Flamenco Festival

Last Friday marked the beginning of a week-long Flamenco Festival in Salamanca and two other surrounding cities. Since it was happening right here in town, I figured I might as well go to a performance and see for myself how real Flamenco music and dance are performed. So Friday night I attended a show (with about 15 other people in my group) in which two singers and their accompanying guitarists, as well as one dancer and his musicians performed. And let me tell you, this was nothing like anything I´ve seen on Dancing with the Stars! This was much much better! (sorry ABC!)

Going into it, I really had no idea what to expect. The only thing that I knew about Flamenco music and dancing was that the performers sometimes click castanets in their hands. Other than that I was clueless. The show began at 10:30 at night and took place outdoors under the bright stars. The first singer was a female with a very, very strong voice that made me think she could be an opera singer. In fact, a lot of the singing sounded to me like it could be opera music. The words were sung very emotionally, strung out for a long time while the singer´s voice undulated between notes. This singer was very good, but what I really wanted to see was the dancer.

The second performer was a male dancer who was very talented vocally, but difficult to watch. He was so wrapped up in what he was singing that his face would become contorted into all sorts of painful-looking facial expressions! If I had only seen this guy on tv and didn´t know that he was performing, I´m sure I would´ve thought that he was suffering from a stab wound or something, goodness! It was clear that Flamenco singers really try to connect with their music and truly express the feelings of the music.

Almost better than the singers were their accompanying guitarists. They could´ve put on a show all by themselves with their fast-flying fingers! The guitarists didn´t play with any music in front of them, so they either have all of their songs memorized by now or they sort of improvise. In any case, the singing would definitely not have been as good without the guitarists.

And finally, around midnight the long-awaited Flamenco dancer came on stage. He was only 16 years old but performed as if he´s been dancing his whole life. I couldn´t believe my eyes when he started dancing! He was dancing, stomping, twirling, and moving with strict yet gracefully motions to the music of his 3 musicians. He had special shoes on that would click when he stepped a certain way, keeping beat with the musicians. It was amazing and I would definitely pay to see him again. As I left the show I could only think about how this 16-year old Flamenco dancer would totally beat out anyone on Dancing with the Stars...although I definitely wouln´t mind being his partner.