La Mar de Flamenco

On Monday, Markus, Niko and I did some shopping after I went to class in the morning. In general, we had a pretty relaxing day, since we were all exhausted from all of the uphill walking the day before. At night, we went to a flamenco show at el Teatro Lope de Vega that was called "La Mar de Flamenco" (mar = sea). This was a performance you paid to see (all the other flamenco shows I've seen have been free and in bars), so it was quite different from my previous flamenco experiences.

The theatre and stage

The guitar player takes a bow after the performance. The man standing on the platform is the dancer (Joaquin Grilo), and the platform where he is standing was one of the many places where he danced, with the other members sitting on either side. 

Left to right: 3 guys who played percusión and palmas (which just means they clapped while Joaquin danced), the armónica and teclado(drum) player (loveeedddd him, he played very nicely), el baile (dancer), los cantes (both male and female, I liked the male much more, his name is Jose Valencia), and lastly, la guitarra

This show was much different than any of the flamenco I'd seen before. First of all, it told a story, not that I could understand most of it (since it was in Spanish, of course). From what I gathered, the story started out with the dancer in some sort of emotional conflict. And then the story progresses and he gets upset about the conflict, then resolves it, then reaches another obstacle and again has to overcome it, etc. etc. It seemed like a rollercoaster of emotions, and the music/dance reflected that. Second, the music here was WAYYY better than in the bars. In the bars, there was only one guitar and one singer. Here there were two singers, a guitarrist, three percussionists, and a harmonica player. And they played extremely well together. Third, this show made me better understand the role of the instruments (both vocal and otherwise) in flameco. From my interpretation, the voices and instruments all represent ideas in the dancers heads, sometimes conflicting ones. I didn't realize that there was symbolism like that.. I just thought there was music and a dancer. But it seems that flamenco delves much deeper than I had previously realized, and this show made that quite evident. I absolutely loved the show. It surprised me because there was only one dancer (and he was a male) and the clothing was not typical flamenco clothing that I've been seeing in Sevilla thus far. But I love it all the same. I'd like to go to another flamenco show while I'm here in Sevilla, for sure. I think it has a depth to it that most other dances don't. Another benefit of the more professional flamenco was the quality of the dancing, as you might guess. I loved it - at times, the dancer incorporated salsa into some of his dances, particularly the happier parts of the show - and I thought it was the greatest! Like.. the music was right, the dancing was right, I felt like I wanted to be dancing in my seat. Although the other flamenco shows might have been more intimate, this one moved me in a way that the others hadn't.

Here's a video on youtube of Jose Valencia (the male singer I really liked) and Joaquin Grilo. This is NOT from the show I saw, but I still thought you guys might like to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=413sZlUgINM

One other thing that was really cool was that at one scene in the show (the show was approx 1.5 hours with multiple scenes), Joaquin wasn't on stage, so it was just the singers and instrument-players. Jose (the singer) was standing and singing and it was very dramatic. And then he started dancing flamenco! It was almost like a comedy! And of course, he wasn't as good, but I thought it added a nice comic twist to the show. I loved it. 

After the show, we walked to a bar/restaurant for drinks/dinner (at 10:30 at night, I think I'm getting accustomed to the Spanish dinner time...) to celebrate Adrienne's birthday. (Feliz cumpleaños, chica!)

A tree we saw on our walk.

The restaurant.

Atún marinado (marinated tuna)

Vegetarian lasagna - delicious! It had olive oil in it, and it was probably the best I've ever tasted.

Me&Wine, of course. 

On Tuesday, Markus and Niko left. Niko headed back to Finland, and Markus went exploring other cities in Spain (he'll return to Sevilla on Friday for one day). After class on Tuesday, I took a siesta (those Finns wore me out!) and caught up on some homework. Tuesday night, after having dinner at a bar near my apartment, I came home to find my roommate, Patricia (who is from Spain and speaks little English) with two friends on la terraza in our apartment. They were eating dinner, and they invited me to join them. So I drank some beer and hung out with them :) it was really fun! It was very relaxed, and I felt like I was able to interact with them without speaking awkwardly (which I normally feel like I am). I was able to follow the conversation and make comments relatively easily, without having to pay too much extra attention. I even made some jokes! In Spanish! It's crazy! (Or at least.. I think I did...) Either way, I really like Patricia's friends, and it was really fun to hang out with them. They're from Spain, which is nice, because one of my goals here is to get to know local people (not just other Americans or internationals in my program). They were also all really nice to me, and if I didn't understand something, they were happy to help. Ay caramba, Spanish people are so nice :D

That's all for now. Talk to you soon! Besos.