Hola! It’s your friend Naomi ready to give you the inside scoop on the musical Flashdance here in Madrid, Spain. As you well know, last Friday was Valentine’s Day. Since I did not have a valentine, I decided to treat myself to a musical and luckily, my friend was also interested and decided to book a ticket too. We went for dinner before the show, enjoying burgers and milkshakes, followed by a delicious box of chocolates. With happy stomaches, we were ready to get our groove on at Flashdance.

Before February 14th, I did not know anything about Flashdance. I knew it was a movie and had something to do with dancing (as the name indicates) but I had no expectations. I was also unsure of what language it would be in since the original movie and some famous songs were in English. Nonetheless, we waited in the long entrance line and found our classy red theater seats all the way up in the antitheater (pretty much the highest you can be). The lights dimmed, the music came on, and the cast dressed in 80s clothes began to dance.

In case you were like me and do not know the plot of Flashdance, here is a quick summary. A young woman named Alex works at a steel mill during the day and dances at a bar at night. She auditions for a dance school but learns that the man she is with (her boss at the steel mill) tipped the school to get her through the first round of auditions. Despite being mad at him, she continues her audition with a solo performance and gets accepted into the program. There are other characters and side plots but I don’t want to spoil all of it!

As it turned out, the musical was in Spanish but with a few songs in English such as “Maniac,” “I Love Rock and Roll,” and “What a Feeling.” It was fun knowing these songs ahead of time and listening to songs in Spanish I was not familiar with. All of the cast members had incredible voices and spoke clearly, allowing me to understand what was happening. Further, as recently discussed in my “Sex, Lies and Intrigue” class, the components of acting with emotions, costumes and a set are extremely helpful in engaging and guiding the audience. Attending a live performance, I can confirm its usefulness.

Aside from the entertainment of the acting and singing, the dancing was INCREDIBLE! It was a mix of different dance styles but mostly based on ballet technique. I appreciated how the set was rearranged to create different dance formations and various visual images. The choreographer also frequently utilized “waves,” having a dance move repeated by one dancer at a time down a line, guiding my attention during routines. As someone who loves dance shows and dancing, I was thoroughly impressed and engaged the whole time.

Overall, experiencing musical theater in Madrid, Spain was special and I recommend it to other students on the program or anyone thinking of traveling to Spain. The tickets were inexpensive, the show was about two and half hours long, and I was left with fun songs stuck in my head for the rest of the night. I would definitely do it again. Tu amiga, Naomi

Naomi Roter, student blogger primavera 2020