What a week!

The highlight for all Flamencology students is the Summer workshops and this year was no exception. Once again, our special guest teachers from Spain did not disappoint!  La Cikka and Andrej held interesting and challenging workshops in dance and cajon respectively.

La Cikka is the embodiment of the Sevillian-style of flamenco dance. Earthy, strong, traditional and understated, she was an inspiration to us all. Her choice of choreograpy for the Intemediate workshop was  Alegrias and her selection of Rondeñas fon the Advanced workshop was a pleasant surprise. Everyone who took part thorougly enjoyed her workshops. and cannot wait for her next visit.

Andrej Vujicic is a master of cajon and after taking part in his weekend workshop, we all understood why. He is in "another universe"  with his sense or rhythm and playing technique. His choice of teaching the Sevillanas rhythm for the workshop on the surface seems benign but his interpretation of it made it far more challenging than expected.

One of the highlights of Andrej's cajon workshop is that it tends to attract students of percussion from different backgrounds and this year was no exception.  Two of the attendees were Byron Mark and David Pearson, both of whom are accomlished in percussion in their own right and had made the decision to explore further with cajon. It was a pleasure to meet these two artists and I'm sure Andrej's visit has inpired them both to continue their cajon studies.

A feature of La Cikka and Andrej's visit to Sydney is their collaboration with Sydney-based flamenco group Bandaluzia at Venue 505. Performed to a packed house of flamenco aficionados, the evening was spectacular and inspirational!

Raffi Sekenian, assistant teacher at Flamencology.