A few months ago, my sister Natalie gave me some amazing news: She enrolled my niece, Marcela, to Flamenco lessons. Ever since she was able to walk, Marcela has been an incredible dancer, she was born for it and she can just feel the music and the moves come out of her little body naturally. Every time she listens to any kind of song - from reggaeton which we try to avoid listening to, to classical music - she begins moving her body, I guess she took if from her Yaya (grandmother in spanish from Spain, which is part of our heritage). I have to confess that my mom doesn't dance as awesome as my niece but she has as much fun as her.
Hace unos meses, mi hermana Natalie, me dio la buena noticia de que mi sobrina había entrado a clases de flamenco. Desde muy pequeña, ha sido una bailarina nata y siempre que escucha música empieza a bailar, me imagino que lo saco de la yaya. Debo confesar que mi mamá no baila tan bien, pero se fascina.
This little family story begins when my mom and sister showed my niece a video of myself dancing Flamenco in front of an audience, this was a few years ago back when I was in university but I still remember how awesome that felt. Anyway, my niece was amazed at the video and seeing her cool aunt dance on a big stage and well, the Yaya took that chance and her eagerness and asked her if she would like to take some dancing classes just like her aunt? Marcela didn't even hesitate and immediately said YES!
Todo comenzó, porque mi mamá y mi hermana le enseñaron a mi sobrina Marcela, un video mío en donde estoy en una presentación de mi universidad, bailando flamenco. Marcela estuvo fascinada y su yaya aprovecho el momento para preguntarle, si le gustaría entrar a clases de flamenco, Marcela sin pensarlo le dijo que sí.
As I mentioned, I used to dance Flamenco before I got a knee surgery that abruptly ended with my short but amazing dancing career. Back then, the academy teachers organized an event at least once a month in the stage of a restaurant called Jazzatlan. I think I went a couple times to watch them perform - this was not something students did, only the teachers who are true experts - and I can't tell you how magical it was, and not just because I knew them and I knew how beautiful is Flamenco, but as a normal show it was amazing. I mean, imagine having dinner and then afterwards, watching the Flamenco show drinking a beer and a couple of mezcal while having a great time. Back then, a few weeks before I had to stop dancing because of my knees, I was already getting prepared for my first show in Jazzatlan but sadly, my knee got so bad that it started to expel synovial liquid and that was it, I had to stop for good.
Cuando bailaba flamenco, antes de que me operaran la rodilla, las maestras de la academia en la que iba, una ves al mes por lo menos, hacían presentaciones en un restaurante-bar llamado Jazzatlan. Llegue a ir dos o tres veces a verlas y era realmente increíble, cenabas con tu cerveza y mezcal y veías los espectaculares bailes que hacían. Las últimas semanas de clases, nos estaban enseñando las sevillanas, para que hiciéramos un baile en jazzatlan, pero me salí antes de la presentación, porque se me salió el liquido sinovial de la rodilla.
Now Marcela is the Flamenco dancer of the family, so eventually I would return to this restaurant, and last weekend was the when. Just like the name says it, Jazzatlan is an upscale-ish place where most of the shows are Jazz related, but every once in a while they open the stage for other music genres such as blues, tango and many others - but as you can imagine, the genres have to be somewhat related, they are not going to have a rock show you know?
The restaurant is beautiful and as you can see on the pictures - I hope that by now you know that these pics are from the show and the place... It has three floors, the food is delicious and the cocktails are great - although a little pricy - so if you are ever in Cholula, Puebla, this is a place you should really look in to attending.
Ahora que Marcela, es nuestra nueva bailadora de flamenco, regresamos a los tablaos en jazzatlan. tal como dice el nombre, es un restaurante-bar de jazz, la mayoría de los espectáculos son de jazz, pero también dan chance de otro tipo de musicales y bailables. El restaurante es muy bonito, es de tres pisos, la comida es delicioso y los cocteles son muy buenos, si alguna vez tienen la oportunidad de visitar puebla, les recomendaría mucho este lugar.
We arrived in Jazzatlan around 8:30 pm because that's when we were able to get a reservation, but the show began at 9 wo we had enough time to get a drink and get settled. By 9 the show was only singing, not dancing, but at 22:30 the dancing began and I have to tell you, I wish I had taken a video but I only took some pics but you really have to see a dance live. I left very early but my mom, my sister and Marcela stayed a couple more hours, only because my niece was so amazed she even ended up dancing on the stage while other customers applauded and cheered for her, there's even pictures :)
Llegamos a Jazzatlan a las 8.30 de la noche, porque a esa hora era la reservación de la mesa, pero el espectáculo comenzaba a las 9, comenzaron cantando y posteriormente, fue el baile, aproximadamente estaba terminando a las 10.30 de la noche, a esa hora nos fuimos un amigo y yo y mi hermana, mi mamá y Marcela se quedaron una hora más, porque mi sobrina estaba rayada, bailando en la tarima mientras los demás le cantan y le hacían palmas.
I would love to go back to dancing Flamenco, and the feeling I get when I attend these Flamenco tablaos - the name of the show -, listen to the music, the palms and the shoe tapping, is just undescribable, I wish I had the chance to dance again, but my knee's condition doesn't allow me to tap against hard surfaces with the bad knee. I didn't practice Flamenco for a long time but I remember each and every time I got on stage - and I even have videos of it. If I didn't have gotten a surgery and the doctor pictured a terrible scenario if I got back at dancing, I would go back. I've thought of trying other dancing types such as Tango, but I haven't had the courage to go to an academy and ask. The truth is that I am already on a different stage of my life and because of work I wouldn't be able to attend during the week, and I don't intend of using my weekend for that.
Me encantaría regresar a flamenco y mas cuando voy a tablaos, escucho la música, las palmas y el zapateo. No estuve mucho tiempo bailando, porque entre grande, pero baile en 3 o 4 presentaciones, me acuerdo perfecto, que una fue en Tlaxcala, otras dos en la ibero y la última en la academia en la que iba (bueno, en realidad, esta última no cuenta porque no termine la coreografía por culpa de la rodilla). Si no me hubieran operado y dado un panorama terrorífico, por supuesto lo seguiría haciendo. He pensado en intentar otras cosas, en donde no fuerce ni lastime la rodilla, como el tango, pero no me he animado a ir a alguna academia a preguntar por las clases. La verdad es que ya ando en otra onda de vida, por el trabajo no me daría tiempo a menos que fuera en la noche.
Tango is perhaps the only dance that I would love to try out, I think it is an elegant style and the music is of my liking. But that's a story for another post, I hope that when I decide to try it out it is not too late for me. My friend ask me why don't I enroll into Cumbia or Salsa lessons arguing they are fun and interesting styles, but to be honest I have never been interested in these styles. The only benefit I would get from learning how to dance Cumbia or Salsa would be to be always prepared for parties where they put that kind of music... parties that I don't attend that frequently :(
Tango es el único baile que me llama la atención, se me hace muy elegante y la música me gusta. Pero bueno, en algún momento de mi vida me animare, espero que no sea muy tarde. Amigos me preguntan qué porque no me meto a clases de salsa o cumbia, pero a verdad es que nunca me ha llamado la atención, el único beneficio que tendría es que no hay fiesta en donde no se ponga este tipo de música y todos empiecen a bailar.
In the villages and small towns around the city Puebla - in the state of Puebla - there is no party where Cumbia and Salsa isn't played for hours at a time. Almost every man takes this chance to take invite women for a dance because most of them grew up dancing and listening to this music, in fact it is hard to find someone who doesn't dance cumbia and salsa. It is sometimes burdensome to have such culture, because some - a lot in fact - of the times they decide to have loud, noisy, crowded parties that play this music very loudly until 5 am, but it is something that as a Mexican you end up getting used to.
En los pueblos de la Ciudad de Puebla, no hay fiesta en la que no pongan salsa, cumbias y banda. Los hombres aprovechan la oportunidad para sacar a alguna mujer a bailar, es difícil encontrar a alguien en los pueblos que no baile bien este tipo de música, porque desde que nacen, las escuchan en sus casas y ven a sus familiares bailando. A veces es tedioso, porque les encanta hacer fiestas entre semana y a las 5 de la mañana escuchas en tu cuarto, música de banda a todo volumen.
For tourists this kind of parties mus be very interesting because the people tend to close down the streets from both sides just to be able to have the party in the middle of the street, huge tent, tables and all the hazzle included. They obviously have no permission from the government but they don't care, police will not come and close down a 200 drunk person party in a small town, even if it is a main street... you can imagine that for neighbors this is just terrible, but it is what it is and this is how Mexico works in small towns.
Para los turistas debe de ser tema de curiosidad que también cierren las calles, sin permiso del gobierno, para poner una lona y hacer una fiesta. Pero para los que vivimos ahí es terrible, si cierran una calle principal, el trafico se vuelve insoportable.
But back at the main topic, Flamenco. This is a dancing style that few people know about in Mexico, mainly because this dance is only known by people who are cultured in the topic of dancing in general, or if the family has Spanish heritage but, still it is one of the dance styles that amazes me the most and hopefully I made you curious enough to go search a video about it.
Regresando al flamenco, es un bailable que muy pocas personas practican en México, ya que solo lo bailan o meten a sus hijos e hijas a bailar, los que tienen familiares españoles, que por cosas del destino o el exilio español, llegaron a México. Otro pequeño porcentaje, es porque lo siente en la sangre y se animan a practicarlo.
