if many people are going to dance.
They all dance to just one letra and a coletilla.
Each dancer does a short salida then goes into paso de bulerías followed by a llamada and final. (Zaira Malena, Antonio’s daughter, extends hers slightly with two llamadas and two sets of bulerías steps.) By the way, he sings her this letra.)
The Deconstruction:
Dancer 1
Antonio begins singing the letra [3:13]
The dancer begins his salida [3:15] and finishes it with a remate [3:21].
He goes into paso de bulerías.
Then does his llamada [3:28] during the coletilla followed by palmas to signaling that he’s leaving [llamada para irte].
He goes into his final [3:30ish].
Dancer 2
Antonio begins singing the next letra [3:45]
The dancer begins his salida [3:50] and finishes it with a remate [3:57] with the caída of the cante..
He goes into paso de bulerías [4:00] as Antonio begins singing the coletilla.
Then does his llamada [4:05] followed by palmas to signaling that he’s leaving [llamada para irte].
He goes into his final [4:10].
Dancer 3
Antonio begins singing the letra [4:25]
Javier begins his salida [4:27ish] and finishes it with a remate [4:33].
He goes into paso de bulerías [4:35ish].
Then does his llamada [4:41] followed by palmas to signaling that he’s leaving [llamada para irte].
He goes into his final [4:45].
Dancer 4
Antonio begins singing the last letra [5:00]
Zaira begins her salida [5:10ish].
She goes into paso de bulerías [5:20]
And does her first llamada [5:27]
Then goes back into paso de bulerías [5:30].
She does her final llamada [5:39] followed by palmas to signaling that he’s leaving [llamada para irte].
She starts her final [5:42ish].
Antonio sings a typical bulerías, repeating the first line and singing the second part just once then going into the coletilla for each dancer except for Zaira, who he repeats the second part for before going into the coletiila.
Ready for your turn?
An Activity For You:
OBJECTIVE: To dance a short & sweet bulerías with ease
When dancing a short bulería, it doesn’t mean we just do whatever we want. We still follow the structure; we just take out a couple of components.
Choose a short salida and a final (both of these can be with or without a remate, you choose).
Play the video above.
Dance your short bulerías (salida, paso de bulerías, llamada, final) each time Antonio sings for the dancers. (So, you’ll dance it four times.)
You’ll have to adapt the length of your dance to fit with the cante. Normally when there is a live singer, they will follow the dancer at the end and extend or shorten the coletilla based on what we do. However as an exercise, this is a great way to make sure we can listen and follow.
NOTE: While the singer will follow you at the end by extending or shortening the coletilla, you still want to always end with the caída.
Questions for YOU:
1.) Besides that she does an extra llamada and set of bulerías steps, what else do you notice that Zaira does differently than the guys?
2.) Of the guys, who is your favorite? (I like Javier Peña’s most, the last one to go. I’m in love with his final.)
3.) Did you do the practice activity? How did it go? Was it harder or easier to do a super short bulerías?
Let me know in the comments below!