Today I want to show you a video of Becky and Aida from the rooftop of our apartment in the Barrio San Miguel, an important flamenco neighborhood in Jerez.
They describe their time in Jerez together.
They talk about being in bulerías class, In the words of Becky,
"You soon realize that you have the support of everybody in the room. Not only your fellow travelers, but everybody else who’s there. Everything is there. The music. The singing. The jaleos. The palmas. You can really have some amazing breakthroughs."
And they talk about the togetherness of the group,
"We were on the same page, everybody," Aida says.
They talk about other things too. Hear what they have to say in the video below.
"I'm proud of myself," says Gay.
And she should be.
Gay came with me to Jerez after having taken only a few flamenco classes, EVER! She took one workshop with Ricardo López in Portland. That's all.
And then she decided to join me in Spain.
Watch below to find out about her experience in Jerez.
When I first got the idea for the Flamenco Tour to Jerez I envisioned a private workshop with Mercedes Ruíz.
That's it.
Nothing more.
A class just for me
Well, and the other people I would bring with me.
I was in Jerez studying, taking classes from Mercedes and others.
I felt pushed and pulled in all different directions. Confused and overwhelmed with all of the different choreographies, the choreographies that I had walked in on the middle of.
I didn't like it.
I was supposed to be having fun, but it was feeling stressful instead.
Amy talked to her six kids and husband in the States regularly while on the Flamenco Tour in Spain. Thank goodness for Skype!
Watch the video below to find out what Jerez was like for a mother of six adopted children.
"We all came from different walks of life. We had different experiences, and yet, the flamenco was what connected us." - Jackie Villegas-Maclin Watch the video below, and find out why a trip to Jerez was something Jackie, a flamenco teacher from Kirkland, Washington, will never forget ...
In the video below Pat, a very beginner and first time traveler, talks about what the Flamenco Tour was like for her. The video was made after her first trip to Jerez. She came back with me a year later too and has already signed up for next fall's trip!
She inspires me just about every time I see her, or even just think about her. Watch the video to find out why.
She said she was going to show them how to dance in a losa
Pequeña.
Y por fiesta.
It was Ani who said that. Ana María López. She said it on a Monday morning in Jerez.
We had been there for a little over a week I guess.
And on this particular Monday morning the ladies had gone to bulerías class ahead of me.
When I walked in I saw something I'd never seen before
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.
From Jerez last fall ...
Sunday night I was writing
About flamenco and Jerez and what I'm doing here and what I want to learn here.
And I set some intentions for the week.
I had a few.
One was to Observe
To observe people dancing bulerías. In class and out. Anywhere. Especially people whose dancing I liked.
To watch them, really watch them. And to notice what was happening.
“Paco se fue,”
That is what it said.
Oh my God,
Paco de Lucía passed away.
And my heart is beating
...
I want to tell you about the time I met Paco.
It was also the first time I met my boyfriend.
And I think it was the first time I saw real flamenco in the US after having returned from that first trip to Spain.
Keep Reading
It's Valentine's Day, and it's Friday.
That's PERFECT.
A coletilla por bulerías
Tengo un secreto.
I’m
afraid
to go
to Spain.
I leave in a couple of days, and I’m scared
But not for the usual reasons.
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 enough. It's a good thing I'm going back.
I listened to one that I recorded at the peña last night.
"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,
Today, a letra por bulerías and a video of La Macanita singing it.
Bulerías de Jerez
Popular
Te tienes que faltar
la alegría y el dinero
la salud y la libertad
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
We spent just two days in Córdoba on the last trip.
Two days to see the city and one night to see Estrella Morente perform. I'll tell you about that on Friday.
It was my second visit to Córdoba
The first visit was in 1998, the first time I went to Spain.
I went there after my sister left.
I went there by myself.
That I'm posting a letra por bulerías.
(Hang on the translation is coming, but if you can't wait, just scroll down.)
I heard this one in Jerez
Niño de la Fragua sang it down the street from us at Peña la Bulería.
We were so tired that night.
From all of the dancing and walking around and doing of things.
We were tired and unmotivated. We were thinking we might just stay in.
Keep Reading
Here’s a Tangos de Málaga letra that we learned with David Romero in Barcelona.
Last night we were doing palmas with Pedro.
It's something we do when we come to Jerez.
Naturally people had many questions
and requests.
Someone asked to do some palmas por alegrías
... since we'd been dancing alegrías with Mercedes.
Pedro talked about las alegrías de Córdoba. He mentioned the letra about the platero.
