It's 2:36pm on Sunday as I type these words. Despite going to bed at 5:00am this morning, I still got up around 10:00am feeling well-rested. Not logical I know. It certainly helped that I went easy on the alcohol for change. Not that I'm an alcoholic or whatever. :-) Just cutting back a bit these days so I don't wake up with a throbbing headache in the morning. I'll quickly finish this up and get outdoors for the rest of the day and chill.

Anyway, last night was a pretty intense (albeit very enjoyable) evening that began with a performance at the Alliance Dance Institute where they were having their Spring Showcase featuring student and professional performances.

Some of Marsha Bonet's students performed a special choreography that featured snippets of different palos from bulerias, fandangos de Huelva, Sevillanas and rumba. And the cool thing, at least from my perspective, was that not only was it their first time to perform flamenco onstage, but it was also their first time to perform with live music. Accompaniment provided by yours truly!

Cynthia, Sophia, Kate, Rachel, Marsha and Miguelito. April 29, 2006 9:25pm (photo by Jason)

I'm not just here to promote myself and my services, but I feel it's very important that flamenco dance students get some experience working with live accompaniment early on. I've already talked about the advantages of live music in flamenco many times over the years, so I'm not going go into it now. Kudos to Marsha on insisting on using live music for this showcase!

A friend just called a few minutes ago and invited to go hiking in Great Falls, Virginia. So I'm going to end the commentary now, sign off and get dressed. It's a beautiful day and I'm sure I'll get some inspiring nature pics.

So just a quick congrats to Marsha's students and to Marsha herself on inspiring performances last night.

Cynthia, Sophia and Kate. April 29, 2006 9:25pm (photo by Jason)

Sophia, Kate, Marsha, Cynthia and Rachel. April 29, 2006 9:28pm (taken with my camera phone)

Jason, Silvia and Bala. April 29, 2006 9:50pm

Marsha Bonet and Miguelito in Farruca. April 29, 2006 10:25pm (photo by Jason)

April 29, 2006 10:26pm (photo by Jason)

April 29, 2006 10:27pm (photo by Jason)

For more information about Marsha Bonet's flamenco classes, visit the Alliance Dance Institute's website or call 703-354-6000.

Posted by Miguelito at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

It's 10:25am on Saturday as I type these words. Just got up and I'm running late already so this'll be short and sweet. :-)

Yesterday I went to Alliance Dance Institute to rehearse with Marsha. We're performing tonight at the Spring Showcase during the dance party at her studio. I'm pretty excited because it's the culmination of months of rehearsing and it's also a different kind of challenge: we're performing for a crowd of serious dancers--not flamencos but serious dancers nonetheless.

Afterwards, I headed to Georgetown in time to setup my sound system and perform at Cabanas.

Sunset at the waterfront. April 28, 2006 7:48pm

Got an email from Monica a few days earlier asking me about the show at Cabanas. She was meeting a friend at National Airport who was just arriving and wanted to take her out to a flamenco show. She and her friend Colette are dancers at the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa, Florida. Actually, Monica had to step down from performing to make time to go back to school. Anyway, it was my pleasure to welcome these two ladies to Cabanas--the first time they'd see a tablao show in DC.

Cool thing is that being regular readers of my blog, they felt like they knew me so well, which they did. So it didn't take very long for us to warm-up to each other and get to know them too. It certainly helped that they are experienced flamenco performers (the Columbia Restaurant where they have performed has shows 6 nights a week!) so we had a lot in common already.

Colette, Miguelito and Monica. April 28, 2006 10:49pm

They arrived here directly from the airport via taxi and didn't know how to get to the metro. So at the end of the evening I offered to walk them to Foggy Bottom. Along the way I gave them a tour of Georgetown.

Walking down M St in Georgetown. April 29, 2006 12:00am

I better go get dressed and out the door. I'm meeting a friend for breakfast as usual at El Patio. Then I have dance class at noon until 2:30pm. Then I have to stop by Cabanas again to pick up my sound system and head towards Alexandria where the Alliance Dance Institute is located and rehearse at 6:30pm, perform at 10:00pm with Marsha and get back home preferably before midnight to join the festivities at the Sala Rociera at my house, the Pink Flamenco. Whew! A busy but fun flamenco-filled day. Ciao!

Posted by Miguelito at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2006 9:09am

Actual conversation on the metro around 11:00pm last night:

"Didn't I see you play somewhere on Connecticut Ave?"

"Was it at Cafe Citron?"

"Yeah, is that where you're playing tonight?" I'm guessing this guy and his girlfriend were on their way to downtown DC perhaps Adams-Morgan.

"No, I just finished playing at a restaurant in Rockville."

We introduced ourselves. I gave him my card and told him to come to my show at Citron on Monday. Moments later, I said goodnight and got off the train at my stop.

OK, it was kinda cool to be recognized on the metro. Then again, I have a distinct look not to mention the fact that I've got a guitar slung on my shoulder and 100 pounds of sound equipment on a cart. But what touched me was that I made such an impression on the person that he actually remembered me. Turns out it was a few years ago when he saw me playing at Cafe Citron!

Doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough that over the years I've met so many people that have recognized me in random places. If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you know that for the past year or so I've imposed upon myself this project to overcome my shyness by going out into the audience and introducing myself to at least one person.

TIP: if you're a performer, make it habit to be friendly to people who come up to you, no matter what mood you're in. Despite what you may have felt about your performance (usually we performers needlessly exaggerate the degree of our mistakes in a show and we all make them--the pros are just better at covering them up), their take could be completely the opposite and they just want to express their appreciation.

Last night at the Andalucia we had a lot of customers. But when I finished my last guitar solo for the evening, there was no applause. They were civilized enough to keep the volume level of their conversations at a polite level during my performance though, unlike some people (ahem!). :-) But as you know the show is not over until you walk offstage out of the view of the audience. So afterwards, I put my guitar down, got up from my seat and held my head up high and (with proper posture--thanks to ballroom dance lessons) walked towards the bar where my dinner was waiting for me. A patron waved me down as I passed his table, "Your music was beautiful. Thank you."

"Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it." That's it. That's all you have to do to properly accept the compliment. Over time, you'd be surprised how many people you've touched. I'm not saying that quantity is the goal. But every now and then I take pride in knowing I made at least one person's life a little more pleasant or even inspired them to take flamenco classes. But one at a time, little by little they add up!

April 28, 2006 9:10am

If you haven't figured out the title "Quod Severis Metes," it's Latin for "As you sow, so shall you reap."

CONFESSION: the past few weeks I haven't been keeping up with flamenco events as well as I should. I've got some personal stuff to work out so if you have an event that I've neglected to announce or post pictures about, please don't take it personally. I'll catch up soon.

I'll still keep up with my blog though. It's very therapeutic for me and it allows my friends to keep tabs on me to make sure I'm OK and still going out every now and then and having a good time.

Don't forget this Saturday April 29, 2006 starting at 9:30pm is the Sala Rociera party at the Pink Flamenco. Look for the house with the pink flowers in front (see above pics). I have a performance elsewhere that night, so I'll be arriving late.

Tonight I'll be at Cabanas in Georgetown performing with dancers Ginette Perea and Mariya. See you there!

Posted by Miguelito at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 6:58am on Thursday as I type these words. Yesterday I had a day off from performing but still had a few business-related errands to take care of....

The new restaurant Tapeo asked me to create a flyer to announce their new flamenco show. I promised them I'd put something together that included photos of the dancers I would be using for this gig. Sounds simple, right? Well, the problem is that I had to select the perfect pics and I've got thousands to browse through! Ugh. Simple, yes but labor intensive! Then there was the painstaking process of editing out the background behind the dancers.

This is what the first draft of the flyer looks like...

It needs a border of some sort to "define" the space. Visually everything is just floating around in whiteness. Anyway, the show is coming up in less than a week so I was under pressure to at least print out a hard copy for the restaurant to start using already.

So I did the necessary file prep to avoid any unexpected errors when I printed out a high-quality version at Kinkos--increase the DPI to 300, set to CMYK mode, embedded the fonts, check for pixelation at actual print size etc. I know this sounds like geeky stuff but trust me, when you've worked hard on a flyer and printed it out only to find the fonts look totally different, the colors are way off and the image is blurry etc you really need to check and double-check everything.

To top it all off, the Xerox Phaser 7700 color printer at Kinkos broke down. The "expert" on staff there told me that they needed to take it out for repairs and that since the other color printers were also down (this is BS cuz the guy was in the middle helping another customer and didn't want to stop everything to print out my lil' flyer), he suggested I go to another Kinkos. Ugh.

At least I was able to print out one copy before the printer died on me. But that was just a test copy to make sure everything printed decently. I wanted to load some heavier higher quality paper for the final version. But time was short and I needed to produce something to show the client. So I put the one copy (on flimsy paper) in a Kinkos paper bag and walked out towards the metro to go to Pentagon City where the restaurant is located.

The client was happy with it, but he still wanted to add his logo and said he would Photoshop it himself. Yay, I love it when clients are up-to-date on technology and are do-it-yourselfers. Anyway, the restaurant is beautiful in its simplicity dominated by red balanced with a splash of black. He has a commercially-appealing selection of flamenco and flamenco-ish CD's to give his Spanish tapas bar the right ambience. But I gotta talk to him about chucking his "old-skool" CD changer. Ipod please! :-)

Anywayz, come check us out on Wednesday May 3rd. The shows are at 7:00pm-ish and 9:00pm-ish. Yours truly will be accompanying dancers Ginette Perea and Mariya and weather-permitting (pray for a sunny day) the stage will be outside in the patio. Oh yeah, the restaurant is called Tapeo and is located in the courtyard of outdoor restaurants along the Joyce St side of the Pentagon City Mall.

Later I visited a friend at her office near the Court House metro. I was in the area and had some free time so popped-in to say hello and she invited me to grab a bite on her dinner break, yay! We went to Guarapo, and surpisingly she had never been inside this place despite working in this neighborhood for years. I got the tuna ceviche which was basically Latin American sashimi. :-) Plus I ordered a side of mote--large white kernels of corn boiled, yum!

Ceviche de Atún and Mote. April 26, 2006 6:45pm

She ordered arepa with beef--and I ended up eating half of her portion. I was hungry anyway and it was so good! We enjoyed some conversation--talked about her daughter who happens to be a flamenco dancer--and just relaxed and enjoyed the surroundings from the fruity aromas of the hookah at the next table and the latin chillout music played at a high enough volume level to give a clubby feel.

Guarapo's early dinner crowd. April 26, 2006 7:17pm

I walked her back to the office, said goodbye and headed to Ispirato a few blocks away to say hello to my brother.

It was beautiful night (a bit on the cooler side though) and it would've been nice to go out, but I gotta save my energy for this weekend. So I went to the Barnes and Noble in Clarendon and browsed.

Remember when I asked about the right foods for brain power a few days ago? I found some answers in the book Improving Your Memory for Dummies. Supposedly, the brain is a heavy consumer of the body's glucose taking in as much as 25% of the supply on a daily basis. Candy, like M&M's has glucose but the author recommends complex carbohydrates which have something called a low-glycemic index. These kinds of carbs provide a sustained release of glucose which is better than the sugar rush of the high-glycemic sources like candy. Here's an online guide to brain foods.

As I was taking the Body Quotient Quiz (I was in a health-minded mood) in the latest issue of Esquire, my phone rang, LOUDLY! People quietly reading around me looked up and gave me these dirty looks. Ooops! Forgot to silence the phone. Oh well. I quickly got up and headed outside to talk.

April 26, 2006 8:41pm

It was a friend who decided to join me on my one-day vacation in NYC in May. We talked about logistics of transportation and accomodations and fun stuff we would do up there. By the time we finished talking I was feeling pretty relaxed already from just thinking about getting away for a day. Ahhh! :-)

Posted by Miguelito at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just about to head out the door when I got this email from Julia Cristina. You might remember Julia. I performed with her a few times last summer. She provided a pic plus some text so it only took me five minutes to publish this. She writes:

I am currently staying in Jerez de la Frontera and plan to stay here until the beginning of June. Then I'll be in Madrid for about a week (studying at Amor de Dios a little and partying too).

Jerez is beautiful--tiny and overflowing with flamenco. I am studying with Manuela Carpio and Ana Maria Lopez, both teaching me Bulerias de Jerez. The format of the classes is nice (but a little nervewracking for me at first): there are 2-4 guitarists who usually come, and the teacher acts as the singer. Each student gets about 3 turns to get up and dance a short Bulerias. Its a Fin de Fiesta every time...except the teachers can correct you if you screw up.

I am staying in a little apartment with a woman named Estela Zatania, an american journalist who has lived in Spain for about 30 years. She's a true flamenco by now--some mistake her for gitana.

This pic of me (by me) was taken on the street where Estela lives. I'll try sending another a flamenco pic or two later--I'm going to the Feria de Sevilla on Saturday which might provide me with interesting things to get on camera.

Hope all is well in DC!

Posted by Miguelito at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 11:39pm on Tuesday as I type these words. Got home a short while ago and I'm going to bed early for a change. Gotta conserve my energy for this weekend. On Saturday night, I'm performing in a showcase at the Alliance Dance Institute and afterwards I'm heading home to the Pink Flamenco for the Sala Rociera party which will go on pretty late. Not to mention playing for Anna Menendez's classes at American Dance Institute from noon until 2:30pm.

So pretty much all day and night I'm either playing guitar or commuting (with more than a 100 pounds of sound equipment) from 11:00am Saturday as I head to the dance studio and on until 3:00am Sunday when the Sala Rociera party lets out! But I'm not complaining though. I am doing what I love to do, just doing a lot of it and probably more than my mind and body and handle in a day. So be warned: I might be a little short-tempered at some point. Be nice to me! :-)

Pink Flamenco dance studio. April 25, 2006 11:25pm

I just took the above pic a few minutes ago. It's pretty quiet in the house now. Hard to believe but in a few days, this room will be filled will lots of people dancing Sevillanas and rumba, socializing and basically having a good time.

A couple of days ago, do you remember when I was venting about how I don't enjoy playing background music especially when people don't pay attention? Well this evening at Las Tapas I almost lost my patience.

We were doing the second show. The dancers were Anna Menendez and Edwin Aparicio. I've worked with these two so much, we're pretty comfortable with each other onstage. Anyway, there was this group of about ten customers (college age) all seated next to the stage on my left. They were speaking Spanish loudly and having a good time--I'm assumed they were Hispanic and perhaps were aware of flamenco's Spanish connection and would probably could relate to our performance on some level and eventually shut up, right? Turns out I was way off!

I know this is a restaurant and not a concert hall so I can't expect complete silence. So at first I was going to shrug it off and let it go...but instead it got much much worse.

I played my intro to solea and there were occasional bursts of loud laughter in the middle of my falsetas or as I finished a musical phrase. Ugh. I was trying to set the mood through my music and these inconsiderate people were ruining it for us and the rest of the crowd. I said to myself, "Be a professional. Don't let them bring you down. Focus on the music!"

Then Anna got up from her chair and began to plaintively mark the compas and do some braceo to express the emotion of my falseta. More bursts of laughter. "Focus!" I told myself.

Short version of the story: there were even more loud bursts of laughter and even some shouted conversation throughout the show at times just as loud as the music and the dancing. At one point I stopped the music and made eye contact with these people thinking they would get the message. Nope. Just more and more bursts of laughter and shouted conversation. They didn't care. I'm a pro and I shouldn't take it personally right? But I could only take so much of this.

Anna finished her solo. Edwin did his and at one point did a long and loud footwork section on stage-left but it had little effect on shutting them up. So after we did our fin de fiesta bulerias, we took our bows and walked off. Anna and Edwin usually walk off stage right. I usually exit stage left where my guitar case is located.

So I put away my instrument and walked past these obnoxious people trying not to look at them. I was prepared to let it go, but something occured that I knew would happen someday...

Just as I was walking by, this one Hispanic dude seated at the table jokingly says to his friends, "El guitarrista es como Paco de Lucia" and then he mockingly played some air flamenco guitar and shouted "Lelalalalalala!!!" a pathetic imitation of a rasgueado. Ugh. I made eye contact and nodded affirmatively as if to say "Yeah, I understood what he just said."

For a moment, I stood there astonished looking at these idiots wondering how they could continue to be so rude to me after acting the way they did during the show. Then an idea occurred to me.

I quickly went behind the stage, opened my case, pulled out my guitar and rushed back to the table and addressed the group "¿Quien es el Paco de Lucia aqui?" Silence. I seriously doubted it, but if they were going to mock me I was hoping there was someone in the group who could demonstrate for me how flamenco guitar should be played.

I addressed the rude Hispanic dude aka the Paco de Lucia wannabe, "¿Puedes tocar la guitarra?"

"No." and he put his hands up as if to apologize.

But I wasn't going to let him off that easy. I challenged him anyway and placed my guitar with a thud on the table in front of his face and demanded, "Toca! Toca la guitarra!"

He muttered apologetically, "No. No puedo tocar."

I removed my guitar and made a hand gesture of dismissal as if to say, "That's what I thought."

I addressed the rest of the crowd, "¿Hay españoles aqui?" which was kinda weak cuz I didn't know where I was going with this. Oh well.

They looked around at each other and replied with a chorus of "No."

It would've been cool to say, "Entonces, ¡son Uds gringos tambien!" Instead I just gave a gesture of dismissal to the whole crowd and I walked away. End of story.

Time for bed. Goodnight!

Posted by Miguelito at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yike's! It's already 1:45pm on Tuesday as I type these words. Got a late start, but it's OK cuz I got a decent night's rest for a change. I'm just going to write some brief commentary (yeah, I've been saying that a lot lately) but since it's late in the day I seriously have to finish up here and get out the door. The weather's sunny now but there's a forecast for a thunderstorm in the late afternoon and I need to get my sound system from Citron to Las Tapas before it starts raining.

The cool news is that Jen made her soloist debut at Cafe Citron last night (Monday). It was also her first time to perform with a singer and despite a few on-the-fly choreographic adjustments, she really made an impact on the crowd. The stage is already small (8' x 4') but it feels even more cramped when us guitarists are seated right next to it (less space for arm movements) plus Jason has his cajon in the corner, people are crowding around the stage and walking past by. And to top it off, I don't think Jen was anticipating being blinded by the stage light.

Jen performing tientos/tangos. April 24, 2006 8:46pm (photo by Keith)

These are things that most people don't expect when they perform their first time. TIP: if you plan to be making your debut sometime soon, checkout a performance in the venue where you will be dancing and take note of these "unexpected" factors that could detract from your concentration.

Miguelito and Gerard Moreno. April 24, 2006 8:53pm (photo by Keith)

For the second set, we had a lot of our flamenco friends in the audience...

Jen and Shahram Tehranian. April 24, 2006 9:47pm (photo by Keith)

Jesus Montoya and Jen in bulerias. April 24, 2006 10:03pm (photo by Keith)

April 24, 2006 10:04pm (photo by Keith)

April 24, 2006 10:04pm (photo by Keith)

April 24, 2006 10:05pm (photo by Keith)

Fellow guitarist Idi. April 24, 2006 10:29pm

Dancer Angelica with her teacher Anna Menendez. April 24, 2006 10:30pm

Oliver, Richard Marlow and Jose Oretea. April 24, 2006 10:30pm

Palmas fiesta. :-) Jose, Jesus Montoya, Oliver, Edwin Aparicio and Richard. April 24, 2006 11:13pm

Jesus and Miguelito. April 24, 2006 11:44pm (photo by Anna Menendez)

First of all congratulations to Jen on a very inspired performance. Despite any nervousness she might have been feeling, at some point she was able to let go, enjoy herself and raise the show to an exciting level. She even had flamenco Jesus Montoya sing a few letras for her bulerias--wow!

Deepest thanks to all my friends who came to support their fellow flamencos and partied afterwards. I was in a low key kinda mood but I was still pleased to see everyone having a good time. OK, I kept the commentary brief as promised, yay! Time for a shower, get dressed etc and I'm out the door. I'll be at Las Tapas tonight. Come if you can. Ciao for now!

Posted by Miguelito at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's 10:38pm on Monday as I type these words. Yesterday (Sunday) was a dance accompaniment marathon kinda day for me. Loved it!

I started off with a noontime rehearsal with dancer/teacher Marsha Bonet and her flamenco students at Alliance Dance Institute. This was to prepare for the Spring Showcase which is this Saturday night, incidentally the same night as the Sala Rociera which means I'll be arriving late but that's OK, the flamenco parties don't really get momentum until after midnight anyway.

Surprisingly, I've been working one-on-one with Marsha a little more than six months now but due to schedule conflicts (she teaches at night) haven't been able to attend her flamenco classes. Maybe it's not such a big surprise: I am a busy guy! But I had never seen her students dance until this rehearsal. What impressed me most was their timing with the Sevillanas.

Most new students (with only a few months of classes) still struggle with coordinating the upper and lower body movements so much that they can't keep up with the music. Marsha's students were not only right on the beat, they were keeping up while I was playing Sevillanas as fast as I play in my tablao shows! Being a classically-trained flautist herself, in her dance classes she obviously puts a strong emphasis on feeling the music. Nice.

We worked on several palos with her students and for the showcase Marsha has put together a special choreography where each small sample of a dance segues seamlessly into the next to demonstrate a variety of moods and rhythms.

We had a little time left over after working with the students, so I quickly rehearsed with Marsha. We'll be performing in the professional segment of the Spring Showcase. At around 2:00pm I said goodbye, went to the food court to get a late lunch and caught a bus to the metro and headed towards DC Dance Collective in time for Anna Menendez's 4:00pm class.

DC Dance Collective. April 23, 2006 6:19pm

This is without a doubt my favorite class to play for. Why? There's such a positive vibe in the air. It's a combination of the studio and the enthusiasm of the students and Anna and the inspiring music (ahem!). :-) I knew I was going to be playing for two consecutive classes from 4:00pm until 7:00pm, so I drank a Red Bull and ate a Snickers bar to get me through it. I waited until 10 or 15 minutes after the hour, which was fine cuz they were working on repetitve exercises that didn't really need live music. As soon as I walked in, all twelve dancers cheered "Yay, Miguelito is here!"

Angelica, the unofficial class cheerleader asked me, "How's that for a welcome?"

"That was awesome," and it felt good and made me want to give them all I've got, which I did.

Time flew by and at 5:30pm it was time for the next more advanced class. Not quite as many students but they were just as devoted. By 7:00pm, I was ready to pack up and finally go home, but Genoveva happened to be in the waiting area. Due to last minute changes in her schedule (she was performing in New York this past weekend), she stopped by to give a class. I was pumped from playing all day so naturally, I asked her, "Would you like me to play guitar?"

"If you want.

"Yes, I do!

So I cheerfully went back into the studio ready to play for another hour. Genoveva's technique classes are very challenging and fun. She has such a bubbly personality you can't help but enjoy yourself while you get a serious workout. As a dancer you'll walk out of there with a smile on your face thinking "That was fun." Then the next morning you'll wake up with aching muscles but in a good way. By the time you come back for her class the next time little by little your muscles will be stronger!

I'm not saying this is an excuse, but I had been playing guitar all day and my concentration was starting to fade halfway through her class. Genoveva asked for Taranto, a relatively simple tientos-like rhythm and I was making dumb mistakes. Ugh. Training the muscles is one thing. But flamenco also requires concentration which is another skill altogether. TIP: a little sugar is good (emphasis on the word little) because the brain needs glucose to function . I was munching on peanut M&M's but it was a long day and I was just helplessly mentally exhausted. Oh well. I have to read up on how fast the sugar gets broken down to glucose and travels to the brain. Any nutrition experts out there?

I'm a pretty smart guy as it is, but flamenco is good for exercising the mind and I could always use the mental workout. As a performer, I have to memorize complex choreographies, rhythmic cues, cortes (stops), funky llamadas or mimic rhythmic motifs in footwork solos, pick up on half-compases etc. Fun stuff, but I have to really focus and sustain this concentration.

Back in college, I can remember in music theory class we would have dictation tests. The professor would play chords on the piano and using only our ears (we couldn't see the keyboard) we had to identify the quality (major, minor, diminished, augmented etc) and name the inversion. Challenging stuff if you're not a classically-trained musician.

Anyway, to get us warmed up he would quickly speak numerical sequences starting with short ones like 1-2-3. And we had to accurately write these down. Then he would increase the difficulty by making the sequences longer and more random like 5-8-2-3-6-9-2-5-1-6-3-7 and he'd speak faster. If I tried writing it all down as he spoke, I'd never get it. Instead, I had to relax and let my mind "record" the sounds of the spoken numbers and then "play it back" in my mind when he was done. This explains why, despite my classical training, I prefer to feel the rhythm sometimes rather than analyze it and count it out.

We musicians do this all the time when we're figuring out solos from recordings. Dancers do it in dance class when a teacher demonstrates a footwork pattern. The more experienced dancers can pick up longer footwork sequences without asking the teacher to repeat the pattern.

The point here is that flamenco requires sustained concentration. When you come to class or if you are getting ready for a performance, to get the most out of the experience and make progress, you have to be focused. Each person has their individual thinking style. Explore what works for you. End of lecture. :-)

By 8:00pm, I was spent. Using the cash that the girls from the 4:00pm class collected for me (they're so sweet!), I got some well-deserved nourishment at the Chinese place a couple of doors down and walked home satisfied after a long flamenco-filled day.

Tonight I'll be performing at Cafe Citron as usual. The dancer will be Jen. I believe this will be her first time to perform here as a soloist so please come and show your support! Oh yeah, this is National Dance Week the purpose of which is to "heighten the awareness of Dance and its contributions to our culture." I do this on a daily basis already, but just thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't heard of this event previously. This is a good excuse to take a non-flamenco related dance class for fun or perhaps write a 500-word essay on how dance contributes to our culture. Hehe. Seriously though, just think about it.

Posted by Miguelito at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 10:14pm on Saturday as I type these words. Yeah I'm actually home. When I came back from dance class this afternoon, I was feeling a bit tired (from not getting enough sleep the night before) so I just lay down for what I thought would be ten minutes but turned out to be like six hours!

Thank God a friend of mine just happened to call waking me up early enough that I can still decide whether to go out and do something tonight (and not get enough sleep again--hey, life is too short) or go back to bed. Hmmmm...

Grayscale. April 22, 2006 9:49pm

After hanging up, I walked to the bathroom. The house is dark since everyone is out (oh wait, I just heard some footwork upstairs, so my dancer housemate must be home) so the light from streets was shining through the window and illuminating my way. Checkout this view through the kitchen window interpreted through Photoshop three different ways.

The other night someone commented about my blog saying that I have this obsession for beautiful women. Hehe. Well, I wouldn't call it obsession, but let's just say that since I always carry around my camera I put myself into this frame of mind where I am very visually in the moment. And if something (or someone) catches my eye, I'll consider pulling out my camera and taking a picture.

Hue, Saturation and Lightness. April 22, 2006 9:49pm

I'm listening to Paco de Lucia's Siroco--one of my most favorite flamenco recordings and one of my first flamenco CD's that I bought while I was a classical guitar performance major at Cal State Fullerton.

I can still remember those many wonderful days and late nights when I'd spend hours in the practice rooms on the third floor of the music department building and look out the window when I needed to take a break. When it was rainy and cold, I'd take comfort in being warm and dry and calm--the practice rooms were sound proof.

Color Balance. April 22, 2006 9:49pm

It was a good feeling because I'd think to myself, "Someday when I'm a professional musician, I'm going to spend my days like this, practicing the guitar and the hours would slip by as I searched for beautiful sounds and perfected them!" And now that's what I do.

The funny thing is that I never thought that I'd be doing flamenco (instead of classical guitar). Between classes, I'd sit on the concrete benches just outside the music department and practice performing. There were always lots of fellow students passing by on the way to and from classes. Ocassionally someone would sit next to me and listen and I'd use this opportunity to overcome my stage fright by playing for someone as they watched and listened to me intently.

The biggest challenges for me were the pretty girls of course cuz I'd make the mistake (as a performer) of thinking "Play something to impress her!" and what would happen is that all my mental energy would be spent towards the impressing part and not enough on the musical and technical side and I'd ending up making unnecessary mistakes. The important thing though was that I kept going on when I did mess up. That's the thing you gotta do as a performer: don't ever ever stop or go back to the beginning. Recover from your mistakes and keep going until you've played whole piece.

One pretty girl I'll never forget is the one that turned me on to flamenco. One day after I had played a movement from "Suite Compostelana" by Federico Mompou that I was working on for my senior recital, she said "That was beautiful." and asked me about the piece.

I asked, "Do you play guitar?" and normally people would either say no or they'd say yes but not as good as me etc.

"Yeah I play flamenco." Whoa, I didn't see that coming. This should be interesting.

I handed her my guitar and she proceeded to play a few compases of Farruca. I didn't know anything about flamenco at the time, but when I saw this beautiful girl playing, I'm not sure if it was her or the music or both, but I was blown away.

Anyway, she had to rush off to class, so she handed me my guitar and promised she' d stop by the next time I was practicing outside and teach me some flamenco. She lingered in my thoughts the rest of the day. I wanted more!

She kept her promise and eventually I asked for her number and we went out a couple of times. She introduced me to her flamenco guitar teacher, Ted McKown and told me about the dance studio where she played for classes: Blanca Luz Academy. This is where I got my first taste of playing for dancers and started performing my first shows.

OK, it's 11:33pm now and I'm feeling sleepy again so I think I'll stay in tonight to get a good night's rest for an important rehearsal tomorrow morning at Alliance. But I'll continue this story another time. Oh yeah, her name was Elizabeth Montes. She changed my life and I'll never forget her. Thank you Liz, wherever you are!

Posted by Miguelito at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 9:49am on Saturday as I type these words. Last night (Friday) I did my usual gig at Cabanas with dancers Ginette Perea and Shahram Tehranian. Linette and Jason were there as well as fellow guitarist Idi who brought his girlfriend Stephanie and a few more friends who got a table right in front of the stage. It was a rainy night so the patio doors were closed but the dining room was full and the bar area was pretty lively.

As soon as the show was over, I quickly packed up my sound system, so we could head over to Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria to enjoy the music of Duende Camaron.

Jason, Jose, Shahram, Linette and Ginette at Las Tapas. April 21, 2006 11:53pm

Yeah, I got a long way to go as a dancer, but thanks to my classes at Alliance Dance Institute, I've built up confidence just to get out there on the dance floor and try. It's a big step for me, yay! :-)

Miguelito and Ginette. April 22, 2006 12:12am

After Las Tapas closed, I was craving some diner food, so we headed over to Bob and Edith's in Arlington which was crowded with others just like ourselves who came from night clubs that just closed. They had a jukebox with mostly classic rock playing and a lot of the people were singing along and keeping the party buzz going strong.

Late night eatery in Arlington. April 22, 2006 1:39am

I ordered the healthiest item on the menu. :-) Kinda reminds me of my first meal on my first night in Madrid last year...

Ribeye steak, eggs and grits, yum! April 22, 2006 1:56am

It's 10:03am now. I already showered. Just gotta get dressed and head towards Rockville and get my usual Saturday Argentinian breakfast at El Patio before Anna Menendez's noontime dance class at American Dance Institute. Ciao for now!

Posted by Miguelito at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 9:53am on Friday as I type these words. I have a 1:00pm rehearsal in Virginia not too far from Georgetown so I'm going to stop by Cabanas early to drop off my sound system.

Yesterday, I had a school show again at Las Tapas at 11:00am this time with dancer Sarah Hart. She's young (senior in high school) and has a lot of potential as a performer. The least I can do is give her performance opportunities whenever I can to help her develop.

Our performance and presentation weren't bad but they weren't our best. I talked with Sarah about this and we both felt the same way. First of all, I arrived at Las Tapas with just barely enough time to setup my sound system as the students arrived. I wasn't warmed-up and was in such a hurry this morning I skipped breakfast (bad, bad, bad!). Sarah wasn't quite as warmed-up as she could've been. Oh well. The show must go on and it did. The students weren't as lively and responsive as the ones in Wednesday's school show. So my little lecture seemed to fall on deaf ears. I asked for questions throughout the presentation and there were no responses until the very end when we were about to end.

"How long have you been playing the guitar?"

"How long have you been dancing?"

"What are the origins of this music?" Finally a good question, yay!

Sarah and Miguelito at the Andalucia. April 20, 2006 8:43pm

Afterwards, we waited for the manager to arrive, collected our paychecks and headed outside to a beautifully sunny day. Sarah and her mother went window shopping and got some lunch. I went down to the waterfront and grabbed a quick bite. Got on the metro and headed home, took a short nap, woke up, splashed water on my face and headed towards Andalucia in Rockville in time to setup and do a show with Sarah again. This time we performed so much better, plus we had some dancer friends in the audience. Sarah danced Sevillanas and tientos/tangos, took a break then came back to do solea, Sevillanas again and bulerias.

A nice refreshing glass of tinto verano waiting for me after the show.

April 20, 2006 9:01pm

Sarah went home afterwards. My friends and I were originally planning to go to Cafe Citron but I suggested going out to play pool instead just to do something different. Turned out to be a great idea. We just might even do it again this weekend, well see.

April 20, 2006 11:23pm

April 20, 2006 11:28pm

OK it's 10:26am and I still gotta shower and get dressed and head out the door by 11:00am. I want to drop off my sound system at Cabanas in Georgetown and meet my ride at 12:30pm to go to rehearsal. Afterwards, I'll probably squeeze in a movie (since it's a rainy cloudy day) before my gig. Tonight the dancers are Ginette Perea and Shahram Tehranian. See you there!

Posted by Miguelito at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 8:29am on Thursday as I type these words. Yet another early day for me cuz I have a gig with dancer Sarah Hart that starts at 11:00am which requires me to arrive early and setup my sound system. I'm not so keen on the idea of lugging my system out to Alexandria so early in the day. But it pays well enough--I'm just being whiney. :-) So I'm going to quickly finish up this blog entry, take a shower, get dressed, get a doppio across the street to wake up and get on the metro by 9:30pm.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I started off my day doing a school show with Ginette at Las Tapas. Normally, we'd do the standard show with two dancers for 20 minutes like we do in the evening, but now they just do it with one dancer AND they want me to stretch out the show to 30 minutes!

Ginette Perea at Las Tapas. April 19, 2006 11:33am (taken with my camera phone)

I'm normally a very quiet person, but when it comes to giving presentations on flamenco I can easily fill-up the time and the half-hour time slot flew by quickly. I'm not claiming to be an expert on flamenco--just have a LOT of practical experience plus I'm just good at public speaking. Anyway, as usual I felt a connection with Ginette onstage so I was comfortable just winging it and Ginette went with the flow of my improvised presentation and overall it went surprisingly well. The kids actually were quiet (most of the time) and were paying attention. I taught them some flamenco vocabulary and quizzed them every now and then to see if they really were listening.

April 19, 2006 11:31am (taken with my camera phone)

Thanks to all those years of doing school shows with Ziva and also with the Spanish Dance Society, I've had tons of experience teaching children from elementary to high school levels and college too!

My ballroom dance class was cancelled at the last minute so I had the afternoon wide open. Said goodbye to Ginette (she had to go back home and study). As for myself, I decided to go visit Pentagon City mall to check out the construction progress of the new tapas bar Tapeo.

Tapeo. Archive photo from April 5, 2006 5:48pm

They're opening pretty soon and I've been hired to put a flamenco show together. I'm performing there with dancers Ginette Perea and Mariya on Wednesday May 3rd. We're working on the showtimes but tentatively they're scheduled at 7pm-ish and 9pm-ish. It's on the Joyce St side of the mall where all the restaurants are located.

After talking business with one of the owners, I went back to Las Tapas to pick up my sound system, dropped it off early at Cafe Bonaparte and enjoyed walking the streets on Georgetown on a sunny day.

View of the Potomac on the Georgetown side. April 19, 2006 5:06pm (taken with my camera phone)

C & O Canal in Georgetown. April 19, 2006 5:13pm (taken with my camera phone)

Self-portrait in Georgetown. April 19, 2006 6:58pm (taken with my camera phone)

After a few hours working on my tan :-), I headed indoors to my favorite bookstore in Georgetown and skimmed through a couple of books including one on the gypysies of Southern France...

Book on Camargue gypsies at Georgetown Barnes and Noble. April 19, 2006 5:35pm (taken with my camera phone)

...and a good book on photoblogging...

Book on photoblogging at Georgetown Barnes and Noble. April 19, 2006 5:48pm (taken with my camera phone)

I stopped by Bosiano, a clothing store on Wisconsin and jammed for awhile with the owner who's also a guitarist. Then I walked up a few blocks to Cafe Bonaparte in time to setup my sound system for the 8:00pm show. Behzad was pretty excited cuz he had just acquired a new cajon that he wanted to try out.

Behzad's new cajon by Dolce & Gabbana :-) April 19, 2006 10:03pm (taken with my camera phone)

Despite the gorgeous weather, it was a slow night (maybe everyone was down at the water front, who knows?) and we finished at 10:00pm instead of 11:00pm. Oh well.

OK it's now 8:56am. Time for me to get ready for my 11:00am gig. I'll also be at Andalucia tonight with dancer Sara Hart. See you there!!

Posted by Miguelito at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 8:52am on Wednesday as I type these words. I have a school show with Ginette at Las Tapas at 11:00am and the weather is gorgeous again so I'm going to quickly crank out this blog entry, take a shower, get dressed and get myself out the door ASAP so I can enjoy the outdoors a little before my gig.

This view from metro escalator (guess which one) is inspiring on sunny days when the skies are clear and blue. April 18, 2006 3:27pm

I was in one of those quirky stores in Old Town Alexandria yesterday (Tuesday) where they sold all kinds of artsy stuff and came across this wall calendar with these words emblazoned across the top: "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." Maybe it's not worded quite right, but you get the idea.

I arrived at Las Tapas especially early to drop off my sound equipment and had a few hours to kill before showtime. Perhaps I should've stayed at home a little longer and worked on computer stuff, but with such beautiful weather, I couldn't make myself stay indoors. So I went window shopping in Old Town just as an excuse to walk outside and get some fresh air.

On the surface it does seem like I'm wasting time and enjoying it, but it's a necessary part of the creative process. I have to have my mind clear of extraneous distracting thoughts and my body has to feel relaxed. I have problems just like everyone else and I have my way of leaving these problems behind when it comes time for the show. Despite these mind-clearing skills I have developed as a performer, the stress from today's problem still creeped in but it actually added to the show.

At first it was disctracting me during my opening guitar solo. Was making stupid mistakes--not stuff that people would notice considering that most of them were busy eating and having loud conversations. This is why I almost always turn down background music gigs. Sometimes I'll just quote a ridiculously high price to scare off the clients and sometimes they'll still accept my quote! So there I was playing my solo and there was this girl with her cellphone ringing with some incredibly annoying ringtone and instead of quickly siliencing it she picks it up, looks at the caller ID and lets it's ring twice more before anwering. Ugh. I wanted to wring this girl's neck! No manners, no culture whatsoever. Apparently I don't even exist onstage until the dancers join me.

Finally, got through the guitar solo and Edwin and Anna joined me onstage for Sevillanas and as soon as Anna began her alegrias, I noticed that my tension was actually adding a little spice to my playing. I was thinking to myself, "Go away problem! Go away!" and each time I vigorously strummed on the strongest beat of the compas "and two THREE" my tension dissolved. I especially enjoyed crescendoing the triplets leading up to the resolution "SEVEN-and-uh-EIGHT-and-uh-NINE-and-uh-TEN!"

I started getting into the spirit of the alegrias, which means happiness by the way, and by the end of Anna's performance I was in a great mood. Thank you Anna!

It's 9:19am now and I can't be late for my gig so I'll continue this later. Ciao for now.

Posted by Miguelito at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 12:24pm on Tuesday as I type these words. I got up earlier (despite a late night), and got some breakfast which made me sleepy again so I went back to bed. I have lots of errands to run today so I'm just going to keep this short today. Good news: I got a pay raise last night. With all the good business at Citron lately, it didn't take much to convince the owner to pay me a little more, yay!

Before asking for the raise, I did prepare myself with some reasons to support my proposal. Over the past month or so, I've been counting people that came to Citron especially for the show. The place is popular on its own anyway, but I'm proud to claim that on the Monday nights when it's packed, 15-20 of the patrons that I know personally are there to see our show. It's probably safe to assume that there are at least a good number of people in the crowd (that I don't know personally) that also came especially for the flamenco.

Lilly, Sue and Angelica. April 17, 2006 10:06pm

With the raise taken care of, I didn't bother to count all my friends. In addition to the people that sat next to the stage that are pictured in today's entry, there were more seated in the booths further back including a fabulous salsa dancer named Carlos and this Bharatanatyam dancer named Geeta (whom I just met last night).

Jason and Nora. April 17, 2006 11:01pm

I got a lot of salsa practice but I'm not so crazy about the pics. They're educational cuz they illustrate my bad habits when it comes to my latin frame. But at least I'm aware of it now so I can work on it.

Miguelito with Nora and Debra. April 17, 2006 11:28pm

It's 1:29pm now. I wish I had laptop so I do my work at an outdoor cafe or something. But I have to get out and enjoy the day, get some fresh air etc. I'll finish my computer-related errands when I get home tonight. Ciao for now!

Posted by Miguelito at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 12:23am on Monday as I type these words. After several intense hours, I've finally published photos from past events that I've been neglecting: Sala Rociera and Cherry Blossom Festival.

Yeah, I could say I've been too busy but the truth is that I could manage my time better. Logic dictates that I could spread out a large task into several small ones, right? Then again sometimes I like to dive in head first, get some momentum going and keep pushing and pushing until I'm done.

This is what my desk looks like when I'm working for long stretches of time like tonight...

April 17, 2006 12:04am

There's an accumulation of water and Coke bottles and an empty bag of Fritos. OK not exactly healthy stuff, but I know what works for me.

You know what they say. Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Well I wished that people would send photos for me to publish in my blog . This time around I received so many.

Here's the process. First I have to download the individual photos (some of them full-size images--which I prefer). Then I have to select the best ones and edit and resize them. Next I have to upload them to my web server and put them in chronological order in my blog. Finally, I have to add some commentary. I have my lazy days where I put in less effort than others, but in the end, I still want to publish something that I'll be proud of.

While I work, I'll have some trance or techno music playing in the background while I have the TV on with the sound off...

April 17, 2006 12:05am

I"m watching an instructional DVD on ballroom dance, can you tell?

Let's recap my personal formula for productivity: water, Coke, Fritos, trance, techno, dance DVD playing on TV with sound off. Wierd, I know, but it works for me.

It's 12:48am now. I can hear my dancer roommate rehearsing upstairs which has gotten me inspired! I'm almost exhausted from sitting in front of the computer all this time, but I'll just squeeze in about 20 minutes to review the figures for the ballroom dances I've been neglecting lately. Then I'm off to bed. Good night!

Posted by Miguelito at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Someone asked me why I've been writing about ballroom a lot lately. What does it have to do with flamenco anyway? There is a reason, if you haven't figured it out by now.

Over the years, in my articles, photo diary and blog, I've advised flamenco dance students to practice outside of class. Trust me, I've been to more dance classes than anyone. I may not be a dancer yet, but I really can tell who practices and who doesn't. There's nothing wrong with taking dance classes for fun. They should be fun anyway. But if you're there to seriously improve your dancing skills, practicing outside of class is a must!

Pink Flamenco dance studio. April 15, 2006 9:25pm

Now that I'm taking dance classes (not flamenco but same principle applies), I too have to practice outside of class because I seriously want to learn to dance well. Since one of my perks as a member of the staff at Alliance Dance Institute is free dance training, I might as well take advantage of this opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers. Since I do have a decent size dance studio with mirrors at home, I really have no excuse not to practice.

Being a professional musician, I do have a decent sense of rhythm, but realistically it's going to take some time for me to get the basics of ballroom dance down really well. Gotta develop the muscles, work on weight shifting, proper posture, partnering etc. It's OK. I'm in no hurry.

This afternoon (Saturday) I had a flamenco rehearsal with Marsha and when I left the studio, she said was going to stay in tonight and work on some rhythmic ideas. I was planning to stay in myself (had a late night last night and I'm probably going to bed pretty soon) so I might as well carry on in the same spirit as Marsha and squeeze in some practice too.

In the American version of the film Shall We Dance? one dancer advises a newbie that for every hour of class, you should practice five hours. It's an arbitrary number, but sounds like good advice that I'll use myself. So I worked on waltz and salsa for about an hour and now I'm pooped!

Funny thing is that since the weather was warm tonight I had the windows open but the blinds closed. Of course I had the ballroom dance music blaring on the sound system not realizing it was probably audible to people walking by the house. While I was working on the waltz dance figures, out of the corner of my eye I noticed some movement by the window. Someone was trying to peek inside the blinds!

So I opened the door and there was this young lady who looked about the same age as my housemate who just so happens to be a serious mambo dancer. So I assumed she was a friend of hers. I asked her, "Are you a friend of Vicky?"

She ignored my question, "Is there a dance class?"

"No, the weekly tango class is on Thursday nights."

"Yeah, I know that. I just thought there was a dance class tonight."

I suppose she heard the waltz music through the window and noticed the pink glow (from the Christmas lights) through the window. It didn't occur to me at the time, but I could've invited this young lady (who's probably one of my neighbors) to practice with me anyway. Damn! Gotta work on my partnering technique. Oh well. :-)

Check out this blog entry titled "Knowledge is Power." Very inspiring!

It's 10:24pm and I'm starting to fade. Going to bed. Night!

Posted by Miguelito at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know this website and blog is supposed to be about the flamenco community, but let's face it, this is pretty much my point of view. I can try to carefully craft my words each time I write but over a long period of time no matter what, my writing will still reveal who I am.

April 14, 2006 9:13pm (photo by Ginette)

I'm not complaining though. Just making an observation. Thing is, if I didn't put a bit of my own opinion (gently of course and hopefully tactfully) and kept things thoroughly objective, this website and blog would be so boring.

April 14, 2006 9:13pm (photo by Ginette)

I enjoying keeping up with lots of (non-flamenco) blogs that get very very personal and revealing. I do love performing and promoting the beautiful art of flamenco, but I'd be lying to you if I didn't admit loving the attention of being onstage. It's fun and I've paid my dues those many nights practicing my guitar in high school and college when the rest of my friends went out and partied.

Anyway, I do like to reveal a little about myself through my blog. OK, so I like the attention a little, but really my intent is to give people an idea what it's like to take the plunge and follow their heart and go into the arts or whatever satisfies their soul. It's not always easy but assuming you've got the requisite artistic skills, talent, passion and drive to keep up professionally it's a LOT of fun.

April 14, 2006 9:13pm (photo by Ginette)

I was having a rough week recently (if you've kept up with my blog you already know this), and a couple of my friends came through for me and cheered me up and helped me realize that it's really not so bad. All I needed was to take a little break. Didn't need to go away anywhere though--just spend time with the right people.

Last night (Friday) I performed at Cabanas restaurant in Georgetown with dancers Shahram Tehranian and Ginette Perea. The warm weather is back (duh) so the dining room and outdoor patio was packed and most of the audience paid attention, yay! They opened up the patio doors so people sitting outside and passing by could catch a glimpse of the show.

Shahram and Ginette. April 14, 2006 9:38pm (photo by Linette)

Ginette. April 14, 2006 9:44pm (photo by Linette)

Shahram. April 14, 2006 9:54pm (photo by Linette)

Our friends Michael and Laura stopped by hoping to catch our show, but they arrived too late.

Michael, Ginette and Laura. April 14, 2006 10:34pm

It's OK. I pulled out my guitar and we had a little Sevillanas party by the bar...

Ginette and Michael. April 14, 2006 11:15pm (photo by Laura)

April 14, 2006 11:15pm (photo by Laura)

Miguelito and Ginette. April 14, 2006 11:16pm (photo by Laura)

Later I met up with some friends in Adams-Morgan and checked out Meze, Rumba Cafe and Club Felix but finally settled on Habana Village (I wanted to get my salsa fix). It was a beautiful night to be out and the time just flew by but fortunately I was able to get ride home and got to bed by 4am.

OK, it's 9:33am. I slept surprisingly well and feel rested believe it or not. Anyway, I'm supposed to meet a friend for breakfast at El Patio at 10:00am so I better take a shower and get dressed. Then I play for dance class at noon until 2:30pm at American Dance Institute before heading down to Alliance Dance Institute to rehearse with Marsha. This is going to be a good day. Ciao for now!

Posted by Miguelito at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's 11:13am on Friday as I type these words. I must admit, I've had the so-called "spring fever" the past week or so. Have been neglecting a lot of stuff so that I could get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.Today's the day I'll do some catching up. Since I have a lot of work ahead of me, I'm going to just keep today's commentary very very brief.

One of the benefits of working in a Spanish restaurant is enjoying the food (usually for free). Last night I performed at the Andalucia Restaurant which is located in Rockville, Maryland.

Pre-show Concha y Toro. April 13, 2006 8:02pm

It wasn't exactly a lively crowd, so it seemed appropriate to improvise some toque libres including granainas and tarantas. I closed my eyes the whole time and lost myself in the music. You'd be surprised how much better you play when you do this. I believe that when you close your eyes there's a tendency to appreciate the sound of the guitar a lot more.

My dinner: mahi-mahi in white wine sauce with fresh mushrooms and artichokes. April 13, 2006 9:21pm

It was a pretty mellow evening overall. We only have dancers on the first and third Thursdays of the month, so it was just me playing solo guitar. But I had the pleasure of meeting a classical guitarist in the audience who wanted to learn more about flamenco, so we talked shop for awhile. As you know, I majored in classical guitar in college and made the transition to flamenco in my senior year.

Drink with my dinner: traditional sangria. April 13, 2006 9:27pm

It was a beautiful day today (Thursday). I walked from the Pink Flamenco in Chevy Chase all the way down Wisconsin Avenue into Georgetown. As I was window shopping at Zara, I saw a dancer friend from Alliance drive by and wave. A couple of hours later I was at a shopping mall in Virginia looking through dance DVD's and came across one on mambo by Vicky Regan. I actually met Vicky at Alliance back in December! A short while later at Starbucks, I ran into a fellow ballroom dance student.

Postres. April 13, 2006 9:29pm

I don't own a car right now. But it's a good thing, over the past week or so I've had the pleasure of randomly running into friends that I probably would hardly see if I was always driving around.

Monica pouring an after-dinner drink. April 13, 2006 9:37pm

It's 11:36am now. Time to get some lunch and come back to get to work!.

I'll be performing at Cabanas tonight with dancers Ginette Perea and Shahram Tehranian. See you there!

Posted by Miguelito at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

View coming out of the Georgetown Loews. April 12, 2006 7:18pm

It's 10:14am on Thursday as I type these words. Looks like a beautiful day so far, although there is a forecast for rain which is fine except when it's time for me to transport my sound equipment to my gig tonight. Ugh. Anyway, positive...think positive! :-)

Man, yesterday was gorgeous. It always helps that I have a morning rehearsal to get myself out of bed earlier than usual. That way I can enjoy more of the day between rehearsals, performing and working on my blog--good thing I finished my blog entry last night before going to bed.

Anyway, I met up with Marsha at Alliance Dance Institute around 10:00am (Wednesday) to brainstorm some rhythmic ideas. Two mistakes on my part: I skipped breakfast and I didn't caffeinate. My hands were playing just fine but my mind was still asleep. Everytime Marsha asked me for some feedback about rhythmic ideas, I drew a blank. After a few more blanks, I told her, "Let's take a quick break and I'll get myself some coffee (with lots of sugar)." That did the trick. The caffeine jolted me out of my slumber and the sugar provided the glucose my brain needed to get itself into gear to concentrate. (Read this article about glucose and learning.)

Finally, we raised the rehearsal to a higher level of productivity and got a lot done in the remaining amount of time we had left. We're still going to rehearse again this weekend though. Around noon, I left the studio to get some lunch while Marsha went to do a few errands. I returned at 12:30pm for my private dance class.

If you've been keeping up, you know I've learned the basics already for foxtrot, rhumba, American tango, international tango, waltz, swing, salsa and cha cha. But for my privates, I've chosen to focus on waltz and salsa. There's a lot to learn I know, but right now I need to focus on becoming a dancer--you know-- getting some control of my body cuz I know so much about dance from rehearsing and performing with dancers so much over the years but although I can visualize the movements in my head, my body just doesn't cooperate. I'm basically using muscles I haven't used before and I need to internalize a lot of the movements that are common to all these ballroom styles so I can just get out there and enjoy myself.

I've had a few moments where I felt like I was dancing. For example, today we were working on the waltz and I don't know if my teacher intended to do this, since I have a tendency to overanalyze stuff, but I think Marsha kept my analytical mind so busy with some small talk while we were doing the waltz basic that I managed to keep it going halfway around the dance floor without losing the rhythm! It was a pretty cool feeling like we were floating across the dance floor. I was impressed with myself. I'm a pretty smart guy and somewhat physically fit so I know I can do this with some serious practice, not that it's easy cuz it isn't, but sometimes I just get in my own way when I think too much. :-P Well today during the waltz, Marsha asked me, "Do you feel like a ballroom dancer?" and today I was able to say yes. :-)

I thanked Marsha for the lesson and got out of the studio around 2:00pm. To keep this ballroom high going I wanted to go see the new Antonio Banderas movie Take the Lead but I needed to cash a check at a bank near my brother's art boutique in Clarendon, so I stopped by for a quick visit.

Turns out my brother's going to be on TV: he was invited to be the featured designer on a "Trading Spaces" spin-off called Kidspace on HGTV. I'm so proud of him for following his heart and going into the arts full-time like myself. Congrats Kevin!

It was a good day to be out so naturally I saw a few familiar faces. I walked from the Clarendon neighborhood to Rosslyn and first ran into my roommate's girlfriend and talked for a bit. Then when I was about to cross the Key Bridge, I ran into another friend who gave me a ride into Georgetown. I was in the crosswalk when I saw someone wave at me. Turned out to be Omar on his way to Cafe Bonaparte. I got to the Georgetown Loews in time for the 4:55pm show of the Banderas flick which was corny at times, I admit, but since I'm now hooked on ballroom, I didn't care. It was inspiring.

When I got out I instinctively headed towards the waterfront and came across this view of the sunset....

Georgetown waterfront at sunset. April 12, 2006 7:23pm

It was a perfect night for outdoor dining as many of the tables on the patio were occupied. At least a quarter of the people were just lounging in chairs with no more than a drink in their hands as they faced the water appreciating the sunset together with me.

I took a long walk through Georgetown and was tempted to go into Barnes and Noble where I'd probably end up reading books until closing time.

Barnes and Noble on M St. April 12, 2006 8:15pm

But I resisted the tempation to go into the bookstore and instead continued my journey into the Dupont Circle neighborhood intending to visit Cafe Citron when I remembered that Alliance Dance Insitute has a Wednesday night salsa party at Meze in Adams-Morgan. So I went into Meze and said a brief hello to a few familiar faces before going back out and heading towards the Woodley Park metro to go home.

April 12, 2006 9:35pm

Posted by Miguelito at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's 12:13am on Wednesday as I type these words. Today's entry will be short and sweet. I have to get up early for a morning rehearsal with Marsha at the Alliance Dance Institute, plus I have my weekly ballroom and latin dance classes immediately afterwards, yay!

I spent a good part of Tuesday morning working on my blog (and editing Ginette's Spain photos). I finally was out the door mid-afternoon and since it was yet another gorgeous day, I dropped off my equipment at Las Tapas early so I could take a walk to the Old Town Alexandria waterfront and take in the view for awhile before heading back to do a sound check and warm-up a little before the show.

Old Town Alexandria waterfront. April 11, 2006 5:50pm (taken with my camera phone)

I made my usual stop at Ollson's Books on Union St. and lingered in the travel section. When I got there, it was as if Spain was calling out to me...

Travel section at Olsson's. April 11, 2006 6:34pm (taken with my camera phone)

Genoveva was subbing for Anna Menendez and I didn't find out the sub for Edwin until I got back to Las Tapas. It turned out to be Jen. We did a quick five-minute rehearsal by the dressing room, went downstairs and did our two sets. Afterwards we just hung out and caught up on each others' lives. Turns out that Genoveva will be staying for awhile in the DC area after all, yay! Genoveva will be starting up classes on a regular basis very very soon most likely on Sunday nights at DC Dance Collective, but I'll announce the info when everything is confirmed.

It's 12:29am. I better get some rest so I can get up early and quickly review my ballroom dance figures. Good night!

Posted by Miguelito at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As you can imagine, I meet a LOT of people at Cafe Citron. It's a very popular place even on a Monday night. Occasionally I meet people who dance flamenco such as my friend Karina Valverde. I first met her here almost two years ago when I said, "I'm going to have you dancing on my stage by next summer."

Well, OK, I made that promise in June 2004, but I did finally get Karina to dance on my stage and for all four coplas of Sevillanas. Mission accomplished! I know it's only Sevillanas, but it's a start.

Mariya and Karina in Sevillanas. April 10, 2006 9:39pm (photo by Diana)

The pictures were taken by my friend Diana who sat at the table in front of the stage. As you can see in the following photos, the audience seating is very intimate in relation to the stage. That's the cool thing about the setup here at Citron. It's easy for us performers to feed off the energy of the audience (and vice-versa) cuz they're so close. Plus they're a little more lively due to the fact that it's a bar which means that a lot of the people are a little more relaxed and at times rambunctious. :-)

Mariya introduced me to these two girls from Russia and Ukraine respectively. I got to practice my Russian language skills, yay! Anyway, they heard about the show through my announcement on Club Zone.

April 10, 2006 9:45pm (photo by Diana)

Mariya. April 10, 2006 9:49pm (photo by Diana)

I know palmas look like they're easy to do. Basically they are easy but they still require concentration and you have to connect with the other performers. Notice Jason carefully watching Mariya as she dances tientos/tangos.

Mariya and Jason. April 10, 2006 9:50pm (photo by Diana)

April 10, 2006 9:50pm (photo by Diana)

Mariya, Karina, Lilly and Diana. April 10, 2006 10:07pm

Jason, Madiha and Gerard. April 10, 2006 10:09pm

I first met Madiha here at Citron in August 2004 and funny thing is that for the first few weeks that I hung out with her, we only spoke Spanish! Anyway, she used to come to Citron every single Monday for a couple of months and she was always accompanied by her (at the time) single female friends, Ivana, Gisele and Lilian who gradually stopped coming to Citron as they each hooked up with a boyfriend. :-( Madiha still comes to Citron every now and then.

Like many of my friends, Karina has a dayjob and other commitments that make it difficult to come out and party on a Monday night. But she did come out and stayed past midnight despite having to go to work the following morning. Thanks Karina!

Karina and Miguelito. April 11, 2006 12:07am

OK it's 12:13pm now and the weather, again, is gorgeous. So I better shower, get dressed and get out of the house. I'll be performing at Las Tapas tonight. Genoveva is performing so come out and see her while you can. She's an excellent dancer and may be leaving the area sometime soon. See you there!

Posted by Miguelito at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 10:07am on Tuesday as I type these words. Yesterday (Monday) I was meeting my friend Aru for lunch near the World Bank which isn't too far from Dupont Circle, so I took the liberty of dropping off my sound system early at Citron so I wouldn't have to go back home again. This was a very smart idea cuz it freed me up to hang out all day long!

The weather was so beautiful we were hoping to get an outdoor table but alas, they were all taken. Oh well. At least I was able to spend a little quality with my friend and got her out of the office to enjoy the day for a short while. I said goodbye to Aru and decided to head towards Georgetown and see what it was like on the waterfront...

Practicing on the waterfront. April 10, 2006 2:18pm

I promised my friend Roxy I'd hang out with her in Red Square on the Georgetown University campus when the weather was warm. This was one of those days! But she wasn't going to be in the area for another hour, so I spent some time practicing on the waterfront near Cabanas and enjoyed the view as the Nightingale cruised by and I came up with another fun idea: I promised another friend we'd play tourist for a day again and take the riverboat tour the next time she's free. It's only $12!

Nightingale II beginning its cruise on the Potomac. April 10, 2006 2:31pm

Finally got a text message from Roxy telling me she's on her way, so I packed up and headed towards Georgetown University.

Stairs to Healy Hall on the beautiful Georgetown University campus. April 10, 2006 3:44pm

As I walked to Red Square I could see lots of students laying out on beach towels and blankets on the lawn enjoying the sun, sleeping, studying and even using their laptops!

Walkway towards Red Square. April 10, 2006 3:46pm

I got there early and hung out for a while before Roxy showed up. She called up a fellow student who happens to be a flamenco guitarist, Ian McLean who joined us a short while later. He was in the middle of studying at the library but couldn't turn down an opportunity to play guitar outdoors on a beautiful day like this.

Ian drifiting off into bulerias land :-) April 10, 2006 4:21pm

He had to go to the Library of Congress to do some research, but decided to hang out just for a little while. 15 minutes stretched to 30 minutes which stretched to two hours! Hehe.

I half-jokingly call myself the corruptor cuz one time a couple of years ago, a Georgetown student and I used to spend all day long playing guitar and loading up on iced lattes at an outdoor cafe while he skipped out on classes so much that he ended up dropping out of Georgetown for a semester. Yeah it was costly but he doesn't regret it. We had a great time and have since become lifelong friends.

Ian and Miguelito. April 10, 2006 4:42pm (photo by Roxy)

Roxy was supposed to be studying too, but like Ian couldn't resist lounging out in the sun with me until a little after 6:00pm--she had to go to hear a guest lecturer at 7:00pm. Thanks Roxy!

Ian and Roxy. April 10, 2006 5:44pm

Self-portrait. April 10, 2006 6:15pm

Later, Jason joined us for a short while. We said goodbye to Roxy and headed to Georgetown for a little shopping before going to Citron to get ready for my show.

Roxy and Jason. April 10, 2006 6:49pm