I will be in Madrid next week. I would very much like to see authentic Flamenco dancing. Does any one konw off a good place that has real dancing, not necissarily for tourists only?

Thanks

Uhm, I'm not an expert on flamenco but, unfortunately, many tablaos flamencos in Madrid are for tourists. After all, flamenco origins are in Andalucía, not in Madrid.

A good place I heard of is Las Carboneras . It's one of the newest ones and they are trying hard to be among the best.

Andrés from Walks Of Spain probably knows more about the subject than me. I think he recommends La Soleá at Cava Baja, 34. Can you tell us more about it?

By the way, I found this page with some comments on the flamenco places in Madrid.

As Antonio says, all those flamenco tablaos open to the public are going to be for tourists. Afterall, they're a business and want to make money. The ones that are not open to the public are... well.. NOT OPEN to the PUBLIC. hehehe...

We enjoyed a great (and long/late) night at Café de Chinitas last Christmastime but have also heard very good things about the popular Casa Patas . These two places are wildly popular and always full and the meals are a bit expensive too (at least for us).

When you go and then return, will you please come back here to this/your thread and tell us which one you visited and give us a quick review? Hope so. Thanks!!

Saludos, MadridMan

Casa Patas is definitely a great place to see tear-jerking heart-stirring authentic flamenco. I never ate there though there is a kitchen. If you are a late night crawler there is a great bar called Candela--I think in the Lavapies area of town. They play flamenco non-stop and many dancers, guitarists, and singers shop up after their earlier gigs and hold impromptu flamenco jams into the wee hours. And you won't see nary a guiri in sight!

And is there such a place one could just get a peek, and not stay up so late?

JANTRAVLER, while I could be wrong, I think most of these flamenco tablaos listed above have different show times. I went to the 10:30pm show at Café de Chinitas but I recall both they AND Casa Patas had earlier shows that started at, maybe, 8:00pm. Still, you'll have to pay full price to get in and I think it was about, ohhh.... maybe $30/person at Cafe de Chinitas.

Sometimes they have "amateurs" dancing flamenco in the Plaza Mayor for tips. You might get lucky!

Saludos, MadridMan

thanks very much everybody!

I am on my way to Madrid!

irita,
I can't rcommend any flamenco shows in Madrid, but HERE are a few flamenco pics from my visit to Sevilla in 2000.

Irita I hope you get this message on time.

Casa Patas had excellent flamenco. Show was approx.23 euros and included one drink. Def. worth it! Not at all tourist-quality, although there were tourists (and locals) there. You can order tapas during the show otherwise eat at the restaurant. Warning, calle de Cañizares is a little hard to find, it's dark and if I remember correctly, the sign was a little washed out.

But you MUST go Solea if you love to hear cantaores!!! It's all spontaneous. Musicians/audience sitting together in one room, you never know who's going to belt out a song. And that's free ... just order a drink and tip the musicians (if they pass a plate around, but no obligation). Andrés from Walks of Spain or anyone else, do you remember what street that's on??? Think it's near Cava Baja.

Olé! Que disfrutes!

Churrito

Here is some information about
festival de otoño de la comunidad de Madrid
and "a corazon abierto"
http://www.deflamenco.com/agenda/agenda.jsp?accion=p