Tablao Flamenco La Alborea Granada — Attraction in Granada

What?? I did research on research on research to find an affordable and good flamenco show in Granada. Did I pick the wrong night? This was weird. I don't know how else to describe it.

I somehow booked a ticket for this place even though I accessed the ticket portal through the Casa del Arte Flamenco site. That was fun to figure out upon arrival to the latter. (Spoiler alert: that was sarcasm. It was not fun to figure out)

To their credit, they did seat us even though we were late because of the mix-up, and we had awesome seats.

The singing was so weird. Flat, off-beat, and a lot of forced vibrato. Maybe you're thinking I'm just inexperienced with Flamenco, so how would I know? No. Singing is singing is singing. If the singing doesn't match the music of the guitar or the rhythm of the dance, it's bad. The acoustics of this place also did her no favors, and probably helped enhance how flat the singing really was.

The guitarist was the best part of the show. His fingers were the best dancers in the house, and the way he played the guitar was just beautiful. I would have preferred a show of him playing the guitar over the dancing and singing that went along with it.

I think the female dancer sprinted to work that day. She seemed out of it, more improvised than not, and overall just not well polished as a dancer. Her footwork is undeniably good, but footwork is not all that goes into dancing.

The male dancer was pretty good. There was 0 chemistry with him and the female dancer, and it kind of seemed like he and the singer were making eyes at each other, but whatever. Did I want to notice all of that? No, I wanted to watch Flamenco dancing. But that's what I saw instead.

I had to YouTube flamenco dancing to see if this show was normal or not. I missed out BIG TIME. Flamenco dancing on youtube is so beautiful, so engaging. This show was off by a long shot. The performers talked to each other during the show, the dancing was awkward and too aggressive in the wrong spots, and the singing took away wayyy more than it gave to the performance. Really the only great part was the guitarist. Don't go here - or at least don't go here on a Monday...

I was very impressed with the Flamenco performance in Granada on June 21, 2016 with my wife. There were only four performers in the performance I saw. Singer, guitar player, and male and female dancers. It was a stage that was so pure, solemn and sophisticated. Of course, because Flamenco has evolved steadily, some Flamenco have group dances and a variety of musical instruments. Personally, however, I felt that stage was the most essence. Since then, we have seen the Flamenco performance which is quite popular with the audience in Madrid. To make a comparison. Frankly, I was deeply despondent while I sat in the audience and watched the show. The performances featured drum and violin that were not seen in Granada performances, but it gave me no inspiration. The core guitar performance was buried all the time and there was no presence, and the violin did not suit at all. Besides, the drum sound is so loud all the time. Rather than feeling a nostalgic feeling to the man singing, he was just enjoying it. The same was true of other performers. Flamenco, with a feeling of sadness and slackness, seemed to have nothing but ramen noodles...

Tourist trap, avoid at all costs.

Authentic flamenco shows do not use microphones. It takes away from the authenticity and passion of the performance. The sound quality of the amplifiers were unbearable.

This show also serves drinks at a bar, which is another sign of a tourist trap.

The show allows children under 6 years old, obviously catering to tourists. The authentic shows like the ones in Seville do not allow children. For one, they make noise and distract the performers and audience, and two, the shows can cause hearing damage for the children.

During our show a toddler was crying and the parents allowed them to climb up the stairs near the stage, getting in the way of a performer and distracting the audience with zero repercussions.

If you plan on visiting Seville as part of your trip, go instead to Casa del Flamenco, Casa de la Memoria or any of the top rated venues. They are far better. This was the worst of 4...