Viewing entries in
Stories & Interviews

An Interview with Marco Flores

Comment

An Interview with Marco Flores

On the wall of her studio Mercedes has a photo of herself with Marco Flores when they were young.  I wish you could see it.   In the interview that follows Marco mentions how they danced together when they were starting out.  They still do.

You'll also find out about how Marco grew up with flamenco in his family, how he began his career, and about his process of creation.  He even shares some direct tips for us as students, though bits of advice can be found in all of his responses.

I originally posted it in 2011 and repost it today after watching snippets of his latest espectáculo from the 2014 Jerez Festival.  Oh how I want to see that show!  Further down you'll see a video of him dancing solo por siguiriyas.

Keep Reading

Comment

Sleeping with Bulerías | Viernes con una Letra

8 Comments

Sleeping with Bulerías | Viernes con una Letra

Below find a snippet of my journal from Jerez, a video of Mercedes Ruíz dancing bulerías, a letra por bulerías, and a short activity for you to do while watching the video.

October 30, 2013

I played bulerías to help me fall asleep during siesta time.

Bulerías with lots of palmas and jaleos of course.

Who does that?

Someone who is in Jerez I guess.

Someone who is in Jerez and  just can't get enoughIt's a good thing I'm going back.

I listened to one that I recorded at the peña last night.

Keep Reading

8 Comments

Comment

Figure it Out ... ( figuridout )

"I'll figure it out." Ricardo hears that a lot when he comes to Portland.

Over and over again he hears it.  Namely in rehearsals.

Probably because there is always A LOT to figure out.

MUCHO.

"We'll figure it out."

He became kind of obsessed with the phrase on a past visit.  I said it many times.  Perhaps because I felt so overwhelmed.

When I wasn't saying it he'd ask me to remind him how to say it.

And then one night he asked how to spell it,

Keep Reading

Comment

Come Back | Viernes con una Letra

Comment

Come Back | Viernes con una Letra

I told you that today I'd tell you about going to see Estrella Morente in Córdoba. So today I'll share a video of Estrella Morente and a song she sang at the show.

I want to tell you about the end of the show...

when she sang Volver as an encore.

A bit further down in the post you can see a video of her performing it and looking very beautiful.

She does it as a bulerías. I discovered that it was originally a tango, not the flamenco kind, the Argentinian kind, by Carlos Gardel and that the words were written by Alfredo Le Pera.

We'll get to the song in a moment,

But first, about the show in Córdoba.

Keep Reading

Comment

Stop thinking, and Dance

2 Comments

Stop thinking, and Dance

Ricardo asked me how things were going here in Jerez.

I told him everything was great

Everyone was happy. We were hearing tons of flamenco. Doing tons of flamenco. Learning a lot. The weather was nice...

"Todo bien," I told him, except that I felt like my body looked weird when I danced.

"Andaaaaa. Tu cabeza si que es rara."

"Come on! Your head is what is messed up," he told me.

Keep Reading

2 Comments

We made it to Jerez

Comment

We made it to Jerez

I have a bulerías letra to share with you today.

We got to Jerez on a Friday. But I forgot that it was Friday. We went from Paris to Madrid. From Madrid to Sevilla. And from Sevilla to Jerez.

And we were here.

Keep Reading

Comment

I wondered why

Comment

I wondered why

¿Por qué?  Muchas razónes... body mind challenge, growth, because I can, because I have to for sanity and so much more ~

"Why?

To connect To challenge To remember To create To shift To celebrate"

"Flamenco

asks me again and again to look inward. Through messing up, experimenting, and figuring out THAT step or THAT turn, I learn new things about myself.  It's visceral.  AND it's fun!"

"To see

what my body is capable of"

Keep Reading

Comment

Comment

11 Things I Accidentally Learned during rehearsal. Again

I was rehearsing with Kuma the other day  when I accidentally learned a bunch of lessons. All lessons that I'd learned before, as so often is the case.

He was playing cajón.  I was dancing.  And not long into things, the re-noticings started coming.  One after another.  I had to keep running over to my phone to write them down. Because I was so excited.  And because I didn't want to forget.

After awhile, on account of one of the noticings, I realized it was time to stop running away from our practice to write them down.

This was important.  

Keep Reading

Comment