Julie and I decided that a must see while in Madrid was a flamenco show. The only knowledge I had of flamenco up until this point was when our college roommate Yomarie was cast in a play and had a couple of flamenco lessons for a dance sequence. I had images of women wearing dresses with ruffles and men in the traditional Spanish suit. I was excited. I have a cd of flamenco guitar music that I like. Maybe I should have read up a little more before the show…my fault.
We chose a midnight show since the 9:30 was sold out. We were told that this was the best venue and best show in town. We grabbed some dinner and then went to a bar before the show. I had a glass of wine and Julie drank a beer. We arrived at the show with a bit of a buzz going and were very happy entertaining ourselves before the show. We noticed immediately that one of the guys in the band looked exactly like Horatio Sans from Saturday Night Live. I wondered what those actors did in the off season!!
The show began with two guitar players, two singers and a guy playing the cajón (a wooden box used as a percussion instrument). The music was really good, but Horatio (as the singer will now be known as) was an “interesting” singer. Two songs later, Julie and I were starting to wonder where the dancers were. This was a flamenco show with dancers right? Hmmmmm….finally a couple comes on stage. The woman was wearing a gorgeous turquoise dress, but the guy had on jeans, a button down shirt and a jean jacket. It was as though he walked right off the street and onto the stage. Was he really wearing that? Was he really part of the show? Maybe he lost his luggage or something? Nope, he was definitely the male dancer.
The dancing was absolutely stunning. The speed and accuracy of their feet is just insane. The venue is known as the “House of the Happy Feet” but I think my feet would hate me if I danced like that for too long. The woman’s dress swayed with the music and with her movement. It was quite stunning. After the first dance, the guy disappeared and the woman kept dancing on her own. When the guy came back out later, he was dressed in a more traditional white suit. Much better!!
The weirdest part to me was the clapping. The two lead singers were clapping along, but to what, I’m not sure. They were not on beat with the music, and it wasn’t a beat that you could even add to the music. It was just plain odd. Julie and I got to the point where we couldn’t help but laugh a little now and then. I’m sure the alcohol wasn’t helping either. We sooo didn’t want to be those girls, but when we looked around the room, other people had the same look on their faces. “What beat are they clapping to?” And apparently singing as though you are in pain and mumbling the words is part of flamenco.
All in all, we decided that we were glad that we saw it. I appreciated it for its art form, but I’m not a big fan of flamenco. Maybe I’ll read up on it some more and try it again another time…just not at the House of Happy Feet.
