Jackie! El Toro! Jackie! El Toro!

Location: Madrid, Spain

Monday June 7, 2010

Back to classes as usual. It’s crazy with a group of around 60 people, because so many different groups traveled to so many different places during that long weekend: Porto, Barcelona, Mallorca, Toledo, and so on… We had a substitute for our Arte en el Prado class and will continue to have him for the rest of this week. And boy do I want him to stay for the rest of the summer “term.” His open and actually intriguing discussions remind me of why I like art history. He takes a very calm and inviting approach with questions, like, “What do you see?” and “Why is this so?” that even the most timid/amateur art history student is able to think about and discuss.

To keep us occupied, IES organizes classes in the city. We went to an one-hour flamenco-for-dummies class at Corral de la Morería http://www.corraldelamoreria.com/, one of the most famous flamenco restaurants in Madrid (according to Miguel) where patrons can see a flamenco show as they dine. Before walking to the restaurant, Lauren and I waited for Jade (a white platinum-blonde rising junior at UNC with a slight southern accent), Amy (a white rising senior at University of Miami [in Ohio]), and Manasa (a South Asian rising junior at Pittsburgh) at the Ópera metro stop. As Lauren and I were waiting, we observed a group of blatantly American students from across the street. These groups are actually everywhere in Madrid. We discussed ways to spot American tourists:

- Pale skin/white-looking

- Diversity in the group

- Backpacks

- Those unstylish little black plastic/acrylic side pouches that hang in the front by the hip that are suppose to be pickpocket-proof

- Tennis shoes with nonathletic clothes

- Cargo shorts or athletic shorts on boys

- Camis or tanktops layering on girls

- Too bright colours

- Desserts-eating

- Weight problems

- Sunburns

- Large ungainly maps

- Gawking

- Cameras

- Loud English

- And more…

Flamenco class was fun. The thin and graceful teacher, who had danced flamenco for only four (or was it five?) years instructed us in Spanish while looking down at us from the stage. I wore a red and yellow skirt with black Mary Jane-like heels, while everybody else wore flats or sandals. Alex was the only boy in the class, so he learned a more masculine ending to the dance. We started with learning the most basic beats of flamenco by clapping the rhythms. Then we moved on to the fabulous arm movements, adding some feet. Her hands and their flair were so beautiful and different than ballet/contemporary. Then we moved on to just feet, learning different sounds our feet could make with the ball, heel, or the entire foot. It was like Spanish tap-dancing. I’m sure Lauren had fun with that (she danced for, like, ten years… focusing on tap and hip hop). A few of us went on stage to do our little routine. Jaja, oh Alex.

We also learned how to play castanets. I always thought that you play castanets like they were mittens. I mean that’s what it seemed like Paco was doing in Jackie Chan Adventures. Instead, the teacher taught us to connect the castanets to our thumbs and let them hang. The clicking or clacking sound is made when one or more of the other fingers hit the castanet together. We learned different rhythms. Everyone was surprisingly together since most of the mass castanetting was loud and crisp. At the end of class, we were given “certificates” for completing “Introduction to Flamenco.” Jaja, cheeeese.