Ahlan Wa Sahlan …Welcome to Juwariah…a Master Story Teller, and a woman of many talents, living a life of adventure.

The strait of Gibraltar is the narrow passage between Morocco and Spain.

An air cushion hydrofoil ferry was all I needed to make, more years ago than I care to count, the connection between Morocco and Spain—and more tellingly, between Oriental Dance and Spanish Flamenco.   The connection is more tenable than the ticket one buys to make the crossing. Still, seeing is believing.

The day after we arrived in Cadiz was a bank holiday. The same people who had sold us a postcard from a kiosk, a T shirt from a boutique, or who had served us a dish of Ceviche with bread at a street table did the unexpected: they walked out in the middle of the street and started dancing.

Flamenco in the streets.  Everyone was a bit more talented than I had expected (ever in my wildest dreams)  Sweet, hard working matrons of the day before were snapping their fingers, clacking their  castanets, and pounding around the pavement in high heels with  equally invigorated spouses—or whichever male neighbor decided to spring forward to partner them. Not that they couldn’t dance—and very well, thank you—alone. Here is a taste of Spanish Street Dancing.

I thought, “How very Spanish!”   I also thought here was living proof of Moorish Spain’s heritage—in addition to all those ancient Muslim castles so amazing the French refer to them in the expression “Don’t go building castles in Spain!” (In English, we say, “Don’t go building castles in the air!”) Read the rest of this entry »