Welcome to Studio Flamenca
Studio Flamenca is a center for flamenco learning in Jerusalem. We offer classes, workshops, and performances.
Last year the studio opened in its new location in the Old Sha’are Zedek Hospital Building on Yaffa Road between the Mahane Yehuda market and the central bus station. It is renovated with a professional dance floor, mirrors, a dressing room, and excellent facilities.
Our mission is to promote the appreciation and understanding of flamenco art form in the wider community through educational and cultural activities. Studio Flamenca was founded by dancer/teacher, Micaela Harari. Harari has trained with leading dance and flamenco artists and teachers in the United States and Spain. She has over two decades of experience in teaching children and adults, performing, choreographing, and lecturing.
Learning Flamenco
“Si tu sueno es bailar, deja de sonar y hazlo”
"If your dream is to dance, stop dreaming and do it."
Flamenco dance is exciting, challenging, and rewarding. Learning flamenco develops musicality, coordination, poise, and self-confidence. At Studio Flamenca there are classes for all ages and levels from absolute beginners to professional training. Class content includes warm-up exercises, “bracero” arm work, “markajes” basic steps, “vueltas” turns, “zapateado” foot work, and choreography. Rhythmic training is an integral part of the class. Personal attention is given to all. Students participate in end-of-the-year performances and community events.
“.El Flamenco grita lo que mi alma calla”
"Flamenco yells what my soul shuts-up."
Flamenco Shows
Studio Flamenca offers performances with professional dancers, singers, and musicians geared towards festivals, theatres, and private events. These are full-length programs of flamenco repertoire resembling the traditional Spanish Flamenco Tablaos, or clubs. Audiences are treated to a high-energy and virtuoso demonstration of pure flamenco art. Costumes, intense rhythms, castanets, shawls, fans, passionate singing, beautiful guitar music all come together for an unforgettable experience.
Workshops and Master Classes
Workshops
Workshops present historical and artistic content along with live dance demonstrations and audience participation. Workshops are suitable for all types of audiences. Workshops can be booked in different languages: Hebrew, English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.
Master Classes
Master classes are for dancers and / or musicians taught by professional flamenco artists. They include learning artistic elements and ensemble work. Appropriate for dance and music academies and performing troupes.
"Hagas lo que hagas, hazlo con pasión."
"Do what you do and do it with passion."
What is Flamenco?
Flamenco is an art form with four elements – song, music, dance, and rhythm.
Flamenco Singing
The first expression of flamenco art was song that developed in the 1800s to express the pain of marginalized people in Andalusia, Southern Spain. Singing is the most important element in flamenco music and determines the structure of all flamenco creations. Flamenco singing is influenced by Islamic, Jewish, Christian and Gypsy musical cultures that co-existed in Spain. Flamenco singers are a creative force in developing and innovating the art.
Flamenco Guitar
The flamenco guitar originated from the Andalusian oud or lute. It was primarily used for accompanying singing and then dancing. In the last century it developed into a solo instrument, and today guitarists compose and perform with their own bands. The role of the guitar in the cuadro (flamenco group) is to support both singing and dancing, playing melody and rhythm at the same time.
Flamenco Dance
Flamenco dance has its origins in gypsy folklore and classical Spanish dance. These influences are reflected in the movement repertoire and presentation: on one hand, improvisation, and body percussion, on the other, elegant and stylized movement. The flamenco dancer is part of the flamenco cuadro, interpreting the music visually and creating rhythmic phrases with foot work, clapping, and castanets. Flamenco choreography requires rhythmic skills and an understanding of the different characteristics of each of the many musical styles in the repertoire. Over the last half century Flamenco dancers have become better trained and much more diverse in their movement language.
Percussion
The flamenco repertoire is divided into rhythmic categories or “compases”. The compas serves to unite all the other elements and keeps the flamenco group moving together as a whole. It therefore needs to be exact and clear. Knowledge of the different rhythms is essential for all flamenco artists. Flamenco rhythm was and is still rooted in basic percussion: hand clapping or “palmas”. With two or more people, palmas can become very elaborate.
The cajon, a wooden box originating in Peru, is a popular percussive instrument that has recently been adapted to the flamenco genre.
