Outdoor-loving flamenco aficionados - or indeed people who just happen to be visiting the city - will be happy to hear that
the Bienal de Flamenco, which takes place until the end of this month, has a wide programme of free events
en la calle this year.
Part of its "Una Ciudad Para La Flamenco" programme, the
espectaculos include performance in the
Jardines del Guadalquivir on the Isla Cartuja (this Saturday, 22 September, at 1pm), as well as an afternoon guided flamenco-themed tour of the Parque Maria Luisa (this Sunday, 23 September, at 12 midday) organised by the Asociacion de Artistas Flamenco. If you don't know the park well, the Bienal website has an excellent map showing all the nine stops.
Talks and live performances will take place in various locations including Plaza de España, where local forms of
baile, cante y toque (dance, song and guitar) from the provinces of Seville, Cadiz and Malaga, will be performed in their own tiled balconies.
Lunch - paella for 50 - is laid on next to the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares, where there will also be flamenco dresses and accessories for sale.
If you have children, the place to be is the Jardin de los Leones (next to the mini-mountain and waterfall) at 4.30pm. There's a
taller de flamenco para niños, where they can learn the basic rhythms of the different
palos of flamenco.
The final stop is in a glorieta near the Avenida de Palmeras, at 5.45pm.
Other locations for performances include the Casa de la Provincia (Tuesday 25 September), Plaza del Salvador (Thursday 27 September, featuring New York tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith), and the grand finale: a flashmob in Plaza Nueva on Saturday 29 September. This tango-based dance will also be performed simultaneously in Rome, Milan, Budapest and Lubljana. The moves to learn are up on Youtube now - see the Bienal page for the link.
If you're in Seville this September, and you're even remotely interested in flamenco, then there's no excuse not to see one of these free performances. A warm afternoon, the toc-toc of heel on ground, the snap of fingers, the swish of a dress in the sunlight...
