SEVILLANAS

We were in Sevilla during the annual Feria, a week-long festival that celebrates Andalusian culture with Flamenco, traditional costumes, and horse parades. This stunning couple passed by me on their way to the Feria and just as I was about to take this photo, they reached for each other and held hands.

When I visited Spain for the first time back in 2019 and saw my first Flamenco show inside a Gypsy cave tucked into the hillside facing the majestic Alhambra in the magical and mystical city of Granada, I felt a familiarity to that beautiful city along with its history and culture. It was similar to the way I felt the first time I visited Venice, Italy. I was so moved and inspired watching those dancers with all their passion and melodrama, I thought, “Oh, my God. I think I was born to do this.”

Upon returning home I immediately looked up places to learn Flamenco and have been studying that ancient art form ever since. Tonight was the beginning of a new session and we will continue learning the 2nd of the four Sevillanas, a folkdance that originated in Sevilla. I have studied many genres of dance. But I can honestly say that Flamenco is one of the most challenging because it requires an inordinate amount of coordination and dexterity. It looks deceivingly simple. And I often compare it to jazz. While you can learn all the basics and fundamentals, truly authentic Flamenco is mostly improvised - like an impromptu jazz session. I don’t know if I will ever achieve the skill level where I can improvise dance steps that accompany the singer and musicians, but one thing I do know is that it is a genre of dance that I will be able to participate in as I get older because Flamenco requires life experience, age, and wisdom in order to communicate all of that luscious DRAMA. As a matter of fact, the majority of the students in my class are over 40 years old.

I was so inspired by my journey into the Flamenco world that I wrote a chapter in JOURNEYS dedicated to its rich history, which will be narrated by my dear friend, Olga from Barcelona, for the audiobook.