Don Quijote is a prestigious and well-known organization dedicated to the teaching of Spanish Abroad. Over 125.000 students have learned, lived and enjoyed a full Spanish immersion experience in our Spain and Latin American destinations since 1986.
Text 2
Text 3
Text 2
Text 3
enforex_pages_landing_block_e99ca946-0852-4652-85f3-fdc37dbd4029
The company was founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega, a modest Galician businessman who decided to expand his small factory in Arteixo by opening a store in La Coruña. Zara would quickly go on to become a leader in Spanish fashion for young people and the company has experienced continuous growth ever since.
Zara began its expansion within the Spanish region of Galicia, covering the cities of Vigo, Lugo, Santiago and Ourense. This first major spurt of growth all occurred during the company's first 5 years existence.
ZARA in Spain
By the early 1980s, the company began spreading beyond the borders of Galicia to the rest of Spain. In 1986, the brand had opened clothing stores in most of Spain's major cities including Valladolid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Madrid, Bilbao and Malaga.
Zara currently has 335 clothing stores distributed throughout Spain.
ZARA around the world
In 1988, the company set its eyes on the international market. It had already experienced success among the youth in the neighboring country of Portugal. Portuguese young people would cross the border into Spain to shop in the Zara stores located in Vigo and La Coruña. Zara decided to open its first international stores in Porto, Portugal.
After finding great success in Portugal, Zara decided to take the next step towards establishing itself as an international fashion phenomenon. They decided to cross the Atlantic and open a store in New York, perhaps conscious of the popular notion that if you can make there, you can make it anywhere. The next year, another store was opened in Paris. Once the brand had firmly established itself in these fashion capitals, Zara had truly become an iconic representation of Spanish fashion.
Zara began to expand rapidly in the 1990s. Throughout the world there are currently (as of 2013) 1,763 stores.
Zara is the main company under the corporation Inditex, which owns other brands such as Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, and Oysho. Although these are all textile brands in the fashion industry, they are aimed at different types of costumers.
During the first semester of 2011, Inditex grew a stunning 12%, despite a global recession, with sales of over 6.2 billion Euros.
enforex_pages_landing_block_c08c9322-223a-419d-9b8b-a6c8f90d8057
Spanish music is world famous, especially flamenco, an art that mixes music and dance the originated in southern Spain. Flamenco has evolved over time and transformed to incorporate modern music sounds from rock, pop and blues. Some famous Spanish flamenco artists include Raimundo Amador, Ketama and Rosario Flores among others.
Spanish music is not only represented by flamenco Spanish artists such as Montserrat Cabellé Opera, Placido Domingo, José Carrera and the late Alfredo Kraus have also greatly impacted the classical music genre and are internationally acclaimed.
What about modern Spanish music? There are plenty of popular Spanish songs and international Spanish artists like Joaquin Sabina, David Bisbal, Luz Casal, Alejandro Sanz and Julio Iglesias that fill the radio with Latin rhythms and Spanish pop music. Even Spanish hip hop has found its place in the music industry with artists like La Mala Rodríguez.
Learn more about Spanish music and dance and meet some of Spain's most famous performers.
enforex_pages_landing_block_208354f4-7f68-461e-9737-f1157e4eb2aa
First there were the legendary Tartessos, and later, nine centuries of Muslim history in the Iberian Peninsula. Neither passed without leaving an imprint on Andalusian culture, and both influenced flamenco, directly and indirectly. The earliest mention of flamenco in literature is in Las Cartas Marruecas of Cadalso, in 1774.
During its Golden Age (1869-1910), flamenco developed into its definitive form in the epoch´s numerous music cafés (cafés cantantes). Flamenco´s most intense form, cante jondo, expressing deep feelings, dates from this period. And in the cafés cantantes, the art of flamenco dance rose to new heights as the dancers became the major attraction.
Cante Jondo
The role of the guitar reached its peak during the café cantante years, as well, with the guitar developing into an essential part of the flamenco art form. From 1910 to 1955 flamenco singing was marked by the ópera flamenca, with an easier kind of music such as fandangos and cantes de ida y vuelta-the latter clearly showing South American influences. From 1915 onwards flamenco shows were organized and performed all over the world. However, not everyone was happy with that development and in 1922 a group of intellectuals, among them Manuel de Falla, organized a contest in Granada to promote ""authentic"" cante jondo.
Modern day flamenco frequently shows influences of other kinds of music, such as jazz, salsa, bossa nova, etc. And flamenco dance has changed, with female dancers often showcasing their temperament more than their artistry.
Flamenco guitar, originally just a backdrop for the dancing and singing, is now recognized as an art form in its own right. The virtuoso Paco de Lucia is one of most influential pioneers of flamenco guitar. Although mass media has brought Flamenco to the world stage, at its heart it has always been and will always be an intimate form of music. You have not heard authentic flamenco if you have not been in a juerga, with a small group of friends, at midnight somewhere in the south of Spain, where there is nothing around but the voice, the guitar and the body of a dancer moving in the moonlight.
enforex_pages_landing_block_d580a534-fec0-4153-b3df-ef3df6bb8b4e
The increase of Spanish actors and Spanish actresses in English speaking films (like Paz Vega in Spanglish) as well as movies filmed or set in Spain have had a strong influence on Spanish film. This exposure has brought Spanish directors, Spanish actors and Spanish actresses international fame while propelling Spanish cinema to a global level and furthering driving the expansion of the Spanish language.
Spanish cinema is a growing industry. This is demonstrated each year by the number of Spanish films which are presented in famous international film festivals or nominated for Hollywood prizes like the Golden Globes and Oscars or the Spanish Goya awards, in which the winners receive a small bronze bust statue of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya.
enforex_pages_landing_block_f9d1f330-5bee-4880-ba53-1075f43bda89
Spanish fashion is a success all over the world. Spain is home to famous fashion designers, prestigious international fashion labels and some of the most sought after top models who have walked the catwalk in cities like Milan, London, New York and Paris.
The Spanish fashion world, as frivolous as it may seem, is an industry worth billions that not only enables Spanish companies to make money but also serves to globally promote not only Spanish fashion but the country itself. In turn, this international exposure serves to further spread the use of the Spanish language.
Madrid Fashion Week and the Gaudi Catwalk in Barcelona are both events that hold an important place in the global fashion scene. During these festivals Spanish fashion designers showcase their work by demonstrating the best Spanish fashion trends. These fashion shows compare to those of Paris and Milan.
enforex_pages_landing_block_2414006e-83ad-4e75-9809-6f006f7dfc72
Bulls also played an important role in the religious ceremonies of the Iberian tribes living in Spain in prehistoric times. The origins of the plaza de toros (bullring) are probably not the Roman amphitheatres but rather the Celtic-Iberian temples where those ceremonies were held. Near Numancia in the province of Soria one of them has survived, and it is supposed that bulls were sacrificed to the gods there.
While religious bull cults go back to Iberians, it was Greek and Roman influences that converted it into a spectacle. During the Middle Ages it was a diversion for the aristocracy to torear on horseback-a style known as suerte de cañas.
In the 18th century this tradition was more or less abandoned and the poorer population invented bullfighting on foot. Francisco Romero was a key figure in laying down the rules for the new sport.
What a Corrida is about
If you are not familiar with corridas de toros (bullfights), here is what happens in order, so that you can decide by yourself whether you want to see one when you are in Spain. A corrida starts with the paseillo, when everybody involved in the bullfight enters the ring and presents themselves to the president and public.
Two alguacilillos on horseback look up to the president's box and symbolically ask for the keys to the puerta de los toriles. Behind that door the bulls are waiting. When the door opens and the first bull enters the spectacle starts for real. It consists of three parts, called tercios (""thirds""), the separation of which is signalled with a bugle call. There are three toreros-bullfighters (the better-known word ""toreador"" is actually never used in modern Spanish)-in each corrida, each being allotted two bulls. In the first tercio the bullfighter uses the capote, a rather large cape that is a pinkish-mauve colour on one side and yellow on the other.
Now the two picadors enter on horseback, armed with a sort of lance. The second tercio is la suerte de banderillas. Three banderilleros must stick a pair of banderillas into the charging bull's back. In the final suerte suprema the bullfighter uses the muleta, a small red cloth draped from a stick. He has to show his mastery to dominate the bull, and to establish an artistic symbiosis between man and beast. The corrida ends with the torero using his sword to kill the bull.
enforex_pages_landing_block_53c890f8-05a5-49fe-8cf4-ef32a3aa10bb
Authors use language as a tool to create art, and when we study a language, it is inevitable we come across the important works of arts that have molded the language. The Spanish language would not be what it is today if Cervantes hadn't written Don Quijote de la Mancha, as this novel has contributed a large amount of proverbs and sayings which are still used in everyday language today!
This section will allow you to get to know some Spanish and Latin American writers that have made an impact in the Spanish speaking world. Enjoy!
Always active
