Thread: Looking for instructional videos on flamenco

Has anyone purchased any of the flamenco dvd's listed on Amazon? I'm looking for the basics, mostly about hand and arm movements. If anyone has any experience or advice in this matter, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Puela Lunaris has done some beautiful flamenco/zambra DVD's with WDNY. They're easy to follow and should give you a good feel for the basics. Plus, she's such a nice workshop teacher if you're ever lucky enough to study with her!

I've been looking at the WDNY ones for a long time.
I got a French language dvd by Maghrebine French bellydancer Myriam Douiou "Danse Arabo-Andalou". She says Arabian-Andalusian dance is not a historical dance form, but a contemporary form of oriental dance infused with flamenco feeling. I find her style in it very appealing - nice flamenco arms (at least to the layperson), nice hip, foot and skirt work. What I would stereotypically judge as hispanic "gitana" style without much knowledge on flamenco dance.

I'm not familiar with the ones on Amazon, but I found this on Flamenco - world.com / La web del flamenco

https://www.flamenco-world.com/tiend...ia-(dvd)/5221/

It covers both hands, arms, posture, and zapateado.

Hope this helps!

Aruna's "Dancer's Arms" DVD has a Flamenco arm routine. Here is a review on Gildedserpent.
Surreyya reviews Aruna's Arms DVD for the Gilded Serpent

I have 3 of Puela Lunaris's DVD's that I am selling (one unopened). I never took Flamenco lessons (none where I live) so I thought I'd try a DVD. Puela is really lovely and clear to understand, but I have a lot of trouble with my rights and lefts and cannot follow too well. You can see my thread in the swap page under "CD's and DVD's for sale".

there are some interesting looking ones on cory's site: Flamenco Dance Videos

There is also this series and looks interesting :
el baile flamenco

I have the ten-DVD set Antigone mentions above. It is quite a comprehensive set. I like that each DVD also comes with a CD that you can practice footwork or palmas along to. Flamenco music is so complex, it really helps to be sure that what I am listening to is indeed a certain style of song. I also like that you can watch the DVD in three parts--either the whole dance performed, the body movements only, or the feet only.

That said, it is really hard. To me this is not a beginner set, I would call it upper-intermediate or advanced. I use it to supplement my live flamenco classes (when I have time to practice, that is, as I do flamenco for fun and just enjoy being a student). So for example a few weeks ago my teacher had us working on tangos, so I watched and tried to practice along to the tangos DVD. I say "tried" because these go really fast, and there is no breakdown whatsoever by the dancer (she is not really acting as an instructor!). In fact, there is no talking by the dancer at all, you really just (try to) follow along. It's great to watch and see differences between styles and dances, good as a supplement to classes, but not so great to learn to as a beginner who wants to learn at home for fun.

I've used all three of Puela Lunaris's dvd's and can heartily recommend them- there aren't any flamenco teachers/classes around here and I haven't the time/cash/inclination to travel any great distance, so a dvd was my only option for poking around with flamenco. Not being an expert I can't say how "authentic" or otherwise her tuition is, but she's a very engaging instructor and all three volumes use the good ol' learn-combinations-string-together-for-choreo thing.
She doesn't do warmup or cooldown, just straight tuition- I like Rachel Brice's "Tribal Bellydance" yoga session as a warmup- so you'd have to find your own.
I like 'em anyway, they're fun, the choreos are nice to perform, the performances are good, the music is downloadable from her website (I've got it in the car at the minute!) and I've had many wet, miserable Saturday afternoons cheered up no end working with them!

Originally Posted by Antigone

There is also this series and looks interesting :
el baile flamenco

WOW!
these look amazing! I have no aspiration of becoming a flamenco dancer - both my knees and feet would probably not work through it ,r:;
but I love the look of it, and would love to get some education on the music... would the 10dvd series be good for watching and learning about the music?

Oooh, just found these on sale on flamencoexport.com!

Learn flamenco Didactic methods Adrian Galia

I don't have them myself but I've heard from other dancers they are good! The ones called "Solo Baile" is a 3 DVD serie going through the dancing, but there are also a 21 DVD serie explaining both rhythms, singing, guitar playing and dancing of almost every palo.

Depends on how serious you want to get into flamenco! It is not an easy style to learn, and if you cannot work with a live guitarist and singer, it is even harder. There are many Flamenco dance instructional DVD out there, and a couple of useful websites are : esflamenco.com, flamencoworld.com and flamenco export.com, and there are probably many more, these are the ones I am familiar with. The instructional series usually contain many discs as there are many "Palos" in flamenco. So which one do you want to learn? Tangos, Alegrias, bulerias, rumbas, tients, seguyirias, etc. You get the picture.
I found the best way to learn flamenco is with a teacher. It is a fascinating dance form, but not easy. Good luck.