I performed some flamenco at a Christmas Party last week (December 2007) held at  MAR I TERRA , a small but perfectly formed restaurant just behind Regent Street in London’s Soho district. I get to dance at a good few Spanish Restaurants in and around the UK, and have to say that this one had the best tapas I have tasted this side of Seville. Each dish was cooked to order on the premises and was fresh and tasty – the tortilla and gambas (prawns) were particularly good, and even my husband (an inveterate vegetable-phobe) loved the espinacas (spinach).

The restaurant is small and on ground level, although the servicios were down a steep flight of stairs. The Valencian manager and other people working there were great – fun and friendly and keen to get us to taste new dishes when we showed an interest in what they were preparing. The wine (a temparanillo) was excellent too.

If you get a chance, you must give this one a try. The food, ambience and company is 100 x better than some of the chains of "Spanish" restaurants that have sprung up over the past few years – Mar I Terra deserves to be packed out every night!

The original Mar I Terra is in Blackfriars. I have not tried this one yet, but intend to do so very soon and would imagine the quality would be just as good.

Enjoy!!

Last weekend I had a great time working with a group of flamenco guitarists taking a series of workshops from Francisco Antonio organised by  the Peña de Londres. They had been studying Solea for a few weeks and were ready to apply their skills and accompany a dancer for the first time. Tony and I took them through the basics of the discussions that dancer and guitarist would normally have at the outset – how many letras (verses); how the entrada (entrance; opening) would lead into the llamada (call) for the singer; where the escobilla (specific footwork section) would be positioned; how to transition into the bulerias and so on. We then went on and all performed solea together – with a very satisfying result!

It made me remember what a minefield it can feel like when you first pluck up courage to take what you have been learning and try to fit in it with other dancers, guitarists and singers without descending into complete chaos. Unless you work together for a while and rehearse regularly to a very specific routine, you will always need to be able to ask the right questions and pick up the right signals (those of you who know me will know how much I hate over-rehearsed “formation flamenco” that follows the same path every time – but more of that on a separate post……)  and perhaps the following tips will help all you rookie guitarists: more…

Here are seven tracks you can practice Flamenco Tangos to on guitar without spending tons of cash on practice CD’s.

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I get a lot of enquiries from people looking for good flamenco classes across the UK and always pass on details when I can.  There seem to be pockets of interest all over the place, which is great – my dream is to learn of an equivalent Morris Dancing Class somewhere in Spain…..

Let me know if you go to or have heard of a good Flamenco class near you – who the teacher is and what its like.

Technorati Tags: flamenco classes, flamenco teachers

For those of you using a flamenco fan as part of your dance choreography, heed the following (taken from a sheet of paper passed to me by a student – I do not know where it came from originally). I am not sure how you could be certain that the right person received your message – nor how many people I have mistakenly agreed to marry in the past:

Fans have been used to convey messages during times when the strict rules of behavious did not permit conversation to take place freely. The first organised fan language appeared in Spain, which consisted of 55 movements to correspond with certain meanings. This was later translated into English but reduced to 33 coded signs: more…

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This uses Jeroen’s FLV Player to call the cine player, and only loads content when the user clicks the image. The video itself shows Sandra La Espuelita hosting a flamenco workshop and demonstration in 2007. The guitarist is Francisco Antonio.