October 9, 2024

First steps in learning flamenco

By W2SFadmin

You went to your first ever flamenco show. You were captivated and fascinated, blown away by the passionate intensity and intricate footwork of flamenco dancing, moved to tears by the raw emotion of flamenco songs. You felt a deep respect and appreciation for the cultural significance and technical difficulty of the performance. All these and more are typical reactions when you first start going to flamenco shows. At Where to See Flamenco, we have experienced everything I just described. Furthermore, we found out quite early on that flamenco shows are improvised. Our reaction was to chorus: “We would never be able to do anything like that!” with a mixture of humility, admiration and jealousy. Despite being a duo made up of a keen amateur guitarist and a performer with (rusty) dance skills, we really didn’t think we would be able to learn any of the three flamenco disciplines. But faint heart never won fair lady, so we set out to prove ourselves wrong…

As one of our first experiences, we went to an interactive workshop, called Initiation to Flamenco, run daily at Alegría, a tablao near the lively port area of Malaga. It is an hour-long experience, with floor-to-ceiling interactive screens, during which you learn about the history and structure of flamenco. One of the most interesting screens is about the multiple strands in flamenco, from Romany, Jewish, Moorish and Arabic origins, and possibly even from Rajasthan in India, all converging in Andalusia. During the workshop, you are also encouraged to try singing, dancing and clapping flamenco-style. This was a very entertaining and gentle introduction to learning to perform some flamenco ourselves! The workshop was hosted by Caterina Grudtsina, who – we were happy to learn – also runs her own flamenco and ballet studio in central Malaga called Centro de ballet y flamenco.

After this, we soon discovered that there are literally hundreds of flamenco teachers to choose from. We went to another couple of initiation lessons. Our first was with Rocío Rubiano Lopez, a flamenco dancer based in Vejer de la Frontera. She gives private lessons up on a beautiful rooftop terrace at her house, with fantastic views over the old white hilltop town and out towards the Straits of Gibraltar. Here we learnt to dance the first section of the Sevillana dance. The Sevillana (or Sevillanas) is Spain’s most popular folk dance, a colourful and exciting form of song and dance originally from Castile in the North of Spain, rather than being from Seville.

But is the Sevillana really flamenco? Strictly speaking, the answer is no, although flamenco and the Sevillana are closely related. Sevillanas are often flamenco-like when performed by flamenco artists. There are some important differences between flamenco and the Sevillana, which do make a big difference in how they are performed. The Sevillana is a strictly choreographed partner dance, performed in pairs or by groups of people, whereas flamenco is mostly performed solo and improvised. Sevillanas are performed in a sequence of steps arranged into four dance elements, and within each element there are three sections, each consisting of a series of coplas or verses. Remembering and performing all the parts, with the characteristic flamenco arm movements, is complicated! In addition, the Sevillana does not normally involve any palmas or handclapping, which is instead closely associated with flamenco. The Sevillana follows a standard ¾ time performed on the guitar and often on castanets. Conversely, in flamenco there are more than 50 different musical styles or palos, and the 12-beat metre is possibly the most common. Being an improvised art form, the way the palmas are performed sometimes makes the rhythmic pattern difficult to follow. The complexity of Sevillanas fades in comparison to the intricate nature of flamenco!

Next up, we went to a beginner’s flamenco workshop with Eva Izquierdo at IshowUSevilla near to Triana, an area of Seville known as the very heart of flamenco. During this workshop, we learnt some easy flamenco steps and a short flamenco routine suitable for beginners. A lovely feature of this workshop was that we were able to hire shoes and costumes for a very modest extra outlay. This made the whole experience feel so much more authentic. I really loved dressing the part!

As these initial learning experiences had whetted our appetites for something more ambitious, the next thing we did was take a big step up and register to attend the International Flamenco Courses of La Puebla de Cazalla. This took our learning to a whole new level. Spread over a 7-day period, the workshop included daily sessions in flamenco guitar, dance, compás or flamenco rhythm, and códigos or flamenco codes.

Being a complete novice who had never owned or worn flamenco shoes or a flamenco skirt, learning flamenco steps and arm movements in such a short space of time was a huge challenge! But with expert teaching provided by Irene Álvarez, I was proud to have mastered the lyrics and steps of a whole fandango routine by the end of the week, the fandango being a relatively easy flamenco palo in three-four time. More advanced classes in bulerías and tangos with Juan Polvillo, and in guajira with fan with Ursula Moreno were also on offer, but those would have to wait for another time.

The dance classes were superb, and the compás and códigos sessions were revelatory. The tutor of the compass class, Javier Prieto, made basic handclapping of complex flamenco rhythms seem surprisingly easy, and at the same time, helped us understand and appreciate how expertly professional handclappers work. In the código sessions, Ursula Moreno and guitarist Antonio Andrade demonstrated and explained, based on the soleá rhythm, how flamenco artists communicate whilst they perform. The soleá rhythm is one of the most emblematic of the flamenco palos, one which you can usually expect to see performed in a tablao. Ursula and Antonio explained the various components within the structure of the soleá, such as the entrada or entry, llamada or call, the marcaje or mark, and the remate or break. Pulling all these elements out of their individual repertoires, the artists know how to combine and coordinate with each other as they jointly improvise each piece. Ursula and Antonio demonstrated some examples of these elements for us student guitarists and dancers to try out during the sessions. This was all tremendously helpful in understanding how flamenco works and very rewarding to learn in a week-long workshop format!

The workshop was residential, away from the usual tourist trail, in a lovely small town called La Puebla de Cazalla, about 45 minutes’ drive from Seville. The beautiful locations for the workshop sessions included a historic 19th century estate, called La Fuenlonguilla, which also hosted the Reunión de Cante Hondo de la Puebla de Cazalla, an annual event, featuring free public performances around the town every evening and a final concert at the weekend. With a day trip to Seville to see a wonderful performance at Teatro Flamenco Sevilla, one of four professional tablaos run by Compañía Antonio Andrade, everything combined to make this a particularly effective, memorable and exciting way to learn more about flamenco and how its various disciplines are performed.

Initiation to Flamenco, Alegría Flamenco y Gastronomía

C. Vélez Málaga, 6, Málaga-Este, Málaga

https://flamencomalaga.com

Centro de ballet y flamenco de Caterina Grudtsina

Galerías Goya Shopping Center, C. Calderería, 8, Planta baja, Distrito Centro, Málaga

https://www.danzaclasicamalaga.com/fun-fast-flamenco-dance

Rocío Rubiano Lopez

https://www.tripadvisor.es/Attraction_Review-g187443-d19373055-Reviews-Rocio_Rubiano_Lopez_y_JMAM-Seville_Province_of_Seville_Andalucia.html

IshowUSevilla

https://www.ishowusevilla.com/en

Cursos Internacionales de Flamenco de La Puebla de Cazalla

https://www.flamenco-workshops.com/inscriptions-2025

Teatro Flamenco Granada

https://teatroflamencogranada.com

Teatro Flamenco Madrid

https://teatroflamenco.com

Teatro Flamenco Malaga

https://teatroflamencomalaga.com

Teatro Flamenco Seville

https://teatroflamencosevilla.com