flamenco

on what was originally going to be my last night in sevilla, feli and i went to the community center in santa cruz to see a flamenco show. there are tons of flamenco shows in sevilla (almost as many as there are peep shows in vegas), but this one came highly recommended and was the least touristy.

i´ve always known that flamenco is a type of dance, but there were definitely a number of things i never knew about this art form until i saw it in person. the thing that most struck me was the intense facial expressions of both the dancer and the musicians. judging by the expression on the singer´s face, you would´ve thought he was in intense pain. his face and the mood of the music definitely set the stage for the dancer. i´m so accustomed to performers coming on stage and having a continual smile on their faces. i always wonder if their face is going to fall off. but this emotions of this woman went from sadness to anger and back again, and it was all clear by her facial expressions.

the dancing itself was very intentional. every movement was so crisp and so solid. though the music was in spanish, it was definitely easy to follow the story being told through the dancer´s movements. there was also a lot of clicking, snapping and foot tapping that accompanied the guitarist´s chords. i really enjoyed seeing such an authentic presentation of flamenco and would highly recommend it over those big tourist shows any day!