Cultural Findings

Today, I will talk about 2 different cultural experiences; the bullfight, the national ballet of Spain. Both are very significant and beautiful.

The bullfight. Quite possibly the most famous cultural tradition of Spain that is known outside of Spain. It is a dance between the toro and the matador that ends in the injury or death of one of the participants (almost always the bull). I have never seen anything killed in front of me, so I was quite nervous about the whole situation. When we got to our destination, I was treated to the commanding stadium where the fight would take place. We bought our tickets and made our way to our seats, which were actually quite close to the arena. I sat patiently wondering what the event would be like, when I was brought back to reality by a small band which announced the start of the event. A door opened down in the arena and out ran the most important participant in the fight, the bull. He came charging out, ready to attack anything that moved and he did just that. The crew of the matador stood out there taunting the bull to attack them to show the audience that the bull was indeed a worthy competitor. The bull fell for the taunts and you could clearly see that it was highly agitated. The band announced the next participants in the event. In came men riding blindfolded horses which had some padded armor on them. They made their way over to the bull, who wasted no time in attacking the horse. I was surprised by the calmness of the horse, as it did not seem in the least bit frightened by the large animal trying to impale it. As this happened, the man on the horse wasted no time and drove his pike into the back of the bull. I learned later that this was to hit a certain nerve cluster so that the bull would not have a heart attack. After this was over, the men on horses left and out came the matador and his crew. They proceeded to ram (or attempt to) 6 objects in between the bulls shoulder blades (to make it easier to put the sword through). The matador was then left alone to face the bull himself. The matador, filled to the brim with a near arrogant confidence taunted the bull into making passes at him. The mortal dance between the two continued for a while when all of the sudden, the matador raised his sword and everything fell silent. The air got thick with tenseness and anticipation. Everyone, including me, knew what was about to happen. It was the final confrontation. Silence permeated every inch of the colosseum until finally, the matador let out a yell and lunged with his sword. The bull, not to be outdone, lunged at the matador. La espada was plunged in between the bull´s shoulder blades into his heart and with that, the bull was finished....or that is how it was supposed to go.

Unfortunately, the first matador I saw was a novice. His sword slid off the back and barely went in. Not only that, it was at a very odd angle. The matador then had to get another sword to get back the one that was lodged in the bull´s back. This took him a few tries, as the bull was still pretty livid. After he got his sword back, the matador, at least this is what it looked like to me, poked the bull until it finally died. The crowd was pretty angry and the matador was booed. So needless to say, my first introduction to bullfighting was rather terrible. However, it was made up by following contestants, special notice going to a female matador, or maybe it should be matadora. She handled her bull expertly and each time killed the bull nearly instantly. Her skill made me truly enjoy the spectacle and showed me the skill and form required to do this deadly art.

My next cultural experience in Spain was el Ballet Nacional de España. At this point in the trip, I just wanted to experience as much Spanish culture as I could, not really caring what it was. To tell the truth, I just wanted to go to say I went. Like usual, I had no idea what to expect (this is a common thing among every single post I have made). Anyways, we were nearly late, which put me in a sour mood. Then, when we got into the theater, it was hot and stuffy, which didn´t alleviate any of my sourness. I sat down, just wanting to know what it was all about. The lights finally dimmed and the curtains came up revealing the group of performers. They circled around, each one of them making it to the front as a sort of introduction. Then they broke off and the first steps were danced.

From the first step on, a constant shiver ran up and down my spine. The skill that these people had was apparent in every movement they made. Their hands and feet moved in perfect unison with the music that was being played by the live group of guitarists on stage. It was such perfect movement that you could not tell if the dancers were following the strum of the guitar or if the guitarists played according to the beat of the dancer´s feet. It reminded me of bomba y plena from Puerto Rico where the drummers and dancers move with such harmony, you can not tell who is following who. Along with the guitars, there were singers with handsome, powerful voices that seemed to encourage the dancers and musicians alike to move more furiously.

The act that was especially memorable was with two women completely dressed in black. Back and forth they switched roles, dancing a combination of flamenco and ballet to quiet, ominous music. These two worked so perfectly together that it almost seemed as one lone dancer. However, the final act was no slouch either. One dancer came out with a elegant white dress that stretched on far behind her followed by a dancer sporting a black dress at about half the length. The performance these two put on was very symbolic almost seeming to speak about the balance between light and dark, or in my martial arts brain, yin and yang. They were joined by the rest of the dancers on stage after a while, but this in no way slowed them down. They weaved in and out of each group of dancers, keeping the attention all on them. The whole program seemed to end as soon as it started. I sat in awe after it was over fully taking in what I had just experienced.

This ballet, along with El Escorial, was an experience that had a huge impact on me. It was something so beautiful and powerful that it reminds exactly why I hold Spain with such high regard. I feel honored to have experienced it and I hope it is not the last time I get to see a ballet in Spain.

My next entry will be about things that have given me a renewed pride in my name and of things that remind me of my own culture and blood.