Seville:  First Flavor of Flamenco

Visiting Seville without seeing Flamenco would be like going to Burgundy and not drinking the wine.

I have to admit that I have tended to bracket Flamenco with those cheesy Mariachi bands you get at a Mexican all inclusive.  I started to realize how wrong I was, when we visited the Flamenco Museum in Seville.  We got to see a young Iranian woman, who grew up in California, practising in front of a mirror.  We were blown away by her skill.  She told us that she was only a student.

We have now seen two shows, one in Seville and one in Cordoba.  These pictures are from the first show in Seville:

The two shows highlighted the trade off between passion and power on the one hand, and polish on the other hand.  Kind of like the difference between a bracing young wine and a smooth vintage year.  

Today's show in Cordoba featured smiling beautiful women dancers.  Yesterday's show, the guy had a small hole in the seam of his pants.  Personally I preferred the intensity of the first show.