We will be traveling to Seville in March and would love to see some authentic Flamenco Dancing. I've seen a few places recommended online but would love to hear from the forum on any recommendations for places that would be good to see. Assuming we will need to reserve tickets in advanced. Thanks for your help!
Marla
I love flamenco dancing I saw in Sevilla. It's one of my best memories of all Europe.
First of all go to the Plaza de Espana almost any time day or night. It's a great place to hang around and take pictures or rent a boat too. There are often several different musical shows going on at the same time. You can freely take pictures or videos ... and to be a good tourist throw them a few euros for their trouble.
There are always some great free shows by street performers which are very professional. You can also pay for show in a small club. I did that also, and it was maybe 20 eu each pre-pandemic. However, they did not allow any photos or video. I found that walking around the old city and buying my ticket in person. The show was a more professional (actually the guitarist was better, but the dancers were about the same, and the street performers had a large troupe and were more enthusiastic)
In other places they have flamenco too. I saw a big expensive flamenco show in Barcelona in the famous theatre. Also there were shows in Cadiz on the sea - although my bad luck some of the shows were cancelled the evening I was there.
We went to a place recommended in Rick Steves’ guidebook, but that was long, long ago. I don’t know whether the place is still recommended by Rick (I suspect it is, as long as it’s still in business), and I don’t recall the name (again, this was years and years ago), but they did require the purchase of a drink with the show. The dancing and the music were outstanding, and it was an emotional, really intense performance. The sherry drinks, though, were disgustingly watered down, which I think Rick also described. We could’ve ordered Coca Cola instead, but that would’ve been unpleasant, watered down or not.
Check Rick’s current Spain guidebook (your library may have a copy you could peruse) for his recommendations.
I went to a Flamenco show in Seville in December. It was located a 3 minute walk from our apartment so very convenient. Tablao Famenco Andalusi. Small group, water offered, no smoking. The show lasted an hour. I was ready to be done after 30 minutes and was glad it was no longer. I’m thinking Flamenco must be an acquired taste…….
As almost everything in this life, Flamenco needs an explanation. There´s not only "one flamenco", but at least 8 (known as "palos"): sevillanas, bulerías, soleás, alegrías, farruca, seguiriyas, fandangos and (yes!) tangos. Each one has its own characteristics of music and dances, and each one is different from the other and is "sung" or "danced" in different occassions and they differ from region to region, province to province and town to town. Some are happy, some are sad. Before going to see a flamenco show (a real one, not one made just for tourists), I would previously try to learn a bit about what you´re going to watch, in order to be able to understand it better (so not to think of it as "an unpleasant screech, with unnecessary shouting and stomping and usually accompanied by tedious guitar music", an experience that most likely would have been much better with a wider knowledge of this magnificent art). And it´s sung in Spanish, with a very strong southern accent, some times complicated to understand even for us locals.
My friends and I went to Casa de la Memoria the first night we were in Seville and enjoyed the show so much that we bought tickets and went back the next night. Both performances were different and we had a great time. I suggest getting there well before the show starts in order to get better seats.
When we were in Seville in September, we went on the Tapas and Flamenco tour through Devour. https://devourtours.com/tours/seville-tapas-flamenco-tour/?cnt=US
It was helpful to learn a little bit about Flamenco before the show, and enjoy some tapas along the way.
