💃🏻 What's on in Madrid: May 9
Ft. San Isidro, a record fair and another dance festival.
Madrid | Issue #97
🇪🇸 The Bubble is Spain's #1 English-language newsletter. We offer paid subscriptions and we’d be thrilled to have your support!
Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
It’s Friday again!
If you’re staying in Madrid this weekend, postpone your plans. You can Netflix and (actually) chill some other time.
Starting today, the city is bursting with culture, music, and castizo energy to celebrate San Isidro. From chotis to flamenco and vinyl gems, there’s something happening in every corner of town.
Also on the agenda: the Madrid en Danza festival kicks off its 40th edition with flamenco, raves, and contemporary dance from around the world; the International Vinyl Fair returns with rare records and a guest appearance by the man who photographed the Ramones.
Enjoy!
1. 🎉 San Isidro 2025: Chulapos, Chotis & Lots of Castizo Joy
One of the city’s biggest annual celebrations is back, people!
Madrid is putting on its best traje de luces and polka dots for the its most beloved party: the San Isidro festival, our annual ode to joy, tradition, and slightly chaotic (and inebriated) public dancing.
From May 8 to May 15, the city becomes a hub for music, food, religious rituals, and nostalgic charm to celebrate San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of Madrid and, unofficially, of all things castizo.
It all kicked off yesterday with Real Madrid player Dani Carvajal reading the official pregón from Plaza de la Villa (even though festivities started even earlier) This year’s program fuses nostalgic verbenas with everything from flamenco and zarzuela to indie, electronic, and pop (we can’t think of any other city that could pull of this mashup).
If you’re new in town, there are two things you need to learn about San Isidro:
A chulapo (or chulapa) is a classic Madrid archetype: think sharp vests, flat caps, and flowers behind the ear for the men, and colorful shawls, polka dot dresses, and headscarves for the women.
The chotis is Madrid’s signature dance, performed to the sound of the organillo, where one partner turns on the spot while the other spins around them. It’s quaint, charming, and slightly dizzying. You will see many people dancing the chotis in the streets this weekend.
The Pradera de San Isidro is the party epicenter, where locals and tourists gather for the romería, to drink the “agua del santo” straight from the source, eat rosquillas (both listas and tontas), sip limonada, and proudly show off their chulapo looks.
Events take place across Plaza Mayor, Lavapiés, El Retiro, Las Vistillas, and Matadero, with something for every age, taste, and musical preference. Expect pasacalles with giants and big heads, chotis workshops, fireworks, cañas, live concerts, cocido madrileño, vermú, churros, and the always controversial San Isidro bullfighting fair at Las Ventas.
Let the castizo chaos begin.
🖥️ What: San Isidro 2025
📍 Where: Multiple locations throughout Madrid
📅 When: Through May 15
🎟 Tickets: Free admission
2.💃 Madrid en Danza Turns 40 and It’s Still Breaking the Mold
Is the chotis not for you? Don’t worry, we have other options.
Through June 1, the city hosts the 40th edition of Madrid en Danza, one of Spain’s longest-running and most innovative dance festivals. With 25 performances across Teatros del Canal, private theaters, and cultural centers, this year’s edition is a celebration of the festival’s legacy and its relentless commitment to reinvention.
Curated by Blanca Li, the festival’s artistic director and a famed choreographer and filmmaker, this milestone edition features seven world premieres, seven Spain premieres, and nine regional debuts. The lineup honors Madrid en Danza’s past while flinging open the doors to the future.
To mark four decades of movement, several iconic companies and artists return, including Ultima Vez, Marcat Dance, Osa+Mujika, and Paloma Muñoz. Canadian choreographer Marie Chouinard will revive her celebrated Le Sacre du Printemps and debut a new work: Magnificat, a deep dive into Bach’s baroque soundscape.
The international lineup also brings some of the boldest voices in contemporary dance to Madrid. From France, Ballet Preljocaj explores grief and memory through an evocative piece titled Requiem(s), while Belgian legend Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultima Vez reinterpret Greek mythology in Infamous Offspring, blending dance, cinema, and visual art into a visceral spectacle.
Spain’s own trailblazers are well represented too: Israel Galván, the experimental flamenco genius, unveils El Dorado, a percussive flamenco ritual. Isabel Vázquez and Alberto Velasco premiere Zambra de la buena salvaje, Leonor Leal performs De voz, un cuerpo, and Luz Arcas blends flamenco with contemporary dance in Tierras raras. Other premieres include Eco by Daniel Ramos and Víctor Guadiana, and Abertura by Richard Mascherin, which contemplates collapse and renewal.
Performances are spread across venues like Cuarta Pared, Teatro Pradillo, Teatro de La Abadía, Centro Cultural Paco Rabal, and beyond, once again reminding us why Madrid is a global hub for dance that refuses to stand still.
🖥️ What: Festival Madrid en Danza 2025
📍 Where: Multiple locations around Madrid
📅 When: Through June 1.
🎟 Tickets: Check official website
3.🎭 The Beauty Queen of Leenane: a darkly tender Irish tale lands in Madrid
If you like drama in Spanish, then do not miss this one.
La Reina de la Belleza de Leenane (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) takes the stage at Teatro Reina Victoria with a powerhouse cast.
This haunting play by Martin McDonagh (the acclaimed playwright behind The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) dives into the sharp edges of family, loneliness, and emotional entrapment in a forgotten corner of rural Ireland.
Set in a crumbling house on a remote hillside, the play introduces us to Mag, an elderly and manipulative woman, and Maureen, her emotional forty-something daughter and full-time caretaker.
Their coexistence (which mostly involves routine and dead silences) is disrupted by the arrival of Pato Dooley, a relative who sparks hope, resentment, and long-overdue truths. The plot soon revolves around a chain of emotional confrontations.
This new Spanish adaptation promises 90 minutes of raw, unsettling drama. For those who crave theatre with emotional weight and pitch-black humor, this is one not to miss.
🖥️ What: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
📍 Where: Teatro Reina Victoria, Carrera de San Jerónimo, 24, Madrid.
📅 When: Through June 29
🎟 Tickets start at €20
4.🎵 Crate-diggers, rejoice: Madrid’s ultimate vinyl pilgrimage is back
Are you a fan of 80s electro pop? Maybe some good old Coltrane or a few James Bond scores? For those of you who are fans of physical media, this is like Christmas.
The 26th Feria Internacional del Disco de Madrid spins into town this weekend. What started as a haven for collectors and music nerds has grown into a full-on cultural gathering for anyone who’s ever fallen in love with a good album and still believes in the magic of flipping through physical records.
Expect vinyl, CDs, cassettes, DVDs and Blu-rays across every genre imaginable, from jazz and classic rock to obscure electronica, underground hip-hop, and metal rarities.
Some of the best record stores and dealers from around the world will be setting up shop, and the vibe isn’t just commercial: think album presentations, book signings, roundtables, and a soundtrack of deep cuts echoing through the fairgrounds.
Organizers are promising first editions of legendary rock albums, including rare finds from the U.S., at what they call “excellent prices.” And the global flavor runs deep, with vendors flying in from Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and of course, top Spanish shops bringing their best crates to the capital.
Among the cultural extras: book presentations, interviews, and one VIP guest appearance you won’t want to miss. George DuBose, the legendary photographer behind some of the most iconic images of the Ramones (and other punk greats), will be in the building.
We’ll see you there!
🖥️ What: XXVI International Vinyl Fair
📍 Where: Pabellón de Convenciones (Casa de Campo), Avenida de Portugal s/n
📅 When: May 10 & 11. Doors open at 10 a.m.
🎟 Tickets start at €5.10
5.🚂 Mercado de Motores: Fun Times at the Train Station
Always a good option, the Mercado de Motores is back. The second weekend of every month, the Mercado de Motores market takes over the Madrid Railway Museum (which used to be a train station) to bring you live music (see video above), food trucks, vintage clothing, used vinyls and more.
Over 200 designers and entrepreneurs showcase their products—kind of like a flea market but a whole lot better.
Mercado de Motores has been gathering hundreds of artisans, designers, creators, book vendors, artists, gourmet food producers, and vintage/second-hand specialists for over 10 years.
This market/fair has become a benchmark for sustainable and local trade, providing visibility to entrepreneurs who, for the most part, do not have physical stores. Let’s show them our support, shall we?
🖥️ What: Mercado de Motores
📍 Where: Museo del Ferrocarril. Paseo de las Delicias 61, Madrid.
📅 When: May 10 & 11, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
🎟 Free admission
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
💃🏻 American sailors learn to dance flamenco in Rota (Cádiz). Seriously
🎾 What tennis stars do after retirement
🔔 Wait! Check out our Instagram account
In a new episode of #OutsideTheBubble, we travel to Andalusia to meet Samantha Shaler, author of Stories From Sevilla and a California native who’s been living in southern Spain for over a decade.
If you’re not following us on Instagram yet, you’re missing out. We’re posting exclusive content with our collaborators across Spain, breaking news updates, and pop culture coverage. Click on the post above and come hang with us!
🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor
Secret Kingdoms is your English bookstore in Madrid. It specializes in Spanish history and literature, contemporary and classic novels, books for children and young adults of all ages, history and historical fiction, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, biographies and much more.
Located on Calle de Moratín 7 — a few blocks away from the Prado Museum — and with over 20,000 new and used books, Secret Kingdoms has something for everyone.
Find out more at www.thesecretkingdoms.com
🙏 Once again, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information we’ll be able to offer each week.
We’ll be back next week with more.