Do you put the wood right on the floor, or is there something between the wood and the floor too?

Try to find out from your teacher what _palo_ (song form) your footwork comes from, and look for a recording of a guitarist playing steady basic rhythm in that palo. If it's soleá or alegrías, you want a recording of basic _escobilla_ rhythm for that palo that goes for at least a few minutes. So far as the movement's concerned, do your best to memorize a few points that your teacher considers critical. They're apt to be mostly postural things in the beginning. It's important, when you're working on basic steps, to try to keep your head still. That's where a lot of the power in good flamenco dance comes from, I think. (Visual power, I mean, though this may also apply to physical floor-shaking power.) Don't try to do anything fast until you've already mastered it at slow tempo. If you have good command of rhythm at low speed, adding speed is relatively easy. Fixing rhythm problems for the first time when you're already moving fast is very hard. And be somewhat suspicious of what I say, because I'm just a guitarist married to a dancer.

el viejo

They're crappy plastic-like tiles, not ceramic or anything. They're all gone now, anyway.