The various forms of arts I came across in Sevilla have captured my mind and heart. In particular, Flamencomusic and dance have become a significant part of my time here. Back in New York, my studies revolve around music production and audio engineering. And while I went into this semester expecting to give myself a break from working with music, time and time again I end up learning that this idea is simply a losing battle as I get pulled right back into it. The spark this time around came within the first few days of arriving in Spain. One of our first group activities was a trip to a Flamenco show at the Flamenco Dance Museum. I recall calling my sister the day before and when she heard I was going to see this flamenco show, she was very excited on my behalf and used the word “intense” to describe it. I had a hard time imagining how a dance could evoke such a strong reaction but needless to say that made me even more excited to find out. And surely enough any expectation I may have had was blown out the water. The combination of the dance and the music created this epic and dramatic mood with this constant shifting balance of elegance and force. You could see the intensity and passion in the dancers’ performances but also the technical skill and how physically demanding it was. By the second half of the show any time the male lead would do a spin you just saw this ring of sweat flying all over.
To me however, the greatest hero of the night was the guitarist. I started playing guitar around 2018 and it wasmy gateway to taking upon music as my studies and my passion. So naturally in any live performance setting my attention is drawn towards the guitarist and I try to analyze what they’re doing at all times. As luck wouldhave it though, I ended up picking a seat from which my view of the guitarist was completely obstructed by a big fat pillar and so in the aftermath of the show I was jokingly devastated that I couldn’t see more of the technique and style of my newly discovered guitar hero. It did however force me to just enjoy and listen, and to this day I hope to find a good recording of this performance or maybe just a setlist of pieces he had played that night. It’s one thing to play the instrument and completely another to make you feel and create whole moods and soundscapes using the instrument. It just took me on a rollercoaster of emotions and the way it combined with the dancing, I was just sitting there the whole performance with a smile on my face and my attention fully locked in on every move, visual and sound. Inevitably, this would mark the end of my music break, having lasted probably no more than 96 hours.
Soon after I began my search for any instrument I could have access to during my stay. And eventually after some asking around as well as inspiration from a rather mediocre attempt to play the piano at one of our paella cooking classes, my mission was successful as I am now a proud temporary owner of a small pianokeyboard sitting in my room. (Huge thank you to the ICS faculty, especially Javi who was so kind to find andallow me to use said keyboard this semester). I have also since signed up and taken part in the Sevillanas dance classes. I have been interested in learning how to dance for a while now but for one reason or another I have never gotten around to it. So when I heard about the Sevillanas classes being offered, I made sure to sign up the very first day.
At the time of writing this, today is actually gonna be my last class but I have to say it has been an absolute blast and I’m very happy to say that I can dance the first Sevillana in its entirety and I’m hoping to learn the remaining three Sevillanas during the rest of the semester on my own time. I enjoyed learning to dance a lot and I would actually come back from the lessons and continue practicing the steps at home and reviewing the videos. While I often didn’t understand much of what was said during these lessons due to my still rather limited Spanish, I cannot describe the sheer boost in confidence when at the end of one of the lessons, Rocío who is one of our house moms and who leads these lessons, has said I was doing a good job! Just for that moment alone every minute spent practicing in front of the mirror was worth it! And what a fun skill to have in your arsenal and a cool way to learn control and coordination of the body. Although I have to admit, as soon as the arm movements come in along with the steps, my brain is pushed to work at 150%. I aspire to achieve that extent of multitasking and limb coordination someday but for the time being it remains above my skill level.
