Anyway, in a nutshell, I got into flamenco to get a girl but flamenco ended up getting to me instead. Hehe. I'll finish this story another time, but I brought this up for a reason. My story is similar to the setup for Sarah Bird's latest novel, The Flamenco Academy. The difference is that it's about a young woman named Cyndi Rae Hrncir who by chance meets this handsome young flamenco guitarist and in the course of an evening falls in love with him and realizes that the way to ultimately win his heart is by becoming a flamenco dancer herself.

I love how the author describes Cyndi's first impression of the flamenco guitar:

...I heard another sound, a sound so pure and crystalline that even though it was barely audible, it cut through the cacophony with diamond-sharp clarity. As my eyes and ears adjusted, I realized that there was in an alcove beside the Foster's pyramid and someone was sitting in it, playing guitar....The party noise fell away and suddenly all I could hear was the cascade of notes pouring from his fingers. I didn't know enough about music to identify the style. It was too raw to be classical, too rarified to be rock. Then I stopped trying to figure out what it was and just listened...

The author goes on to describe the guitarist's playing:

...His knuckles rolled like marbles beneath the skin as fingers pulleyed up and down, floating over the strings, gently drawing sounds that made my head fill with stained-glass colors: cobalt blue, Prussian blue, emerald, ruby, colors so deep and saturated it hurt to even imagine them. When he stopped playing and leaned over to pick up a can of beer, the colors shattered and I was dumped back into a seedy motel room that had, for a few seconds, been transformed into a cathedral.

Hehe. Of course, I know from personal experience how intoxicating the sound of a flamenco guitar can be. I just never read such a poetic description of it until now.

But this story is mostly from the dancer's point of view. You'll find yourself nodding affirmatively as you read about Cyndi's first time in a flamenco class and being intimidated by the other students. You know...you got the ballet types and the modern dance types etc. You know some of them stretch because they have to and others just do it to show off. In the end, we all know it doesn't really matter where you came from (sometimes even ballet can hinder a student in flamenco). It's only a beginner's class and there's competition already. Welcome to the world of the performing arts! :-)

Once we get past that initial stage, we have those stereotypical dance students that are gifted with a sense of rhythm but lacking in stage presence and those who have that passionate fire inside that makes whatever they do look amazing but can't stay in compas to save their life. And some who are neither but take class anyway because it's just satisfying to them on some level.

Then we have the teacher who's frustrated with American girls thinking they can just take a class and "learn" flamenco. Even those guitarists out there will nod when you read passages such as this:

The guitarist nodded nervously to acknowledge the style Doña Carlota had called for, then studied her intently as she clapped out an intricate pattern to a beat slow as a dirge. He began to play a lovely melody ornamented with expressive frills and she shook her head violently. "No! No! No pretty falsetas. None of that mierda."

Then we have the cliques:

The flamenco program's inner circle clustered around Liliana, the Christina Aguilera look-alike, whom Didi had correctly identified as the "head flamenco bitch." I recognized a few other standouts from the program: Liliana's chief henchbabe, Yolanda Gutierrez, a good but not great dancer....

Obviously the author spent quite a bit of time with the insiders to get an overall feel for the "community." A lot of the things that you'll read about it will have you nodding affirmatively again and again.

Despite her extensive research for this novel, Sarah Bird will be the first to admit that she is not a member of the "community" and that no one will be able to portray everything accurate enough for some experts. But one thing you can count on is a good story...you know, the kind that seduces you into thinking you know where it's going to go but then the story takes on an unexpected detour that eventually leads to a surprising but satisfying end.

It's not too often a novel about flamenco comes out, let alone in English. It's 300-some pages long but it reads quickly. The Flamenco Academy is now available on Amazon but if you want your copy sooner, you can purchase it at your favorite local bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Borders and Olsson's.

The author will be appearing at the Olsson's Boooks and Records at 7:00pm on Tuesday June 20 at 418 7th St NW DC (down the block from the DC branch of the Jaleo tapas bar).