Yeah, yeah, I know these are poses but there was noone else in the studio to take pics during our practice session. They're good pics of Marsha though. Enjoy!

March 8, 2006 11:59am

When we took a short break from rehearsal, Marsha was telling about stuff she's been learning in her Bharatanatyam classes--yeah, Marsha's one of those multi-talented types I envy: she's taking advantage of the energy of her youth and learning as much as she can in several artistic disciplines.

March 8, 2006 12:00pm

The hand movements as done by females in flamenco are exactly like the ones done in Bharatanatyam and there's even a name for it--don't ask me cuz I don't remember my Sanskrit too well. :-) There are names for everything in this form of classical Indian dance from the eye gazes to the various positions of the feet. Kinda reminds me of ballet-speak except instead of flowery sounding words like battement glisse en croix avec pom fritte you get the melodic sing-song syllables of Sanskrit which I can't even begin to approximate.

For years when people asked me about origins of flamenco I simply talked about what I've read in many many books: that flamenco is heavily influenced by the Gypsies who originally came from India--of course just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's true. Usually I prefer empirical information instead of theory. But now, thanks to Marsha, I have some first-hand evidence of the Indian roots. I just gotta remember the Sanskrit words so I can come off as a scholar. :-) But hey, I do have a Bachelor's degree in music, so that counts for something!

Anyway, I've been staying out late and getting up early way too much. Still, I really should go out and practice what I've learned so far in dance class, don't you think? Tonight there's the weekly free salsa class at Citron at 10:00pm and I'm sure I'll run into some friends there making it so tempting! On the other hand, I really should catch up on sleep. Can't afford to get sick. Hmmm...I'll lay down for a like maybe half an hour and see how I feel.

Latest udpate on the Pink Flamenco roommate situation: the tango dancer decided not to move in but we got a writer staying for a week, and when he moves out a latin dancer who specializes in mambo will be my new housemate, yay! Hmmm...that would be cool if we had her teach salsa/mambo classes and host dance parties here! Stay tuned!