First Flamenco Class

Mozart was excited to go to her first Flamenco class with a well known Flamenco dancer. We still have to buy her the black special top and long Flamenco skirt and shoes for class, but wanted to make sure she liked it before investing in them. Some of the girls like to wear the boys hats in class and they are cute too even tho not part of the tradition for girls (they sneak it from the teachers table). At six you can make up your own rules. One of the compelling things for a girl this age is the dance shoes have high heels!

The teacher is quite strict as she takes the dance seriously and the classes are on Mondays and Wednesday after school for an hour. She gives a lot to the kids, but also expects a lot from them. Mozart’s best friend
is in the class as well as some of her other classmates at school so that makes it even more enticing.
The teacher only speaks Spanish of course, so more valuable immersion for her second  language.

Mozart hasn’t had a serious dance class since she was three and was in the Nutcracker and she loves
to dance. With violin and piano classes, performances and practice plus school it has been tricky to not overbook her as I like her to have lots of free time, but here the classes are only nine until two so there is more time. We get up early now so we have several hours in the morning before school so she usually does her instrument practices after breakfast & play and some home school in the afternoons and weekends. She is a compulsive reader in English, so learns so much that way as she is zipping thru our new supply of books. She also loves to write stories and make books, so gets plenty of writing practice and she is really enjoying learning cursive here.

They will do some performances at some point which I am sure she will love as she loves being in front
of a large audience. She really enjoyed the teacher and the class and can not wait to get her outfit. It seems like a really wonderful opportunity in so many ways; exposure to this special passionate dance in
its birthplace of Andalucia, more language absorption, knowing the culture better, more social connection for her and us with the community. She is a passionate, intense, energetic child who loves to improvise and create, so it would appear to be a good match and it is something we had hoped to find for her here. She
is cute making those moves, if I must say so myself and we will probably add a video of her doing it soon.

For more information on Flamenco, the dance of Andalucia, look at these links:
http://www.inquisitivetraveler.com/pages/artlib/flamenco.html

http://www.red2000.com/spain/flamenco

This one has some good video, pictures along with more  information:
http://members.shaw.ca/kaml/index.htm

We have been in love with Flamenco ever since we saw a live performance by some great performers from Spain while visiting Santa Fe, so we hope to learn more while living in its home environment.