Top Five Hardest Things to Grasp When Learning Flamenco
(but don’t be fooled, none of it is really easy)
1: Remembering all the moves.
There are a lot of dance moves one after the other and it’s extremely hard to remember them all.
2: Coordinating the feet with the hands.
First the feet move, then the hands are doing something completely different and it’s hard to remember exactly what the feet should be doing.
3: Understanding your teacher’s Spanish.
There are a lot of specific dance terms. For example, Compso is a bar of music. Who’d have thought? And they speak really quickly.
4: The shoes are brutally uncomfortable.
The shoe shop says the shoes need to fit tightly but if you don’t wear high heels regularly then you definitely won't be used to it. Either way your feet get incredibly sore.
5: It’s embarrassing.
You just have to pretend that no one else is watching and suck up your pride.
Top 5 Most Frustrating Things for Flamenco Dance Teachers
1: There’s no 1,2,3,4… so stop counting!
It’s all about the feel. Your feet do what they want, your hands move as they want. There’s no “English” beat.
2: It takes more than a day.
People come in and want a quick flamenco fix. It’s not like buying a Spanish souvenir. It takes time!
3: It’s going to hurt.
Sometimes tourists see really fat people dancing flamenco and figure if they can do it, so can I. You don’t have to be thin to dance flamenco, but you have to have endurance and be strong.
4: The costume is only one part of the experience.
Sure the costumes are amazing, but putting roses in your hair and a fancy dress on doesn’t make you a dancer. You have to feel it!
5: No Hablo Ingles
There’s no “English” in flamenco…Perdon.