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Duende.

It is mystical, powerful, emotional. A word that defies definition.

Embodied in the flourish of a bullfighter snapping his red cape in an impassioned ¡Olé!

Captured in the intensity of the flamenco music and dance.

Or in my case, the primal wonder I too felt, experiencing a performance of flamenco in Seville.

Flamenco in One Word: Duende.

Carnal, primal
The lone square of dance floor
The stomp
The clap
The hip sway
The allure

Inviting the audience in
Then repelling us in a moment, with the quick double snap of the castanets

Other spots cater to tourists with performers on a stage
But this spot is real, personal
Low-key with nachos and pitchers of sangria
Two shows nightly

I’m so entranced by the first performance
My friend and I know instantly we’ll stay for both

The performers change but the sustained intensity is real
The passion for the craft
The pride in recreating those time-honored, ancient steps
with feeling
making them personal
The raw emotion of falling in love and losing it all
The intensity and depth of feeling that comes through with every step
every sultry, seductive beckoning

And I’m so close
I can see the beads of sweat
Feel her eyes sear through me
The artist at work
With feeling
It all feels so personal in this moment
And everyone in the room channels the electricity

This is flamenco
The reason everyone seeks it out
To live the emotional arc
Be brought up high, only to land grounded at the earth at the end
Feeling touched by the experience
Emotions at the surface
This is what it means to live
To live your art
Art is life.

Pictures are not allowed of the performances, which I realize too late
I’ve taken one.
A single visual memory of the magic created in an intimate space
The whisper of flamenco lingering with me

And a feeling
That this life is amazing, and intense
Meant to be lived with full passion, a full heart
Chasing your dreams
Having a passion even if you do not profit from it at all
Using your passion to connect with others to inspire them
And I leave inspired

Something burning in me that I have not yet channeled
A blog that has not yet been dreamt of
An intensity of a singular travel experience that makes me send every friend who goes to Seville to this spot

Then taking years to even attempt to capture the experience of that night in words
None of stacking up to the experience of sitting in that audience
making eye contact with the dancer behind the performance
and letting my soul be stirred

It only works if you let it.

Seeing Flamenco in Seville

Admittedly, I had not done much to prepare for my trip to Seville (and the friend I was traveling with hadn’t either). We tried to make up for the lack of advance planning by posting on Facebook and pinging friends we knew had been. From the airport!

As we fielded suggestions, I was surprised at the recommendation to see a flamenco show, specifically at La Carboneria. It was honestly not on my radar at all. But I’m so glad we went.

It is free to see flamenco at La Carboneria, with shows at 9:30 and 10:30pm (and sometimes also 11:30pm). There is a bar on one side, a small square slab for flamenco dancing on the other, and long tables and benches in between. La Carboneria has a full bar, which includes the option of purchasing sangria by the liter. There are also some pretty basic food options, which we did not sample since we had eaten beforehand.

Many locals call this the best flamenco in Seville, and surprisingly, the audience was a mix of both locals and visitors. The venue certainly does not cater to tourists, and felt like a very local experience you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

TIP! It is also a very intimate space, so if you get there enough in advance, you can snag a spot on a bench right next to the dancer.

TIP! If you stay for multiple shows, a lot of people leave after seeing one performance and you can snag a better spot then.

For the performance itself, there is a guitar player and a single dancer expresses her art on a fairly small square slab placed on the floor, that looks as if it is made from some sort of slate or rock. The steps are incredibly intricate, but it is the emotion and intensity – the duende – behind both the dancing and guitar playing that defines flamenco.

It was so mesmerizing we knew immediately after the first performance that we would stay for a second show.

I was obviously a ‘blogger in the making’ at the time, because I struck up a conversation with the dancer there that night in between shows. Apparently it is not the same person every night, but over the course of the week, two or three excellent dancers who do flamenco dancing as their passion. And it shows.

While I fell in love with La Carboneria , many tourists (including some who have also been to this spot) prefer the larger, choreographed show you can pay for at other venues. With a bigger show, there are more performers, brighter colored outfits, and a stage where you can more easily see the complex footwork of flamenco.

If that’s you, definitely plan to catch a different flamenco show that matches your style, it’s such an incredible art form to experience!

TIP! There are a range of flamenco shows around Seville. Some are free, others are paid shows, and it depends from one to the next if food and/or drinks are included with the ticket price.

The dinner and flamenco show at Tablao Flamenco El Arenal comes highly recommended, or you can find other options to catch a flamenco show in Seville HERE.

As for me, I’ll take the raw emotion – the duende – of flamenco at La Carboneria any night of the week. Twice.

Have you ever experienced a flamenco performance? Or another artistic performance that moved you? What made it memorable?

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