Choosing a Seville flamenco night

Three kinds of night

Flamenco lives in more settings than a visitor sees. UNESCO's entry places it in festivals, rituals and church ceremonies as well as private celebrations, and says families, social groups and flamenco clubs hand it on. Visitors to Seville usually meet it in one of three places: a tablao that sells tickets, a festival or theatre stage, or a club or gathering that is not built around tourists. Each gives something different, and only the first is easy to book in advance.

The tablao

Wikipedia defines a tablao as a venue built for flamenco performances and adds that tablao also means the raised wooden floor on which the dancer stamps. Tablaos tend to be decorated in a typically Spanish way, with embroidered shawls, photographs of famous people, bullfighting clothes and capes, and they often serve drinks and sometimes tapas or a full meal. Its article adds that the pricing structure can be confusing, which is why you should read what your ticket option includes.

Where tablaos came from

Wikipedia says tablaos developed during the 1960s across Spain, replacing the cafés cantantes. Those cafés were night bars with flamenco entertainment where, as well as serving drinks, they offered singing, playing and dancing, and Wikipedia says they became the centre of professional flamenco from the middle of the 19th century. It says the first of them opened in Seville. The tablao is therefore a young descendant of a Seville idea: a room where people drink, eat and watch flamenco performed by professionals.

The festival stage

Seville is also home to the flamenco festival La Bienal, which Wikipedia describes as bi-annual, lasting nearly a month and claiming to be the biggest flamenco event worldwide. A festival stage suits a different visitor from a tablao: it is about full productions and well-known names, and tickets, dates and programmes come from the festival's own site. If your trip falls during the festival, it is worth checking. If it does not, a tablao is the evening that is available all year.

Clubs and private gatherings

UNESCO lists flamenco clubs among the groups that keep the art alive, next to families and dynasties of artists. A club evening is a gathering of members and guests around the singer and the guitar, not a ticketed show with a drink option. Visitors who want that kind of night should not expect to book it the way they book a tablao, and should treat any invitation as a courtesy. Good manners count for more there than at a show: arrive on time, stay quiet and listen.

Where El Patio Sevillano fits

El Patio Sevillano is a tablao: the venue says it has a company of dancers, singers and guitarists, performs daily and pairs its show with a drink or a dinner according to the option you choose. It is a company show on a stage, closer to the cabaret tradition than to a back-room gathering, and that suits a first night in the city. You see several dancers, hear several palos and finish with the sevillanas, which is a lot of flamenco for one booking.

Read next: El Patio Sevillano tickets

A short way to choose

Match the setting to the evening you want, and book the one that fits. A tablao asks the least of you and shows you the most of the form in one sitting, while a festival or a club asks for more planning and more patience. If you are not sure, start with a tablao, then add the other settings on a later visit once you know what you like.

• One easy evening in a booked seat: a tablao with a drink or dinner
• Big names and full productions: a festival stage, if your dates match
• A private, member-led night: a flamenco club, by invitation only