Thread: Flamenco-fusion bellydance in Spain?

Are there any flamenco-fusion bellydancers in Spain, or are flamenco and raqs sharqi usually separate? I found the website of this dancer, but it is all in Spanish:
Flamenco - MYRIAM SOLER

Can somebody recommend any English-speaking fusion dancers in Spain?

I cannot locate any at the moment but I have seen flamenco-fushion on YouTube but where they were I don't know. I hope this was a tiny bit helpful.

Maybe Alba Hayal

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auWvrPqsbLE]YouTube - Alba Hayal, Danza del Vientre at Ahlan wa Sahlan Cairo 2007[/ame]

Alba Hayal - Academia de Danza del Vientre - Mataró, en el Maresme

Fotia-- thanks :) I actually didn't think to check youtube, but I will.

Mathkitty-- also thanks for the clip...Alba Hayal is amazing! I'll check out her weboage.

Hi Shajar, I don't think Alba Hayal generally does flamenco fusion. She answered the Spanish flair of "Msafer ya wahdak" and in my eyes she did this better than anyone I've seen before...
But sure there are music groups in Spain though that have a flamenco guitarist or flamenco musicians that are bringing in Arab elements, so dancers will have to find an answer to this in their dance. Barcelona sure won't be bad to start with, there's Alba Hayal, Munique Neith, a lot of dancers so there will be musicians, too.

In general, oriental dance and flamenco are taught separately and I can't say there are more flamenco-fusion bellydance in Spain than in the rest of the world.
However, there are dancers who have training in both styles and perform fusion pieces.

I have taken classes with Barbara Barretto for three years, she's from Sao Paolo but lives in Sevilla and has a very good knowledge of both flamenco and oriental dance. I can really recommend taking classes with her if you plan to go to Andalucía!

I planned on traveling to Barcelona and Sevilla (among other cities like Madrid and Granada), so I will try to check out some dancers there. My disadvantage is that I have very minimal Spanish skills, so I was hoping to take a class or two with a teacher who speaks English.

Yarah-- does Barbara Barretto have a website? I wasn't able to find one.

Also, how much do teachers usually charge for private lessons in Spain?

Just to inspire you: second runner up in category fusion of Leyla Jouvana's festival is Fériel from France and IMO she is strong on side of the flamenco expression (she won the category raks sharqi):

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrF1-PiF_P8]YouTube - FERIEL ARABO ANDALOU BELLYDANCER OF THE WORLD 2008[/ame]

She's Fériel Rodriguez, so, probably a native Spaniard.

Maybe you can find something here, among other bellydance content:

APRENDE DANZA ORIENTAL - Las Danzas Árabes en Internet : belly dance y danza oriental

Silvia Salamance came over to the Netherlands to teach workshops in flamenco-bellydance. She also did a beautiful flamenco fusion performance in a theatre show.This is her website:Silvia Salamanca

Feriel is amazing! I love seeing the different ways that dancers interpret a mix of flamenco and raqs sharqi.

ANA- Thanks for the website, I'll check it out. I reeeeally should brush up on my Spanish because most of these websites are in Spanish.

Mekyria- Thanks for the suggestion, but I see that Silvia teaches in Texas now, not Spain.