With the arrival of summer come the vacations and the free time. What better idea than to take advantage of it by participating in all sorts of activities with some flamenco flair. Here are some of the things that you can spend your summer doing:

Intensive courses and flamenco lessons: 

This is the most obvious one but it is also the easiest due to the fact that almost any academy or studio offers, during the summer break, a wide variety of classes and courses. In fact, if you look closer you can find some imparted by some of the most recognized and prestigious choreographers and dancers with whom you will be able to learn about professional flamenco dancing and improve your technique while expanding your knowledge. Even if you are a begginer or flamenco dance is something you always wanted to do but never found the time to do it, now is the moment for it. Sign yourself up and try some classes while having a great time meeting new people. This classes are also for kids and adults of different levels you have no excuse. And if you need any skirts, dance shoes or any other accesory you can find a great selection in our web that will meet your requirements.

Some examples of courses:

• Intensive courses: The intensive classes are a good way to enjoy your free time learning from some of the best flamenco artists. There is a big variety of courses focused in learning how to dance bulerías, spanish dance, how to play flamenco box or guitar, etc.

• Flamenco dance classes 2017: The Flamenco Studio from Sevilla is one of those who offer summer classes for all levels.

In our web you will find flamenco dresses and accesories for your classes

Flamenco camps:

Related to what was said before, there are summer camps that offer training in different techniques and flamenco styles. Kids and adults of all levels can learn and improve while chatting, playing games, and doing all sort of fun activities with other people. What better way to spend the summer than dancing.

• Flamenco Workshop Miraflores 2017 in Madrid: You could go to classes with some of the best professionals and the camp includes other activities like flamenco movies nights, visits to Miraflores and Madrid, hiking, horseriding, routes, climbing and spanish classes for foreigners.

• II International Flamenco Camp: Organized by the Andalucía Flamenco School in Iruela (Jaén), this camp offers as well side activities like tastings, visits, parades and awards ceremony, and, of course, an exhibition show created by teachers and students of the camp.

• Flamenco Camp Malaga 2017: This one in particular is going to take place in Malaga and offers a complete inmersive experience of the flamenco world. 

Camps like the one in Miraflores are a good way to learn and have fun

Festivals:

If you are one of those that likes flamenco dance but prefers to watch it, then festivals and concerts are maybe your thing. Here are some of the most interesting ideas for this summer if you are planning to go to at least one:

• Summer festivals and concerts agenda: Here are a wide variety of events you can go to in different parts of Spain and other countries like France.

• 'Nights in the plaza' and 'Flamenco on the swimming pool': Son villages like Villarasa in Huelva have organized during summer break different activities and outdoor concerts in public places for everyone to enjoy.

• Flamenco On Fire festival: This festival, which already is in its fourth edition, has become one of the most key events of the calendar for flamenco lovers. From the 22nd to the 27th of August, the northern city of Pamplona welcomes one more year an event that will receive a big number of incredible artists. This year people like Cañizares, Martirio, Pedro 'El Granaíno', Miguel Ángel Cortés, Carmen Linares, Arcángel, Jon Losada y Antonio Losada, Tomasito, Antonio Carmona o Miguel Poveda will be performing in the main auditorium of Baluarte, which will host five big shows, as well as Sala Zentral, that will include a big concert, and the Tres Reyes Hotel that will have a tablao in which the 'Night Cicle' will have place with six first class acts.

Flamenco On Fire festival has become a key event.

Flamenco parties:

The summer always is a perfect time for parties with friends and family, to enjoy dancing, eating, drinking and having fun. Here are some ideas if you want to host a thematic flamenco party yourself:

• Remember to decorate the place in which you are going to celebrate the party so it has a flamenco touch. You can use flowers, lanterns, posters or even big personalized fans for the walls. You decide how to put it, just remember in flamenco parties everything is not enough.

• Wear a flamenca suit or any flamenca accesory and ask your guests to bring also dresses, skirts o accesories that go with the party to make it more fun. 

• Also, do not forget the music. There is a wide variety of flamenco singers that your guests will enjoy but mix it with modern singers too so the young ones feel also included.

• With these high temperatures we should remember to use our fans too. It  is a really important accesory to have in order to survive the heat, and besides, it also is very versatile since you can use it for decorating walls, tables or even as a party favor for your guests. You can personalized them to make it more fun or everyone can use the same if you are celebrating a bachelorette party.

• Last but not least, remember to prepare typical flamenco dishes to give the party a bigger flamenco flair. For example, you can cook andalusian gazpacho, very nutritious, fresh an easy to make and pair it with a stew, don't forget the seafood and the fried fish. And top it with a drink like rebujito, a classic summer and fresh beverage very common in Andalucía. Your guests will love it.

The flamenco dresses and skirts are essential for a folkloric flair for your party.

Summer is here and with it comes the end of year for most dance schools. As always is time to prepare everything so everything comes out perfectly. In Flamencoexport we have a wide variety of products that could be useful if you are a student in the show that each year every dance academy or school prepares in this time of the year. Also, if you are a teacher and you are looking for clothes and accesories for your choreography to be spectacular, in our web you will find what you are searching for. Here we will show you a list of some of the most useful and comfortable products, perfect for ocassions like this:

• Fans

We have a large selection of fans of all kinds and sizes, for adults and kids, that will make your choreography more spectacular and colourful. You can find them with all sorts of styles, elegants, with pollka dots and prints, in diferent colours, and, if you want to be original you can buy our special DIY fans. 

• Castanets

Another essential accesory to complement the dances are the castanets. They have a vibrant sound and in our web you can find them in different materials, specially made for all sorts of learning levels, sizes and several prices. Take advantage of them and make a party out of your dance using this beautiful and harmonious musical instrument.

Flamenco skirts

Skirts are one of the most important elements of a flamenco dance. In our web you can find them in all sorts of colours, sizes, for kids and adults, etc. We have a wide selection, all of them artisanal and made with the highest quality materials. Besides, they can be custom made if needed. 

Every person that is involved in flamenco needs good shoes, the most important part of any dance. We offer a great variety of them for women and men, made in several materials, with or without nails, specifically made for the different learning levels of the students, and most important, comfortable and practical. In our page we sell all sorts of shoes from highly recognized and qualified brands, who make this footwear with the highest quality standards. And, of course, we also provide replacement nails to change them when needed.

• Flamenco dance suits

For those who are looking for the full outfit, in Flamencoexport we have also all sorts of flamenco dance suits, beautiful, economic, useful and perfect for any end of the year show. If you want your students to dress like professionals, this can be a really good option. 

• Accesories

To complete the look, the accesories are an important part of it all. They bring colour, brightness and makes the dancers to stand out, be part of a group but at the same time show their own personality.

The pilgrimage of El Rocío of this year, that started yesterday, is a good ocassion to buy some beautiful flamenca dresses or campero suits, and be a part of the festive environment that happens during this days in Huelva. For everyone that is eager to experience what transpires these days during this popular fiesta, there is still time, the most important days are the 4th and 5th of june in the village of Almonte. Of course, you can find in our website a huge assortment of campero suits, dresses, blouses, pants and accesories as well as all of the necessary accesories and to dress traditionally and be part of this event. As basic tips for those who have the intention to go to the pilgrimage is good to remember a few things such as not carry to much weight, use light clothes, don't forget your camera and specially protect yourself from the sun.  

As a little background about this fiesta is always good to remember that the pilgrimage is a religious and very popular celebration in honor of la Virgen del Rocío, also known as the Blanca Paloma in Almonte, Huelva. Its celebrated the weekend of the Pentecost Sunday and includes a walk to the hermitage were her image is located. Usually the fiesta lasts a week even though the big days are the ones of the weekend, moment were the fervour of the parishioner is at its peak.

In this fiesta its celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit and the start of the Church activity, and during these days, the village of Almonte, that normally has around 22.000 residents becomes the third city of Spain in number of people. The pilgrimage starts on Saturday with the Santo Rosario, and ends when the image of the virgin goes back inside the hermitage on Monday morning. El Rocío attracts every year a hundred of fraternities of each of the closest areas like Cádiz, Huelva y Sevilla. The pilgrims cross by foot and some times by boat, the marshlands of the Guadalquivir delta, to arrive to this fiesta, in the limit of the Natural Park of Doñana.

The procession starts when the pilgrims walk the road to the village, dressed with flamenco suits, by foot, by horse or in carriages pulled by donkeys or oxen. Through this week people sing during the day, and at night they camp around a bonfire, and thats when the fiesta starts and everyone sings, dances and shares food and wine. 

One of the most important moments of this fiesta happens at midnight, during Pentecostés Monday's dawn, when starts the Santo Rosario pray. Then, after the parade of the fraternities insignias in front of the hermitage, it happens the so called Jump to the Fence. A massive entry of the devoted inside the Blanca Paloma's temple, to take her out in procession. The virgin, in the street, over the shoulders of those who have had the honour of arriving where she was, is walked around between the parishioners. During the procession the bells doesn't stop to ring as the pilgrims cheer the virgin with rose petals.

This is a week full of passion, devotion, tradition, feelings and amusement. The pilgrimage of el Rocío is one of the most famous and massive ones that exists and constitutes the emblematic expression of the popular religiosity of Andalucía. That way, for those of you that are going to experience it for the fist time just enjoy it and let yourself loose.

The box drum is a musical instrument of afroperuvian origins that has become popular all over the world thanks to flamenco, modern jazz and afro-latin-caribbean music. They is data about the first box drums existing in Peru in the XIX century, but until 2001 it was not recognized as National Cultural Heritage.

Flamenco Drum Box by Manuel Cortés, model Sky Blue

The instrument was born in the central and north peruvian coast. The box drum was created by africans that were brought into the country as slaves during the spanish colonization. This people saw the wooden boxes, used to move goods, as a great percussion instrument and they started using them for their sacred rituals and artistic manifestations. For this same reason, the drums were prohibited by the Catholic Church because they thought the instrument was pagan, and during the Viceroyalty of Peru was also banned to prevent the black people to communicate with each other on the distance. All of the box drums found were burnt.

The first references about the box drum being used as a musical instrument started to appear in 1840. The artist normally sits on top of it and has the drum box in between the legs. This posture helps them feeling the rythm while striking the instrument with the palms or fingertips to create sounds. The most modern version has, also, three extra screws that help to adjust the tone, and,  sometimes in order to enrich the music some small metal objects are put inside the box. In Spain, for example, the flamenco box includes three or four metallic cords to add resonance.

Flamenco Drum Box by Mario Cortés, World Soul

In its originis the peruvian box drum was used in traditional dances from the centre and north of Peru. But slowly its influence expanded to a global stage. The main reason why the box drum arrived to Spain and more specifically to the flamenco community was the famous andalusian musician Paco de Lucía. After a tour in 1977 through Latin America, he decided to take the peruvian drum box back with him and started using it in his shows. Since then and after 25 years, it has become an irreplaceable element in our culture and has become the reason of the birth of a lot of new percussionists in the contemporary flamenco. Such a great integration in the local culture is related to the fact that the box drum is just in between the flamenco claps and the foot stomping. This is also why the now called flamenco or spanish drum box has suffered several variations like the use of cords inside of it, or the change of the way to fix the acoustic lid to the box. 

Flamenco Drum Box by Mario Cortés, model Black&White

Also, as the times moves the box drum has experienced influences in the ways it can be played. As it expanded globally, not just percussionists but also drummers have become close to it and this has allowed the introduction of new tools, like drumsticks, specially metal and plastic brushes, and even a pedal, which transforms it in indirect percussion and makes it almost a pedal bass drum, only the flamenco drum box has the limitation of the initial position. In this sense, in 2008 the italian Ovidio Venturoso created a system with a pedal to play this instrument with the hands and the foot, but without altering the traditional position of the musician.

Another interesting idea has been created by the sevillian artist, Daniel Galiano, who, after arriving to the airport and seeing his drum box broken, invented a foldable one. This invention, easily transportable since it can fit in a suitcase or a backpack, and whose sound doesn't change in quality, is something that was never brought up before.

The next important event in the fiestas calendar is la Feria de Córdoba, which will start this saturday 20th of may and will last until the next saturday, the 27th. As in la Feria de Abril of Sevilla, the inauguration of the celebrations will start with the lightning of the main entrance and the stalls, and also the fireworks. This will happen the 20th at midnight. This year the entrance has been designed with a central squared body of 13,5 metres from which 12 columns with capitals emerge. Over them there will be a scale replica of the Mosque Cathedral, and the construction will be completed with two big doors on the sides as well as several arcs that will create a 6 metres wide porch. Also the entrance will be lightened by 55.000 lámparas de LED. 

On the other side, this year the compound will have 98 stalls and all of them will include a kitchen where they would cook the typical tapas and dishes of the fiesta, and they will also have a permit to open until from 13.00 pm to 1.00 am. Also, the 22nd and 23th of may the Best Stalls of the Feria contest will take place. In it, it will be chosen the stall with the best entrance, the best stall in general and the best one with a decorated backyard.

In relation to the access of the feria, a parking area has been set up on the right side of the Andalucia highway. A total of 69.322 squared metres of land intended for a maximum of 3.200 cars. And for two-wheeled vehicles an area for secure parking has been enabled in the auxiliary route of the street Compositor Rafael Castro. And with respect of the public transport, there would be 12 additional lines to help the access to the event from the different city neighborhoods. Inside the facilities, also, there will be a pneumatic train that will tour through the inside streets of the feria. It'll start on the entrance and will pass by the Guadalquivir street, the Municipal Stall and the main street until getting back to the start point.

Of course, the feria will also have horse rides and carriages from 1.00 till 8.00 pm. During this hours, several pedestrian crossings have been foreseen and the horse rides will have to be run in one direction only and they will only be allowed to pass through the crossing streets. The 20th, also, there will be a Traditional Carriages Exhibition. On the other hand, different events like bullfights and musical concerts will happen during the feria and famous spanish singers like Diego El Cigala, the Aslándticos, David de María, Manu Tenorio, la Década Prodigiosa, los Chunguitos and los Coros Rocieros of the XXII Encuentro Rociero Camino del Arenal will be part of the fiesta. All of this has been organized expecting to entertain the public and offer a variety of different activities for all ages.

Regarding the dressing code, even though la Feria de Abril its still recent, its never bad to remember some useful ideas that can make your life much easier, specially if your are thinking to assist and its your first time:

• Leave the sunglasses at home: Yes, they are a great tool to protect yourself from the sun, but, as a matter of fact, the sun is something that you are not gonna be able to avoid no matter when you go. And since you are gonna be eating, dancing, walking around, and having fun all day the shades can become an annoying tool to keep with you, specially if you do not want to loose them. Also they don't look very good with the traditional flamenca look.
• Never use the shawl hanging from the hip: You can put it the traditional way over the shoulders, crossed or following the lines of your dress necklines, but never hang them on the hip, it doesn't look good.

Flamenca dress collection 2017-2018 de Mari Cruz, model Madruga

• Hold your shawl: When you put it over you, even if its in the right way, make sure to use safety pins and even a big elegant clasp. The last thing we want is for it to move or even fall. 

• Use the flowers on your favor: the hair flowers are accesories that always give a colour touch and happiness to the look. However, one unique flower put over your ear is a very guiri idea, even more if its used with the hair down. The advisable thing to do is to use a bun or pull the hair back and combine different flowers. Nowadays there are infinite possibilites so use them. Some options in that sense are the following: put the flowers in the classic way, on top of the head; or combine different sizes of them all over the hair to give it a modern touch. You can also use the flowers as a crown over symmetric hairdos and on the side of the head with asymmetric ones. If you use ponytails or braids you can also use different flowers of the same size on both sides of the head, or just simply put the flower over a low bun. 

In regards of the kind of flower to use, you can choose whatever you like, carnations, jasmines, roses, etc. The idea is to be original.  

Flamenca flowers with a big peony in purple and salmon tones

• Be careful with the footwear: Don't use flat sandals or flip flos to to go with a flamenca dress. Use a shoe with heels of at least 4 o 5 cm, you can also choose heel wedges so its more comfortable to walk. This are an option pretty popular and useful, since they offer height but don't loose comfortability. Besides you can use then as peep toes if you want something more fresh. If you decide to use sandals they should have a little bit of heel, they will give the dress a more sophisticated air E incluso los zapatos de salón clasicos cerrados son una buena opción para darle un toque elegante. Y en cuanto a colores y decoración, hoy en día los hay de muchos tipos, puedes utilizarlos de un solo color base o con lunares, de charol o de otro tipo de materiales. Elige aquellos que mejor vayan con tu outfit.

• Use the pockets: A lot of the dresses include a hidden pocket in between the fringes. Use it. And try to reduce as much as possible the amount of things you are gonna take with you, mobile phone, money, keys, etc. It will ease your mind.

• Flamenca dresses inspiration: you can get inspiration from the most modern tendencies, but don't forget that in the end what matters is that the dress is comfortable and handy. Keep in mind that you are gonna be out a lot of hours eating, dancing, walking, and if you need to retouch the dress constantly you are gonna end up fed up.

Flamenca dress collection 2017-2018 model Zambra

• If its cool: Avoid as much as possible to use coats, blazers or leather jackets. Find other options that are more delicate like pashminas or thick shawls, they will keep you warm and it will not be seen as though you are disguised. 

• If you have company: It is not neccesary but if you go with someone, you partner should take care of their attire too.