Flamenco!

I was a first timer to flamenco on Friday night. After living in Sevilla for two months now, I had yet to make it to a flamenco show. (Side note: Happy 2 Months in Sevilla to me.)

Flamenco is the Andalusian and Spanish dance to what two stepping represents to Texans.

I started off first in the Barrio Santa Cruz to find a place that my Spain guidebook listed called "El Tamboril." I went, asked someone for directions, only to find the place was locked up for the evening. However, things don't cranked up and rowdy over here till midnight or later. So my next course of action was to head to Triana to find a "semi-secret" unmarked bar on Calle Pages de Corro. Apparently it's not so semi-secret cause Casa Anselma was definitely packed to the brim on Friday and a German camera crew from Berlin was filming something for Deutsche television. Pretty cool.
Casa Anselma is run, by Anselma who hosts these flamenco shows nightly along with her friends. It's very authentic and local, judging as I was the only American in there that night. Over the course of two hours watching flamenco, I talked to a couple from Zaragoza, in northern Spain, in between Madrid and Barcelona, they are down here for work. But they liked me so much, they bought me a few drinks. You have to admire the generosity of the Spaniards.
Flamenco is inspired by Arabic flavor, Gypsy dances, Spanish, and influences elsewhere. It's very much the heart and soul of traditional Spain.
In addition to the flamenco show, I explained how to two-step in Spanish to the couple. Music and dancing transcends language barriers and international borders.
At the end of the evening the show ended with a singing-prayer-ballad to the shrine of the Virgin Mary. Quite different, yet moving at the same time.