The flamenco museum (Museo del baile Flamenco) had good reviews (Rough Guide said it was ‘innovative and entertaining’) and as flamenco originates from Andalucía and we were in Seville, we paid €10 each to get in and passed a huge pair of flamenco shoes at the entrance. We appeared to be the only people visiting. We entered through door curtains to find a lift up to the first floor as directed and came out into a very dark area where we had to let our eyes become accustomed to the darkness before moving on.
There was a set of interactive displays with headphones but first of all it was difficult to fathom out how to make them work it and there was no sound from my headphones.
There were images of people talking about flamenco and the various styles where you could chose the language. It was fine as we were the only ones in there, but I suspect it could have been difficult to hear if they were all playing different languages at the same time.
The main message I got was (a) it can be danced by all shapes and sizes and (b) some of the dances are not elegant or ladylike.
There were a number of spectacular dresses on show (along with images on a screen) including a red dress worn by a flamenco dancer at the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics.
Then it was down to see some paintings of dancers. It was ok but probably not as good as anticipated.
The museum does offer a show at 7pm and dance classes – maybe with more time, that would have offered better value for money as the entrance fee seemed expensive compared to the Cathedral and Alcazar.
