San Isidro is Madrid’s patron saint, and so the annual fiesta in his honor is a big deal.

Thursday evening, as I was lounging in the space between meetings and dinner, I heard music from the street down below. I went to investigate and found this whole dance troupe.

They did a bunch of numbers, and it was neat. They were all people of a certain age, but they still danced very well. The long-fringed shawls, red flowers, and checkered caps and vests were everywhere that night, the Madrileño fiesta uniform.

This couple who just happened to be closest to me were a joy to watch. The lady with her badass shades was obviously having fun. The camera put some color in the man’s cheeks but in reality he looked pretty jaundiced. He danced so smoothly that I wondered if he’d been a pro.

Their final number was fascinating! It’s called the chotis (and is somehow related to the schottische that we still do in US country dance bars). As you see in the short snippet, the man just strikes a pose and stands there, and she spins him around.

I wandered around for a while and saw some more dancers, but none as good as these that magically appeared just outside my window!