Hello e'ry'body :D
I moved my blog to Blogspot, which allows comments on the entries, unlike tumblr.
Same thing, except in a more 'blog' aspect ;) !
I'll be updating with the last 3 bullfights I have been to (St Martin de Crau, Palavas x 2) soon, I just need to finish my University year first :)
Also, next week is the Feria in Nîmes, which means that I'll probably go to 8 out of the 10 programmed fights. We'll see, where I am on a budget level :)
lundi 14 mai 2012
Arles, 2012
Arles, 6th of April of 2012Initially, I wasn’t supposed to go to this fight. I was supposed to have class from 4 pm to 7 pm, and since the fight was scheduled to startat 5:30 pm, I didn’t really hope to be able to go, but things changed in my University schedule, and it turned out I was free all day, so we booked tickets 5 days before the fight.
6 Domingo Hernandez.
Juan José Padilla (2 ears & 2 ears) ; Juan Bautista (1 ear & 2 ears) ; Sebastien Castella (2 ears & 2 ears)
I was scared to see this figh. Because Juan José Padilla only has one eye. I suppose it’s what scared me the most about it, I was apprehensive about it. When the paseo started - beginning promenade - I got goosebumps. It’s Padilla’s first fight in France, and the first time this year I see Juan Bautista and Sebastien Castella. The standing ovation they got once the paseo was over just sent thrills down my spine. At first, it was only for Padilla, but after he had saluted the crowd, he asked Bautista and Castella to join him, and they were applauded too.
I find it amazing that Padilla has come back after being so badly injured - he lost one eye, and has facial paralysis. I mean, many of us wouldn’t have healed that quick from such an injury - 6 months ! - and surely, I wouldn’t have gone back into the sport. At all. But he did. And boy, he did well. Sure, the first fight was brilliant, it was well done, and his banderillas were amazing. He got two ears for it, but with my mother we agreed, it should have been one and a half, but he got two because it was the first fight of the season and because it was his comeback to France after the ghoring.
But damn, if he raised the level from the first bull, Bautista and Castella managed to keep up with that level! It’s seldom I see a bullfight which takes so many ears - 11 as a total, and that’s amazing! I had goosebumps a few times during the fight, and after seeing 60+ fights, that’s telling something! :o
Though, something managed to bring the thing a little bit down, was the fact that when Bautista did his Vuelta of honour (or however you say it in English), I asked for one of the two ears he had gotten. He recognized me - long story - and he threw it at me, looking at me and smiling at me. Except the ear fell a little bit before me, and some man took it and when he went to give it further to the one he thought Bautista had sent the ear to, he gave it to a kid. (Boy, it sounds selfish that way, but yesterday it was like the whole world had ended for me. Because, it’s kind of like if yor favourite football player/Soccer player/tennisman/wrestler/whatever hands you his shirt, you know it’s for you, he knows it’s for you, but when you’re about 5 cm from it, somebody snatches it out of your reach.. How’d you fell about it ?)
But, during his second fight, when the first tercio - third - with the picadors was over, the crowd began to scream ‘Maestro’, asking Bautista to do the Banderillas’ tercio himself. He doesn’t usually do it, and lets his banderilleros do the job for him, but I joined the crowd’s wish and yelled MAESTRO the loudest I can. I think he heard me. Some lady behind me said to her neighbour ‘That’s the way it should be done !’ and I have no idea wether he had decided it before or not, but he told his banderilleros to go back into the callejon (behind the red planks), and they handed him the banderillas. I always like seeing him doing it, because he’s actually really good at it.
The whole fight was just one big happy dream. We went out early with my mother to see them come out of the bullring a hombros - on the shoulders of someone else - and we saw them getting into their trucks.
Damn, what a way to kick-start the season ?!
11 ears, that is just amazing. Fucking amazing.
Saintes Maries de la Mer, 24th of March of 2012.Though not the real first time I saw a Festival Taurin this year (for the revelation of the Carteles in Palavas a few days before), it was the first time I saw real fighters enjoy the first sun of Spring.
5 Novillos, Juan Pedro Domecq.
El Fundi (1 ear) ; Matias Tejela (2 ears) ; Daniel Luque (2 ears) ; Thomas Dufau (Saluts) ; Juan Leal (1 ear).
The Saintes Maries de la Mer are a little town next to the sea, in the heart of the Camargue area. When there is complete silence in the arenas, you can hear the sea lick the shore with it’s delicate tongue. The seagulls are always guests and ready to share their voice with people. The arenas were half full, but that didn’t change the fact that the few tourists which had dared purchase a ticket enjoyed the fight as much as us usual suspects did.
El Fundi is one of the bad boys. One of the old school fighters, if I should say so. I’ve seen him fight before, in Beaucaire, in 2009, in a Mano a Mano with Sergio Aguilar with Victorino Martin bulls. He didn’t impress me much that day - but it had been a boring bullfight that day. I liked the fight, he was smiling and having fun. He cut one ear after a smooth kill :)
Matias Tejela is one of my favourite bullfighters. I’ve seen him a fair number of times (the first time I saw him, he was ghored by the bull, but I’ve seen him since, a total of 6 times, and got his autograph and picture taken with him as well). His fight was really good as well, I liked it very much. It seemed as if the bull was going to be a pain, but it turned out Matias managed to condense his adversary in his cape, and after a good kill, he got two ears.
Daniel Luque is one hell of a cute fighter. The first time I saw him, was the time he invented the Luquina, in Nîmes, in 2009. He’s only one month younger than my elder sister, so, we often joke with my parents about how I should try and flirt with him - but since my Spanish level sucks, it’s going to be hard. That day, he fought really well : for his young age, he shows really good skill with both the Capote de Brega (the pink cape) and with the Muleta (the red cape). He’s really enjoyable and suave to watch fight. He got two trophies after a good kill.
Thomas Dufau is one young French man I don’t really know. I saw him fight last September in Nîmes with José Tomas and Javier Conde, but that doesn’t strike me as a hard memory. It was nice to see him in the Saintes Maries, though, because a lot of people say that he’s got a bright future. I don’t disagree. It was just a shame that the entire faena went to waste with a pinchazo and some failures at the descabello, he had earnt an ear for that fight. (Faena = name of the ‘fight’ with the red cape ; pinchazo = when the sword (estoque) doesn’t go into the pull but hits a bone on its back at the moment of the death ; descabello = special sword they use when the death hit (estocada) isn’t successful to cut the medulla oblongata, which is the part of the brain which links the body and the brain together, so once you cut that part, the bull is dead, completely dead and utterly dead).
Juan Leal is a young man I don’t know at all. I’ve never seen him fight before, and to see his face today was a good thing. Quite impressive, he’s nice to see fight :) I like his style, and I’ll probably keep an eye out for him in the coming carteles in the different bullfight cities we’re going to. He cut one ear that day :)
After the fight, me and my mother left our seats to go out back, behind the arenas and try to catch the fighters while they were going back into their cars/vans. We managed to get close to Daniel Luque, and with my mother having a pen in her pocket, we also managed to get and autograph each from the lovely younnster.
So, all in all, a good season start, right ? :)
Why the girl with the orange tights?
Mainly because I own a rather big collection of leggings and tights,
and the ones I have been seen with mostly at bullfights are my orange
tights.
I remember one time, last year, on the 6th of March of 2011, where I wore my orange tights. It was the first real day of Spring time, and we decided to go to Rodilhan to see a Festival Taurin with Marc Serrano, Marco Leal and Cayetano Ortiz. It’s a really small arena in Rodilhan, and I think we must’ve been about 200/250 people there.
It was a little rally for the “La Clé” organisation, for charity. This organisation does things for heavily sick children, and one of their godfathers is Marc Serrano, and he had promised to do something in order to raise some money for the charity.
We went there, and didn’t expect much. It was a normal little Festival, in a small crowd. It was nice.
They fought against Novillos, which are 3 year old bulls, and who are not as heavy as the normal Toros Bravos they use in your regular bullfight (those bulls have to be at least 4 years old in order to fight).
Marc Serrano cut one ear of his Patrick Laugier bull, and, for Marco Leal, things got different.
Things weren’t supposed to be magnificent, it was just supposed to be this cosy nice festival, the first one, to kick off the season. Marco Leal was granted the Grace of the Bull - the Indulto. That happens on rare occasions, where the bull shows courage, nobility and strength during the fight. It means, that he didn’t kill the bull, and that it walked out of the bullring alive. And, with the honours, because when a bull receives the Indulto, it becomes a semental, which is one of the reproduction males of the ganaderia - the breeding farm they came from.
Now, you probably wonder what the Orange has to do with this nice and little story. The President of the Fight has 5 handkerchiefs he can use to communicate with during the fight - white, green, blue, orange and red. The color of the handkerchief which signifies the Indulto is the Orange one. So, I thought it was a sign that I was wearing the Orange tights and that this bull was saved by its strength.
Cayetano Ortiz cut the 2 ears from his bull.
But, since that day, I’ve always been smiling whenever I pulled my orange tights on. Because they have a certain meaning, that came true on that special day, one year ago.
That’s why I chose to call this blog The Girl With the Orange Tights.
I remember one time, last year, on the 6th of March of 2011, where I wore my orange tights. It was the first real day of Spring time, and we decided to go to Rodilhan to see a Festival Taurin with Marc Serrano, Marco Leal and Cayetano Ortiz. It’s a really small arena in Rodilhan, and I think we must’ve been about 200/250 people there.
It was a little rally for the “La Clé” organisation, for charity. This organisation does things for heavily sick children, and one of their godfathers is Marc Serrano, and he had promised to do something in order to raise some money for the charity.
We went there, and didn’t expect much. It was a normal little Festival, in a small crowd. It was nice.
They fought against Novillos, which are 3 year old bulls, and who are not as heavy as the normal Toros Bravos they use in your regular bullfight (those bulls have to be at least 4 years old in order to fight).
Marc Serrano cut one ear of his Patrick Laugier bull, and, for Marco Leal, things got different.
Things weren’t supposed to be magnificent, it was just supposed to be this cosy nice festival, the first one, to kick off the season. Marco Leal was granted the Grace of the Bull - the Indulto. That happens on rare occasions, where the bull shows courage, nobility and strength during the fight. It means, that he didn’t kill the bull, and that it walked out of the bullring alive. And, with the honours, because when a bull receives the Indulto, it becomes a semental, which is one of the reproduction males of the ganaderia - the breeding farm they came from.
Now, you probably wonder what the Orange has to do with this nice and little story. The President of the Fight has 5 handkerchiefs he can use to communicate with during the fight - white, green, blue, orange and red. The color of the handkerchief which signifies the Indulto is the Orange one. So, I thought it was a sign that I was wearing the Orange tights and that this bull was saved by its strength.
Cayetano Ortiz cut the 2 ears from his bull.
But, since that day, I’ve always been smiling whenever I pulled my orange tights on. Because they have a certain meaning, that came true on that special day, one year ago.
That’s why I chose to call this blog The Girl With the Orange Tights.
Hello Everybody!
After taking a long time to think about this, I’ve finally decided to make this blog, as I am a little bit tired of seeing the same comments all the time about bullfights in the newspapers and the articles online.
I am your regular 19 year old girl from Southern France, studying applied arts in University. I have been going regularly to bullfights for 5 years, but the first one I saw, ever, was in Nîmes and on the 16th of September of 2001, with bullfightersVictor Mendes, Stéphane Fernandez Meca, and Antonio Ferrera. I was 8 years old at the time, and the only real memory I have from the fight is the fact that my sister’s straw hat was blown off by the wind and that we had to get it back - so, not really much about the fight itself.
I discovered bullfights again via a television show that Canal + (the French one) made during the summer of 2007, and they showed some parts of the differents ferias around the South of France, and one night they showed a special documentary about Sebastien Castella, a young French bullfighter. I thought he was cute, and with my family we looked into the different possibilities : why not try to go to a bullfight and see him ? We studied the upcoming ferias, found out he was going to be in Béziers on the 12th of August of the same year, so we booked tickets and went. That day, it was a Mano a Mano between him and César Rincon. Castella cut one ear, two ears, and then the two ears and a tale - being your almost first bullfight and seeing that, it suddenly lights a spark that you can’t tame.
It was decided, then, that we should go see him again, this time in Nîmes, since Nîmes is the biggest bullfighting city in our part of Southern France - let’s just say I live directly in between Béziers and Arles. That day, on the 16th of September 2007, we were supposed to see Denis Loré - who did his despedida, meaning his farewell to the sport - José Tomas and Sebastien Castella, but we found out that he had been injured a few days prior to the fight and been replaced with Joselito Adame, a young mexican bullfighter. At that point of time, we didn’t really know who José Tomas was or what he represented. Denis Loré cut an ear from each of his bulls, José Tomas cut two and one, and Joselito Adame cut two and two.
It doesn’t take long before we really begin to like bullfights, there is so much about it.
We bought books, DVD’s, discovered all the websites on the internet, and since Nîmes is more or less the last real Feria in France of the season, we had an entire winter break to find out what we wanted to do next year.
All I need to say, is that ever since those two fights, I have seen 67 bullfights (including Festivals & other celebrations of bulls). 3 in 2007, 9 in 2008, 24 in 2009, 16 in 2010, 13 in 2011.. As for 2012, I’ve seen two already. And the count has just begun.
I am your regular 19 year old girl from Southern France, studying applied arts in University. I have been going regularly to bullfights for 5 years, but the first one I saw, ever, was in Nîmes and on the 16th of September of 2001, with bullfightersVictor Mendes, Stéphane Fernandez Meca, and Antonio Ferrera. I was 8 years old at the time, and the only real memory I have from the fight is the fact that my sister’s straw hat was blown off by the wind and that we had to get it back - so, not really much about the fight itself.
I discovered bullfights again via a television show that Canal + (the French one) made during the summer of 2007, and they showed some parts of the differents ferias around the South of France, and one night they showed a special documentary about Sebastien Castella, a young French bullfighter. I thought he was cute, and with my family we looked into the different possibilities : why not try to go to a bullfight and see him ? We studied the upcoming ferias, found out he was going to be in Béziers on the 12th of August of the same year, so we booked tickets and went. That day, it was a Mano a Mano between him and César Rincon. Castella cut one ear, two ears, and then the two ears and a tale - being your almost first bullfight and seeing that, it suddenly lights a spark that you can’t tame.
It was decided, then, that we should go see him again, this time in Nîmes, since Nîmes is the biggest bullfighting city in our part of Southern France - let’s just say I live directly in between Béziers and Arles. That day, on the 16th of September 2007, we were supposed to see Denis Loré - who did his despedida, meaning his farewell to the sport - José Tomas and Sebastien Castella, but we found out that he had been injured a few days prior to the fight and been replaced with Joselito Adame, a young mexican bullfighter. At that point of time, we didn’t really know who José Tomas was or what he represented. Denis Loré cut an ear from each of his bulls, José Tomas cut two and one, and Joselito Adame cut two and two.
It doesn’t take long before we really begin to like bullfights, there is so much about it.
We bought books, DVD’s, discovered all the websites on the internet, and since Nîmes is more or less the last real Feria in France of the season, we had an entire winter break to find out what we wanted to do next year.
All I need to say, is that ever since those two fights, I have seen 67 bullfights (including Festivals & other celebrations of bulls). 3 in 2007, 9 in 2008, 24 in 2009, 16 in 2010, 13 in 2011.. As for 2012, I’ve seen two already. And the count has just begun.
7th of April, 2012.
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