The Performance!

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be dancing the sevillana (a flamenco style dance) in an outdoor theatre set against the magical backdrop of the floodlit castle of the hilltop town of Iznajar! What a simply amazing opportunity, experience and privilege. All the hard work, frustration and despondent moments (and nerves!) completely forgotten in the sheer pleasure, enjoyment and adrenalin rush of the performance in front of a huge crowd of spectators!

When we first arrived at the venue there were only a few rows of chairs set out and a handful of folks milling around so we drew the conclusion that this was a very low key affair - how wrong we were! Long before our performance slot the place was absolutely heaving with people - it was standing room only with further huge crowds gathered along the railings above the stage. It was a full evening programme of dance and song which heralded the start of the largest annual fiesta of Iznajar - in honour of the village patron saint 'Virgen de la Piedad' - a week long fiesta!

I'm so glad I didn't give up!
I signed up for lessons back in June under the illusion I was in for fun dance classes - only to learn a few weeks later that these classes were leading towards a performance! It seemed highly unlikely considering, particularly for us 3 Brits, the difficulties we were having not just learning the steps but co-ordinating the arms and learning the turns without tumbling over ourselves and each other. The Spanish lasses from the village appeared to have such a natural aptitude - reference footnotes below! As the performance date loomed the fun turned to despondency and frustration for me as I battled not only with this foreign dance but having little understanding of all the instructions delivered in Spanish!! I was so close to giving up a couple of weeks prior to the performance when one of the Spanish lasses in the class and from this village, seeing me struggle, offered to give me some extra coaching in her house any time I'd like to go round. I grabbed the chance and miracle of miracles, with Maria's patient coaching plus my determination and lots of extra practise, I was just about ready in time for the performance!

I will never, ever forget that memorable night - Val, Julia and I sat downing our glasses of 'dutch courage' with our respective other halves, nerves mounting by the minute (nope - the G&Ts didn't help one bit!!) -

- the sun going down and the moon, a huge orange ball that evening, rising into the darkening sky beside the floodlit castle. What a totally magical and enchanting setting.



Various dancing groups from little tiny tots learning their first sevillana steps through to older children up to the 2 adult classes performed throughout the evening - our group being the very last performance of the evening. Finally it was time - we took our places on stage, the music started. As we moved into the first few steps of the sevillana my spirits soared - the fun and excitement of the dance plus relief at the realisation that I seemed to be remembering all the steps and turns and without falling over myself! It was all over so very very quickly - all the worry, anxiety and frustrations, all those butterflies - all dissolved and in their place an overwhelming sense of achievement. I enjoyed every moment and left the stage with a pang of sadness that it was all over in the blink of an eye.

Quite unexpectedly, all dancers were summoned to gather around the stage where each of us was called up individually by name and presented with a red carnation and a certificate for a diploma in the sevillana!! Yay!!!!

Ruth with dance tutor, Paqui, Julia and Val















A little background information on the the sevillana dance courtesy of Wikipedia and andalucia.org :
This dance is characterised by its gracefulness, liveliness, nimble dynamism and flexibility. It is danced in pairs (either 2 women or a man and a woman). The dance is executed in a series of 4 coplas (poetic compositions, in verse, used as lyrics) each of which has a different choreography.
We only danced the first 2 parts - maybe 3 and 4 at a later date ...... ?
The sevillana is danced at fiestas, weddings, family parties where everyone joins in. It's something they have grown up with and learnt simply because they're surrounded by it. It seems everybody knows how to dance the sevillana and children are encouraged from a very young age - they are passionate about the Sevillana - a clue perhaps as to why us Brits found it the challenge we did ??