Madrid: Flamenco en Vivo

On Tuesday July 14, the nine of us arrived to Casa Patas: Flamenco en Vivo for an evening flamenco performance. Thanks to our wonderful program director Rocio, we were able to get front row seats for the performance. Unfortunately, flash photography and videos were not allowed, so the pictures that I have for this post are limited. Nevertheless, the performance was absolutely remarkable.

There were 7 performers in total-- three dancers (2 male, 1 female), three singers (all male), and one guitarist (also male). The performance began with the guitarist on stage alone, performing an opening song. Shortly after, the three singers came onto the stage and sat to the left of the guitarist, towards the middle of the stage. Lastly, each dancer came out one after the other, beginning with the woman. She was wearing a long dress which made me wonder how she was going to be able to dance.

Female flamenco dancer performing

Even before watching the dancers perform, I was already captivated by the atmosphere that the guitarists and singers had created. For anyone with any background in Spanish music, or music in general, it was easy to recognize just how talented they really were. Both the guitarist and the singers had a wide range in styles, pitch, and rhythm that adapted to the flamenco dance. The acoustics of the room were perfect for the performance-- sitting in the front row was just a bonus.

Now came the best part, the actual dancers. In both halves of the performance, each dancer did a solo performance while being cheered on by the other two dancers by palmas (clapping) and pitos (snapping). I was in awe of the quickness and fluidity of the performers as I was able to watch and hear just how fast their bodies were moving. The tapping of their feet, the twirling of their arms, and the 360 degree spins, were just some of the movements that caught my eye. The precision of their movements along with the musical artistry of the singers and guitarist were phenomenal. Alone they were both great, but together they were complementary and even more entertaining. Spanish flamenco is definitely one of the most challenging styles of dance I have ever seen.  It was a tranquil environment, but paradoxically it was equally vivacious amongst the performers and the audience. Flamenco dancing is definitely a pinpoint of Spanish culture that we could not miss out on during our trip to Madrid.

Closing of the performance