Fusion Fandangos: music and dance around the Tarima

Starting this spring, we're organising festive Fandangos preceded by workshops around the Mexican Zapateado dance. At these popular jams, Isra Alonso and a group of professional musicians from all horizons invite everyone to sing, dance and play music around a wooden stage or Tarima. The first will take place on 17 May at the Réveil de la Reine neighbourhood festival in Schaerbeek.

As part of his artistic residency at MetX, our musician Isra Alonso is developing a participatory project based on Fandangos. Inspired by this Mexican festival of Son Jarocho and traditional dance, he is proposing jam sessions, open to other styles of music, in collaboration with venues in various neighbourhoods throughout Brussels.

Before each of these Fusion Fandangos, local residents can take part in a short series of workshops on the traditional Zapateado dance. An integral part of the celebrations and rituals of Mexican popular culture, this dance has become a percussion instrument that complements and enriches traditional music. In the workshops, participants will learn the basic rhythms of the traditional Son Jarocho zapateado and improvisation techniques to transform the body into a musical instrument.