Learning to Dance

How the dance of Sevillanas reminded me of the importance of learning new things

Two weeks ago I was waiting at the bus stop on my way to the office. I heard the distant sound of Sevillanas (the style of music that’s always played at feria) coming from the park in front of me. My eyes caught some twirling in the background. I look up to find an entire class of teenage girls in uniform dancing Sevillanas, seemingly a PE class. That’s right, Sevillanas is such a part of the culture here that it’s even practiced in public schools. And if you want your heart to melt, try seeing a class of toddlers learning Sevillanas.

Local Sevillanos are raised seeing this popular dance year over year. Feria is a 7 day long celebration that starts every day around 1pm and lasts until 4am (some casetas secretly stay open until 6am, but that’s more for the younger crowds). Of course people often stagger the times of day that they spend at feria. Some might come just for the day portion, while others at night.

One piece of Spanish culture that I love is how children are so integrated into adult activities. While feria is meant for adults, having kids won’t prevent adults from attending the week of celebrating. It’s not uncommon to see a group of kids in the corner of a caseta, or even a sleeping infant in a stroller while Sevillanas plays in the background. My friend who has a one-year old sent me a picture at 1am Sunday, her baby was asleep in the stroller in this midst of joyful caseta chaos with music and dancing. Imagine the trajectory year over year, a young sevillano being raised in this world of feria. Social culture is woven into their very being.

I never cease to be awed when a dance floor erupts in feria with people of literally all ages dancing sevillanas. While the dance itself has a basic structure, it’s entertaining to see how each person puts their own spin on the dance. Those who dance it well are sexy. There’s no other way to put it, Sevillanas done well is a sensual dance, despite the two dancers never touching. One of the best parts? The focus is on the woman. It’s more frequent to see two women dancing together than a couple, in part because men don’t know the dance as well. In my sevillanas class this year there were 18 women and 2 men. But those 2 men know what they’re doing! What better way to ligar (flirt) than to know how to dance sevillanas well and to be able to dance with all the women in the caseta.

At it’s core, it’s a four part dance with two people. Each part of the dance gets progressively more difficult. But it’s more than just a dance. It’s a sensual back and forth between two people. Intense eye contact. Passing closely with your partner with each turn, so close but not quite touching. A palpable intimacy as the magnetism between the two partners is felt.

Despite being in Spain for over ten years, Sevillanas has always been rather elusive to me. It’s the official dance of feria. But because of this it’s typically only danced during this one week of every year. And if you’re at a Sevillano wedding then you’ll definitely hear a song or two. But it makes it challenging to learn without the constant repetition.

This year I decided to sign up for classes. Classes started in January and were twice weekly until April, the week before Feria.

As mentioned, the dance has 4 parts to it. It’s usually taught with the steps first, and then later you add in the arms and hand movement. The hand movement is one of the most important parts. The way Sevillana women move their hands with such effortless grace during the dance is something I’ve always envied.

The highlight of the experience learning Sevillanas, surprise surprise, was not actually the finished product of knowing the 4 parts to the dance. The highlight of the classes was remembering what it’s like to learn something from scratch.

I was surprised at how frustrated I would get when certain sequences of the dance were harder for me. We’d practice again, and again but it just wouldn’t click for me. I felt like an awkward, disoriented kid. Especially when we got to the part of adding the steps with the arm and hands movements. It was like my brain couldn’t connect the pieces together.

But, after sitting with the frustration for a few weeks, I thought to myself, why don’t I feel like this more often? Maybe I should put myself in situations where I learn from scratch more often. Maybe I should be in more situations where I know nothing.

This experience incited some long buried memories of my language learning journey from the first year I was here. A direct parallel even. Learning Spanish was a roller coaster of emotions: embarrassed to speak and make a mistake, feeling like I was getting better for a few weeks and then suddenly not understanding the cashier at the grocery store and feeling my progress was all for naught, successfully understanding a conversation happening behind me on the bus and feeling elated, someone making a comment about my accent and wondering if I’d ever sound like a local sevillano.

Going through that language learning roller coaster is one of the most valuable treasures I have. It’s why I believe everyone should learn at least one other language. Going through the experience is challenging and humbling. And there are even some unexpected perks.

While I’m so happy to have finally learned Sevillanas, I’m equally if not more happy to have remembered the importance of doing things we don’t know how to do. Learning new things humbles us. Learning new things reminds us we don’t have it all figured out. It’s like oiling the squeaky parts of us and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. And then somewhere along the learning journey you remember to laugh at yourself, to not take life so seriously. We’re all here to learn and we’re all doing the best we can. What better gift than to be reminded of that?