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I hope to go to Sevilla for the Bienal de Flamenco. Here is the program.
Is anyone else from the forum going?
Are there good resources for finding cheap accommodation?
I plan to spend a few weeks with a guitar teacher. Andy mentioned a good experience with tallerflamenco.com. I think these are related to the holasevilla.com people. Any other recommendations? not necessarily in Sevilla.
Posts: 3
Joined: Jan. 7 2010
From: Melbourne, Australia
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
I´m currently doing a student internship here so I could tell you anything you need to know about doing seville on the cheap.
I found my accomodation through loquo.com. theres a few other websites like segundamano etc, but loquo generally has the most available. You´ll save over 100 euro a month finding an apartment for yourself compared to the websites that have it organised for you.
In regards to teachers, depends i guess. there's lots. I´m quite a newbie to flamenco so I didn´t need the greatest teacher in city. I went with the cheapest i could find (can range from 15 - 50E an hour i think). but my teacher has turned out to be great, perfect for my situation and I couldn't be happier. I've also had free lessons in exchange for teaching english. There's lots of people here wanting to learn english here so thats never too difficult to tee up after you put some adds up.
...Also, thought I might just welcome my self to the boards. I have been reading the posts on this site for many months but have never written anything till now. It's a great little forum you have going on. Have learnt a lot here.
Posts: 3
Joined: Jan. 7 2010
From: Melbourne, Australia
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
Unfortunately I'm only here for another month. I deffinately don't want to be leaving so soon. It's great here, and you quite lucky, semptember and october are probably the best months, along with april ofcourse with the feria and all.
Anyway, when I was looking for a place I had a friend from here who made me a little map saying where the best places to live are (hopefully the attachment works).
red = not so great and possibly dangerous green = a decent area to live
But because you're not going to be there for too long it might be best to look for places in the centre or close enough to the centre (approx. 270 - 350E a month for a room in a shared apartment). When looking for accomodation think of Plaza del Slavador as the centre of the city and the closer you live to there the better. Triana is also really cool, the closer to the river the better.
And with teachers you can always go into a guitar shop and ask. they'd know a lot.
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RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
Hey, heysan,
I see Paco de Amparo and Cristina Hoyos are on the program. Keep us posted (or me personally) with your findings re accomodations etc as I'm really tempted...
Posts: 233
Joined: Apr. 7 2005
From: Adelaide, Australia
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
I've just got back from Sevilla, and I would highly recommend Miguel Angel Cortes' group classes that he teachers from "Centro de Arte y Flamenco" (c/Torreblanca 1B phone: 95 491 59 71), a centre run by singer Esperanza Fernandez. There was a nice mix of foreigners and locals in the class (about half and half, although this was around christmas time and a few of the foreigners had gone home). Miguel is a great guy and great to talk to. Let me know if you want phone numbers for other teachers for private classes (such as Jesus Torres, Miguel Aragon etc)
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
I'll probably go to Sevilla for a week in mid to late September. Hope to meet up with some of you guys! Any ideas for jobs over there to help lengthen the stay indefinitley???????
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
Hi all,
So this is my first flamenco in Spain experience. Been here a week and caught the tail end of the Bienal. I saw Esperanza Fernandez (Miguel Cortes on guitar and Durante on piano) as well as a young dancer Rafael Campallo.
I've started guitar classes with Juan del Gastor. Very positive experience so far. He seems a great teacher: patient, can spot phrases I need to work on, doesn't rush things.
My next plan is to find some other students of singing/dance/cajon to practice with. I've started putting up signs in dance studios etc. Maybe guitar shops too?
Anyone got any suggestions how to maximise my learning time here? Besides `practice practice practice!'. Attached is a photo of my weekend practice-roof (its in a mountain village called Cadiar).
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
Ok so just incase I gave the impression that my first teacher was a shambles... [Begin commercial break]. Andy got me seriously started with flamenco. Super encouraging, sat patiently with me with Solea for months before saying 'dude, before you leave I've got to show you some other palos', taught me some super nifty falsetas that he wrote, really broke down some of the trickier rhythms. Great learning experience. Thanks Andy! [End of commerical break].
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
p.s. Calle Sol is where all the dancers etc hang out because there are four cheap practice studios there. The bar is the place to meet people where they often have gigs on a little tablao they have. The escuela de juan polvillo is on the same street. (I also live there so if anyone feels like couchsurfing...)
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to noemiflamenco)
I took some lessons at Taller Flamenco over the summer. Funny enough, it was a 20 min walk through the red area labeled 'Pumarejo' on Manos' map. It didn't seem too shady to me, but then it was the middle of the day. I did stumble upon a little plaza in which were standing 7 or 8 prostitutes. I avoided eye contact and kept walking.
I'd booked lessons at Taller Flamenco based on a recommendation or two I'd found online. I did it for the 'flamenco in spain' experience that I'm sure everyone is keen to experience, but would likely look to book elsewhere for next time. It isn't that there was anything explicitly lacking, as I'm strictly a beginner and didn't need much in the way of instruction, but I felt there was something missing.
Their pricing didn't seem all that out of line compared to the others I'd found in the admittedly minimal research I did. That would be a nice bonus for next time, though. :)
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
I thought I would sum up my trip to Sevilla to help those who are planning a similar trip. I was there for the month of October.
My flamenco background: I started learning flamenco mid 2009 with Deteresa1 (Andy) for some months before leaving Ithaca.
Accommodation in Sevilla: I paid 250Eu for a room in an apartment outside the old city (Buhaira). This was a good deal so expect to pay more in the old city (I think 350Eu is realistic). I think one needs some luck finding short term accommodation. There are some useful websites: www.idealista.es www.loquo.es www.fotocasa.es www.easypiso.com www.pisos.com. www.easypiso.com (supposedly the best site to look for other people to share a place with) www.pisocompartido.com
I found mine through a group post on couchsurfing.com
Getting around in Sevilla: There are public bicycles for 5Eu a week and bicycle lanes on the sidewalks on many big (and some small) streets. The central part of Sevilla is quite small so it takes at most 30 minutes on a bike to get from one end to the other, assuming you don't get lost in the maze of cobbled streets!
To see live flamenco: I can recommend the following places. -Devorando Flamenco, c/Joaquin Costa, Alameda (just opposite el bar pimiento). Usually free, except sat nights. Crap ventiliation and so super super smokey (think: burning eyes, clothes still smell after washing). The owner, Gaspar, spent some time in Texas so speaks some English. A small venue with character.
-Los Corralones, c/Castellar, 52. This is a dance school and some nights they open the bar and have music in their courtyard. So it feels quite intimate. Students and pros pop round on Thursday nights and have a jam. Great singing, improvisation.
-I can recommend Taller Flamenco to _find_ information about live flamenco. They print a weekly handout listing bars with regular shows or impromptu flamenco. Many shows are free.
Learning flamenco: Juan del Gastor gives lessons from his house. He came recommended via David Cerva via Norman Klineman. He charges 50Eu for one session which lasted, on average, 1.5 hours. What did we do in ten or so lessons? Basics of solea (por arriba and por medio; some intros, falsetas using different techniques: pulgar, arpeggios, picado), basics of solea accompaniment (he sings too); basic buleria; basic alegria + accompaniment; basic solea cante. My Spanish is very limited so we didn't spend lots of time talking. Most of the lesson I was doing something musical rather than verbal. Juan would play something, ask if I wanted to learn it (yes!), and then proceed to break it down bit by bit (ie. note by note or phrase by phrase) until I got it somewhat fluently. This would take 10 - 30 minutes depending on the difficulty. The tempo was usually very slow so I could memorise the falseta/chord changes during the lesson. He would also play with me, which was a good way to build my confidence. Sometimes he would leave the room and let me practice for a few minutes so that I could work out the kinks. He would ask me to play without him when he thought I could handle it. Juan is also very friendly and humble. His wife Lucie is English so I did ask and receive some verbal feedback at one point. I think I got the most out of the cante accompaniment lessons; certainly this constituted completely new material for me.
I also took a handful of lessons on basic right hand technique from Antonio Moreno. He teaches from his house for 35Eu an hour. (http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=1zMMnZTW6AU) I think that even after one session my tone improved. Lessons were also in Spanish.
I met a bunch of guitarists who have been learning at the Cristina Heeren flamenco academy for 2 or 3 years. The academic year is 9 months, 5 hours a day. There are three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Even the beginner guitar curriculum covers accompaniment and history of flamenco. I attended a day at the beginner level: the classes are in groups (between 10-20 or so), and it seems the levels in a class can be somewhat mixed. Very noisy with so many guitars. A typical day is 1.5 hours technique, .5 hour break, 1.5 hours palos, and then 1.5 hours of either accompaniment/history of flamenco/compas/etc. Many of the young flamencos (guitarists and dancers and singers) that I saw perform in Seville passed through this academy. Each 3 month term costs Eu1000.
My overall thoughts in random order: At first it was quite tough to find the non mainstream venues to see flamenco. I noticed a small but vibrant group of students who regularly went to jam sessions or busted out their guitars after a gig. If you want to practice with students of song or dance I would recommend posting signs at the larger schools (Cristina Heeren, Esperanza Fernandez). I was told Sevilla is the best place to learn dance but there are other great (better?) cities to learn and experience guitar: (in no particular order) Granada, Cordoba, Jerez, Cadiz. There is much to see in the city (architecture), and the mountains or the beach are a few hours drive away.
RE: Spain in September/October (in reply to heysan)
Are you still out there or have you come back? Have you checked out any shows in Bar Sol? You can even sign up to do one yourself!... If you're back in town come along this Thursday! It's my last show in the UK this year before I go back to Sevilla. Hope you can make it!
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Best of luck man, sounds like you are having a great time. 
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