Unleash Your Passion With Flamenco Dance!


Jerez Convent and Semana Santa

Last weekend, I stumbled upon the Claustros Santo Domingo while wandering around Jerez. There are multiple sections to the structure, but it was under construction as early as 1434, according to the Jerez Tourism site. If you are interested int reading about the history of the structure, you can find more about that HERE.

 

Only a small portion of the cloister is open to the public, but it is a beautiful place and well worth your time if you ever visit Jerez. Admission is free too! My photos do not do it justice.

 

 

Sunday I spent resting up and preparing for the week, as I began my first full week of Flamenco class (post-festival) and Spanish classes. For Flamenco, I’m taking 2 technique classes and 2 bulerías classes per week. There is a live singer for one of the bulerías classes, so we can really “do” the por fiesta circle. My teacher “volunteered” me for a turn—I was SO nervous. And I messed up. But I did it, and it felt good to try. All the students in the class are supportive of each other—giving jaleos freely to encourage each dancer. The energy and joy generated from the circle is indescribable—so much joy and passion.  You can see my teacher here—she starts dancing at about 1:18.

 

This is such a small thing but shows that children (as all humans) have commonalities across the world—one Tuesday during my walk to Spanish class, I passed a group of elementary school students walking through the city. They were yelling “Bocnia! Bocina!” At first, I didn’t get what they were yelling about, but then cars started honking, and the kids went crazy, clapping and yelling with happiness at every car that obliged their requests.

 

On Saturday, I was able to catch a Flamenco show at my favorite tabanco, El Pasaje to hear one of my favorite cantors, Iván de Manuela (video link). Also, Santa Semana kicked off.

 

Though I am not an overly religious person, the reverence and beauty of the processions are breathtaking. There was only one on Saturday, marking the start of a week full of daily processionals. Please note that although the hats worn by the penitentes may look like KKK hats, there is NO relation between them. Like parades in the USA, the processions have lots of candy at the ready to hand out to children along their route. What you cannot see from in the photo on the right is all the people, called costaleros, who are under the paso (like a float, but much heavier) carrying it.There are 47 brotherhoods in Jerez, the oldest dating to the fifteenth century, while the youngest made its first cruz in 1973. The brotherhoods were abolished for a period, but thankfully they returned in the twentieth century. Another unique thing about Semana Santa is the saetas flamenca (traditional religious songs). Last week one of the local peña, Buena Gente, held a saeta competition. It was their 45th year of doing so. You can read a bit about the history of saetas HERE. I hope to be able to catch some of the scheduled saetas this week.

 

You can learn more about Semana Santa, in general, here:

 

Sadly, on Sunday rain stopped the festivities. I made my way to the first brotherhood’s starting point, with my course for the entire afternoon/evening planned (most days the cruzes begin around 4pm). The procession began to line up, the band started…and then everyone turned around and walked away from the crowd. What?!?!?! It began to rain, and the brotherhood was taking no chances with their paso, and who could blame them. These pasos are beautiful works of art, which I’m sure are quite expensive.

 

It’s raining again today, as I sit here awaiting the fate of the cruzes. To cruz, or not to cruz—that is the question!

You can view more photos HERE.

 

More Soon,

❤️❤️ Kim

 

 

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