Below find a snippet of Lole y Manuel's Dime along with a video.
Dime ...
Si has cortao alguna flor
sin que temblaran tus manos, dime ...
Tell me ...
If you have ever picked a flower
without your hands trembling, tell me ...
Evelyn likes being in the back of the room. In the back where she thinks she can hide.
In the back where it feels safe.
Evelyn is a student and a reader here. I wish you could meet her.
She sent us an email, Evelyn did. She wrote it in response to this.
I wanted to share it with you immediately upon reading it.
She talked about wanting to hide in the back of the class. Even wanting to leave. About feeling stupid. And about feeling afraid.
I knew these thoughts she spoke of
As a fellow fearful stay-in-the-back-of-the-classer, I knew these thoughts.
I figured you might know them too, so I asked her if I could share her words with you. And she said yes.
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From Potito: El Último Cantaor,
A verse from Bulerías ClavásQue guapa eres
la torre del oro te la compro
prima si quieres
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Yesterday in Part 1, I told you what I do when class feels to hard, how I make it more do-able, more enjoyable.
My lazy pants
When class feels too easy it usually means I could be doing a lot more to challenge myself. In other words, I need not leave it up to the teacher or the moves.
And as I mentioned yesterday, what we get out of class is really up to us, and we can benefit from any class.
Sometimes we get anxious ...
Why is it moving so slowly? Come on, already!
And we wonder if we’ll ever progress at this rate.
To be perfectly honest, my freak outs generally come from feeling that class is too hard, which you likely know by now.
But when I start noticing myself spacing out, bored, or antsy in class, here are some things I do:
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You've likely read all of the written interviews here with Mercedes Ruíz. You've probably seen the interview with her husband, Santiago Lara.
And now, here's that video interview with Mercedes Ruíz that I've been promising you
We filmed it in Jerez last spring just after the FlamencoTour.
In the video below Mercedes talks about the road to becoming a soloist, how she navigates motherhood and flamenco dance, her thoughts on teaching those of us who are not pros, and some other stuff.
Oh, and by the way, you'll probably love her even more after seeing this video, so get ready...
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Sometimes class feels too easy. And other times it feels too hard.
I've been in both situations.
And here's what I've discovered
When class feels too easy, it's usually because I've got my lazy pants on. No seas floja, Laura.
When class feels too difficult, it's usually because hard-on-myself me has taken over. Tranquila, Chiquilla.
We can get a lot or a little out of class
And it's really up to us.
I mean it.
There is basically one main concept to understand to help us get the most of any class.
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Here is Diego el Cigala's version of this letra por alegrías:
Me olvidaste y te olvidé
Me quisiste y yo te quiero
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Bulerías.
It is the thing that everyone dances, even the guitarists and the singers.
It is the thing that, besides Mercedes, keeps calling me back to Jerez.
It is where we really let our personalities show.
It is SO MUCH FUN.
But there are certain must-knows for doing this dance.
Perhaps the first is that we all need to do it. I'm not joking about that.
You can’t do flamenco and NOT do bulerías, even though I used to think you could.
It is not easy.
We know that.
So let's look at five essentials, five things we need to know in order to dance bulerías:
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Hear Camarón sing the following bulerías letra at 1 minute and 25 seconds in the video below:
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The estribillo below and the way he sings it,
Well ...
Enjoy today's letra and watch this video of Belén Maya and Manuel Liñan.
Mi vida es mía
y tu vida es tuya
por qué no las juntamos
y hacemos una leré
Popular
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My main obstacle to bulerías has always been fear.
It's no different from my main obstacle in life
I know indecision well.
No wonder bulerías has always been so hard for me,
Not enough trust.
In a moment I'll tell you how I've let go of a lot of my bulerías fears (and how you can do the same).
Because the truth is, now I kind of can't get enough of bulerías.
It is not that the fear has been eradicated, it's that the excitement and fun usually slide it over to the side now. Gracias excitement and fun.
But before I get into any fear eradication techniques, let me give you a bit of background:
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"I want to be in class with Mercedes ALL of the time." That is what I wrote in my journal on April 13, 2011.
But let's go back in time.
I arrived in Jerez on Friday, March 25 and began investigating classes to take.
Though secretly, I did not want to go to any.
A week in Jerez by myself.
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Bulerías
Si tú piensas que me caigo
con un pie yo me mantengo
si tú tienes quien te quiera
también tengo quien por mi pase duquelas.
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Below is the verse.
Followed by a video - possibly my favorite sevillanas ever - of Camarón singing it, with Tomatito and Joaquín Amador on guitar and Manuela Carrasco dancing.
Sevillanas
Isidro Muñoz
Pa qué me llamas prima…
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I actually did fall in love in Triana ...
... a long time ago.
But that's not what I'm talking to you about today.
I'm jut sharing this letra that Lamiae sang tonight.
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Tangos
Triana, Triana
Qué bonita está Triana
Cuando le ponen al puente
Banderas republicanas
We've talked about how it is common to have different variations to the words of traditional flamenco letras.
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People are feeling nervous.
Nervous and anxious about the Student Showcase on Saturday.
I know this feeling. Well.
So I thought I'd repost these tips today, performance tips.
Whether you're performing in front of your friends in class,
at a show in front of the public,
or even just in your own bedroom in front of your cat,
There are things we can do to ease our nerves ...
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A letra for today
Si quieres venirte, vente,
si quieres estarte, estáte,
nos quedaremos a solas…
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From Camarón
Una rosa pa tu pelo te voy a regalar
y cuando tú te vayas de mi vera
me tienes que recordar.
A rose for your hair I will give you
and when you leave my side
you will have to remember me.