Solea por Bulerías is a great palo for beginners to learn because the letra is short, has great places to accentuate and the structure is very clear. Plus, it has that passionate, aggressive energy that so many associate with flamenco.
It’s mid to fast tempo, 12-count compás. Basically, the letra of Soleares with the tempo closer to Bulerías. The aire is aggressive and sharp, which is fun because you can dig in deep with those flamenco feelings! I remember being told by a singer that dancing Solea por Bulerías should be like dancing on shards of glass. Ouch!
COMPAS
It’s a 12 count like Guajiras or Alegrías, so it starts on 12 and ends on 10:
12 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11
12 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
LETRA
The letras are very standard with very little variation. It’s very easy to explain the structure of the letra by comparing it lines of poetry in that the lyrics follow a format of A B A C D C D:
- 1st compás: A – first line of lyric
- 2nd compás: B – “respiro” or “remate” one compás break where there is no singing and the dancer can do something accented
- 3rd compás: A – repeats the first line of lyric
- 4th compás: C – “primer cambio” or first transition
- 5th compás: D – “la caída”, or where the singer “resolves” so the dancer can place an accent or “rematar”
- 6th compás: C- “segundo cambio” or second transition. same lyrics from 4th compás
- 7th compás: D- “la caída”, or where the singer “resolves” so the dancer can place an accent or “rematar”. same lyrics from 5th compás
STRUCTURE OF A DANCE
The structure of Solea por Bulerias is super clean and easy, very standard. Of course there can be all kinds of variables added to it, but the easiest one would be:
- Falseta (melodic guitar solo)
- Entrada/Salida (Singer sings ay, ay! Dancer can come out here)
- Llamada Accented move by dancer to “call” the singer to sing)
- Letra (1st verse)
- Llamada (Call)
- Letra (Verse)
- Falseta (melodic guitar solo)
- Escobilla (footwork)
- Subida and Cierre/Llamada (build up the tempo and close with a break or you can look at it as a call for the singer
- Bulerías (fast verse)
- Estribillo (ending chorus)
EXAMPLE COMPLETE DANCE BREAKDOWN
This is a nice basic number with a nice flow. There are some variations with the singing of the letras and some transitions in the footwork that are worth noting. Enjoy!
- 0:00 Falseta
- 0:33 Singer Salida (Dancer comes out too)
- 0:54 Llamada (Dancer calls the singer to sing letra)
- 1:09 1st Letra. This one is a variation in that it’s two lines, break, and then repeat the two lines so it looks like A-B-C-A-B-D-E-D-E
- 1:59 2nd Letra. Singer just went straight into second letra without a llamada. This one has no break so it looks like A-B-C-D-C-D
- 2:30 Falseta
- 2:51 Llamada
- 3:02 Letra. This one is a nice standard letra A-B-A-C-D-C-D
- 3:37 Subida
- 3:49 Cierre
- 4:05 Escobilla, starting on 1 using the double-time melody of esobilla por Solea
- 4:45 Escobilla- switch to single-time melody of esobilla por Solea
- 5:00 Escobilla- tapao (solo de pie) so the guitar plays time without melody
- 5:50 Llamada
- 6:08 1st Letra of Bulerías
- 6:30 2nd Letra of Bulerías
- 6:48 Estribillo
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