A friend of mine is preparing her move to Sevilla, to further her flamenco education, and she has asked me if I could help her by answering some questions. I'll gladly. In fact the whole time I have been here I have been thinking about what information would have been useful when I came. So now I’m going to put all the information out there for my friend and anyone else who might appreciate it.
Flamenco Studios, Teachers & Classes
I would suggest creating a tentative schedule for yourself before you come. Look at the websites of all the schools and figure out what you can afford, what you want to work on and who you want to work with. Once you get here you will discover other places and more options, and ultimately what happens is you keep trying different classes until you find the ones that suit you the best. Here’s a list of somes schools to look into.
- Studio of Andres Marin http://www.andresmarin.es My teacher Ursula Lopez teaches here. She’s great for technique & I recommend her class. I also hear good things about Andres’ classes.
- Ados Flamenco School with Angel Atienza & Isabel Bayon http://www.flamencoados.com I took Isabel’s classes. Her choreographies are really challenging and she moves quickly but she’s very helpful and friendly.
- Studio of Manuel Betanzos http://www.manuelbetanzos.com This is where Andrés Pena teaches and I hear he’s a great teacher. In fact, this studio always has famous guest teachers.
- Flamenco Center of Sevilla with Esperanza Fernandez & Miguel Vargas http://www.centroflamencodesevilla.com I have heard the cante classes with Esperanza are great. I’m going to try and take one before I leave.
- Studio of Alicia Marquez http://www.aliciamarquez.com One of my favorite teachers in Sevilla teaches here – Ramón Martínez. I highly recommend his classes for both technique and choreographies. Also they have classes for bata de cola for both beginners and advanced students.
- Taller Flamenco http://www.tallerflamenco.com It’s one of the more expensive schools for dance in Sevilla but oddly the Spanish language classes they offer are some of the cheapest.
- Cristina Heeren Foundation http://www.flamencoheeren.com This is the school I attend. You have the option of taking 3 months, 6 months or 9 months of classes. Each trimester is 3 months long and you attend classes from 9-2 mon-fri - 2 classes of choreography and 1 technique class a day, each class lasting an hour and a half. The choreography classes do have a guitarist and singer who accompany the choreography. The teachers vary by trimester but they are all currently working professionals who are often very famous. It’s a real opportunity to study intimately with some of the greatest flamenco professionals of our time. The school can also help people get visas if they aren’t from the European Union. I’m very glad I attended this school although I think singing for dancers, and learning bulerias, is neglected, and that’s unfortunate. So I went to other schools to work on that stuff. The school is easy to enroll in. They have an online form that you fill out and then someone from the school will email you with information. They are very friendly and helpful people running the school.
Apartments & Neighborhoods
There are lots of great inexpensive places to live in Sevilla. It’s a relatively small Big City, and the buses and bicycles make it really easy to move around.
Great areas to live are near Santa Justa Train Station, Nervion Plaza/El Corte Inges, Miraflores, the Macarena and near park Alameda de Hercules. I don’t know anything about living in Triana but it’s supposed to be nice.
I think finding a place to live was the trickiest thing for me. I showed up without having a place because the cousin of a friend of mine had an empty room. But in the future, and what I recommend, is finding a temporary place like a hotel, hostel or tourist apartment, and renting it for a week or two while you look for a place to live. It’s not something you want to rush into. And also you don’t really know where to live yet. Get to know the city a little and see where your classes are, then find a place in the area you like the best. The best way is just to walk around the areas you like and call the phone numbers on the "SE ALQUILA" signs that advertise apartments for rent.
Although there are also websites that help people find apartments for those of you who would prefer to look before you arrive.
AND this is a good website http://www.exploreseville.com/ This site has a section called “Living in Seville” and also one called “Move to Seville”. I found the advice to be really thorough and smart.
Cost of Living
Rent could be from 200-600 Euros depending on what you find.
Everyday I take the bus to school and then back home. One bus ride is 1,20 but if you get a prepaid bus card then the cost goes down to 60 cents each way.
A coffee or beer can run you 1 – 1,20 Euros
Cigarettes, if you smoke, are 3,35-3,55
One tapa is anywhere from 2,20-5 Euro.
A kebab is 4 Euro.
Cell phone! This is where I blew the most money. I can’t stress enough that you should put in the time and do the research to find a company that can give you a contract with an affordable rate. It’s worth it in the long run. I bought a phone that I could only use when I put money into it ahead of time and some weekends, after the shops closed and I couldn’t buy anymore minutes, I had no way of calling anyone. Without a phone you can feel pretty isolated from the world. And the money I put on my phone always depleted super fast. I have the worst rates on my phone. I wish I had purchased a contract for the year with unlimited monthly calls and texts for one monthly price. It would have saved me a lot of money and lonliness. I thought I wouldn’t need my phone so much but I was dead wrong. Here is the list of some of the cell phone providers here: Orange, Movistar, Yoigo, & Vodafone.
-----What else - did I miss anything super important? Let me know if there is anything else I can help with and I will add the info. Sevilla is a great city to live in and I would encourage anyone who loves flamenco to do it - DO IT!
