Hola my friend,
I’m back in Singapore this week 🙂
After the experiences at Seville’s famous colourful April Fair, through flooded Dubai airport’s grey skies, I landed in Singapore and head straight to the studio for dance rehearsals.
We’re rehearsing for an event this weekend at the Esplanade Theatre concourse.
It’s FREE and you are invited to join!
In this newsletter:
- Travel vicariously to Seville, catch the action and culture of its largest outdoor party
- Check out my new class terms in Singapore
- Head to the Esplanade bay for free events this weekend
Warmly
Tania
Feria de Abril
Seville’s famous fair in April, the largest outdoor party you should not miss at least once in your (Spanish travel/Flamenco) lifetime!
My flamenco maestro, Manuel Betanzos, takes me there.
You can come along with us vicariously.
On the road:
Seville – Madrid – Dubai -Singapore
A snippet of the journey as I leave Madrid airport, through Dubai airport (left in the nick of time before floods inundated the airport).
Plus and a glimpse of the dancers practising their dances for this weekend’s event.
They’ve been great in initiating self-rehearsals while I was in Sevilla!
And if you’re wondering how bad the floods in Dubai have been, you can check this video out.
It looks surreal and in all my travels through Dubai, I’ve never encountered this!
Which brings me to this:
TRAVEL TIP
If you’re planning to go to Spain (or any country) to join a flamenco workshop or a festival, arrive at least two days in advance.
So you can orientate in the new place.
And if case of any unforeseen circumstance such as this (note over 800 flights cancelled!), you still have a day to sort out alternative solutions!
Everybody Dance Now
An annual series focussing on dance at Esplanade Theatre. If you’re up for dance action, head over this week for lots of activities!
Here are our Spanish sessions if you wish to zoom into the vibrant spirit:
SUNDAY 21 APRIL
7.15pm – 7.45pm: Groove with Flamenco
8.00pm – 8.30 pm: Flow with Classical Grace
What you catch:
In each set, you can enjoy 2 dance items and a mini-workshop to give you a flavour of the dance style.
For the Flamenco set, I’ve chosen:
The Tangos is a very typical flamenco dance. Style-wise, it is sensual and earthly. Imagine that we are at a flamenco party, where anyone can come up to dance spontaneously at this fiesta!
The finale dance is the Alegrías de Cádiz, and it means ‘joy’ in Spanish! This style hails from the beach town of Cádiz in Southern Spain. So imagine now that we are by the beach, with sun, sea, salt and freedom!
For the Classical Spanish Dance set, here’s where you get to know that the style of Clásico Español is one of MANY dance styles from Spain! Some of you might recognise famous classical music pieces composed by great Spanish composers, and played by orchestras worldwide.
La Vida Breve, choreographed by Paloma Gómez from Spain, who is a resident artist and maestro at Spanish Dance Singapore. The music is composed by the great Spanish composer, Manuel de Falla, and dancers will perform with the Spanish Fan. We hope you enjoy this visual dance!
Danza de la Gitana, is also choreographed by Madrid-based Paloma Gómez. I’ve chosen this piece to highlight a lesser known composer, Ernest Halfftner, and I love the way the great violinist, Itzhak Perlmann plays with vigor. Dancers will perform with castanets.
MANY FREE WORKSHOPS
ALL ON ONE SINGLE WEEKEND
There are many free event workshops by different studios and on ONE SINGLE WEEKEND you can sample different dance styles: jazz funk, hip hop, swing, Cha Cha, Rumba.
Click here for the FULL list of all dance styles.
I think it’s so wonderful and how lucky we are in Singapore to have so many accessible arts events. That is not the case in many other countries, and I recall that as a child, I myself didn’t have the opportunity to dance.
So a big thank you to programming houses like the Esplanade Theatres-on-the-Bay and the Esplanade programmers who make all this happen behind the scenes!
Dance is accessible! Hence the name ‘EVERYBODY DANCE NOW’.
This is part of the larger event called da:ns focus (19 – 21 April) with 5 themed dance weekends (2024/2025 season).
What are you waiting for? Head down!
NEW CLASS TERM STARTS NEXT WEEK
Here are my new term of classes starting in Singapore.
FLAMENCO BEGINNERS
Saturdays, 4pm – 5.30pm / 27 April / 4, 11, 18, 25 May
FLAMENCO (INTERMEDIATE)
Sundays, 2.30pm – 4.00pm / 28 April / 5, 12, 19, 25 May,
CLASSICAL SPANISH DANCE
Saturdays, 5.45pm – 7.15pm / 27 April / 4, 11, 18, 25 May (with Tania)
Level: Beginners
Tuesdays (from 23 April), 7.30pm – 8.30pm (online with Paloma Gómez)
Level: Higher Beginners – Lower Intermediate
In all the above classes, you will learn the style, technique and choreographic phrases.
SPECIAL-FOCUS WORKSHOPS
I conduct these special focus workshops for small groups, where we focus on a goal. All students start and end at the same time, and we focus on a goal or very specific material (for eg. a full choreography)
If you are keen on focus sessions, then contact me.
Gracias!
Un abrazo
Tania 🙂
