From Aug 1st-Aug 15th, Fourteen Semilla Flamenca experienced youth students + 6 Semilla Flamenca dancers traveled to Cadiz to attend the Seminario Flamenco Carmela Greco.

And this episode needs a full page to describe the amazing experience!

Let’s start with our hosts, Carmela and Lola Greco and their family, Aside the fact that they are some of the most amazing dancers (With experience in the National Ballet of Spain, the National Award for Best Dancer and lifetimes of sharing their passion for dance to say the least) they were the BEST hosts ever. From the very beginning until the very end, they took care of everything possible within their reach to make our stay fantastic. This included a pool party with home made Spanish delicacies, flamenco shopping with us, driving us around when possible etc etc

Then I am going to move on and talk about Cadiz, what a delight to spend the summer there! With temperatures at least 10 degrees lower than the rest of central Spain, the breeze of the Atlantic made everything easier, specially the apartments that Carmela reserved for us, just one block away from the beautiful Santa Maria del Mar beach. Our girls and teens spent every evening enjoying the beautiful sandy beach. The city is super safe, public transportation is easy and practically free (Everyone under 16 didn’t have to pay and adults ticket was 1.1 euros) I LOVED the fact that the beach was full with families, however there wasn’t anyone with speakers or anything loud, it was SO clean (Which I was surprised considering the wind that blows things away every so often), you could see basically Andalusians only (Which felt super authentic) and no one drunk at the beach!

The water was clean and the waves were calm, so easy to swim for everyone. We loved every minute of it, specially the sunsets on the Ocean with the beautiful fort and cathedral of Cadiz as the backdrop.

Cadiz doesn’t need a Festival, there are so many flamenco events and venues that there are shows to see every night!

…So compared to International Flamenco Festivals, what I loved is that my students had the experience to take classes with the flamenco Spaniard youth, they are phenomenal! as well other seasoned dancers as classmates and that was one of the major highlights.

The night that we went to see a free event in one of the plazas, where Esmeralda Rancanpino was singing, what surprised me the most, was to see so many different artists in the audience, so this whole area is one of the top summer destinations for Flamenco Artists, and that, gives it an extra flair that festivals don’t have, because the high level of flamenco in the audience in Cadiz delivered a high level of performances….

And this said, I am going to move on an talk about the teachers… I knew every year there are few changes depending in availability, so I traveled without knowing the final list… And what a surprise, one by one. I learned SO much, as a teacher, from these MASTERS!!!

• Carmela Greco

• Lola Greco

• Carmen Ledesma

• Alejandro Granados

• Carlos Carbonell

• Claudia Cruz

• Jesus Fernandez

• Marta Ortiz Deusto

• Rosario Toledo

• Torombo

• Juan Navarro

While in Cadiz, we had the opportunity to attend a lot different events, here are some of our favorites

Wrapping it up, I made this post to express my gratitude to Carmela, and to share our experience. I was really trying to find something like this, so my young students could experience Andalusia, local flamenco students and great teaching. This Seminario was recommended to me by Sonia Franco (Flamenco artist) and when I described all what I was looking for, she said… -You should go to Carmela’s- …And she nailed it!

However, I have to say, that it was my first time there, and it was super risky, to bring all theses students without knowing it first hand… But what surprise!

If you are trying to find something like this, by all means… Go to Cadiz!