It took me ages to be able to watch someone dancing Bulerías Por Fiesta and be able to tell what steps were being used, where and why!
Even when I had someone explaining it to me (like I am doing here in this post 😅) it still didn't make any sense. One step looked the same as the next and I couldn't tell anything apart. Boy, was it frustrating. I also thought I would never get it.
But, I did get it. How? Hmmm, I'm not 100% sure. It happened over time, and with familiarity.
Watching a lot of Bulerías Por Fiesta, listening to a lot of Bulerías, going to classes, and continuing to watch those videos where the steps were being described – all these practices culminated in knowledge! And once you know, you can't unknow. Thank goodness 😇
If you're also at the stage where you want to know what's going on in Bulerías Por Fiesta but it's not making sense – I urge you to keep studying, keep learning, keep watching and dancing, and one day it will click 🔑
To help you get one step closer to knowing, here's a summary of what's happening in the Bulerías Por Fiesta video below, danced by the beautiful bailaora Marina:
🔑 The video snippet starts with Marina doing some marking (marcaje)
🔑 into the classic Bulerías step (paso de bulerías)
🔑 3 walks back to prepare for a llamada
🔑 llamada
🔑 pataíta!!
🔑 into some more marking
🔑 into some more paso de bulerías
🔑 little bit of marking
🔑 prepare for llamada
🔑 llamada
🔑 prepare for final
🔑 Final! First up some marking, then finish with a remate.
Did you notice the singer start to sing the coletilla as Marina began the second lot of paso de bulerías? The coletilla is usually an invitation from the singer for the dancer to finish up their pataíta and make their way off stage with the final. Which is why Marina soon after moved into llamada and prepare for final.
Did you also notice the cuadro giving Marina lots of upbeat jaleos during her final? So much energy, so much fun 😊
I hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial!!
I share my step-by-step framework teaching flamenco dancers how to pull off the perfect pataíta and dance 'in the middle' (aka improvise!) without feeling terrified, not hearing the cues or knowing the parts of the dance!
You can find out more about Belinda at http://www.theflamencocoach.com/about