Good Evening All,

My sisters and I will be traveling to Madrid in April - my first trip! One of my sisters has been many times before and she knows everything about everywhere we should go. She's planned our trip and it sounds like a school expidition---museum, museum, park, museum...yada yada yada. I sure would like to show her something different.

I understand from the friend that traveled with her in the past that they never went to a bullfight or a flamenco show.

Here in LA, swing dancing is very popular and many night clubs have "lessons" for the first time swingers. Are there any clubs like that in Madrid? I would love to find someplace to take her where she would have the opportunity to learn a little Flamenco.

Any suggestions?

Hola Binky,

I am a flamenco aficionada and was in Madrid last year. I absolutely enjoyed the show at Casa Patas, which is a so called Tablao (bar with dance shows). They are also running a flamenco cultural center and as I understood from their website, they are offering classes, too. Site at www.casapatas.com (Spanish ans English, although the information about classes is only in Spanish)

The most famous flamenco school in town, if not in Spain, is the Amor de Dios. I have not been there yet (shame!), but they have a good website, too: www.amordedios.com (Spanish).

If you want to take classes, you might have to enroll for a minimum of one week. (Actually, anything less than that does not really make sense).
With not so much time at hand you should try a Sevillanas class, which is flamenco/andalusian folk dance. It is not hard to learn, even in a short time, and a lot of fun.

The best place to buy flamenco shoes and outfits is Menkes (www.menkes.es, they have a Madrid branch near Puerta del Sol) or Yebra (right behind the El Corte Ingles department store near Puerta del Sol.

Enjoy your trip! Ole!

Saludos,

la calma

Looking at the Casa Patas website it appears that performances are late in the evening, around 9 and 10:30. Are there any performances earlier in the evening hours?? Do performances normally last 1.5 hours or so??

Thx for any help.

In Spain, 9 and 10:30 is considered early in the evening. Take a siesta, then enjoy the night!

Gracias!!

Hola!

We just came back from Madrid.
We absolutely DID NOT like Flamenco show at Casa Patas! It was a great waste of time and the money!

Instead of starting at 10:30 p.m. like they should have - they started at 11. We made a reservation but still were seated the way we couldn't see much behind the head in front of us - had to almost stand.

The show was less then 25 minutes long and I didn't like it.

Later in the trip we went to another place and there I loved Flamenco. It was called something like Soleo.

Lena, how much did it cost for the show at Casa Patas? I was interested in seeing a show w/out dinner, but not necessarily there. Is the other place (Soleo) in Madrid? Thanks!

An additional Q regarding Casa Patas ...

I cannot tell from their website in English:

1. Prices
2. Hours of performances

Can someone pls help me with this information?

Appreciate the help.

Hola!

It was 25 euros at Casa Patas without dinner.
It was supposed to start at 10:30 p.m. but like I said in reality it started after 11 p.m. We went on a week day.

Yes. the other place (Soleo?) is in Madrid somewhere in the center.

Another suggestion is to get "Where in Madrid" in your hotel lobby and see other Flamenco suggestions - I only thought about it on the day of our departure - bad idea!

Good luck!

Gracias, Lena!!!