They just had a DJ booth with one microphone and a wood laminate dance floor that wasn't hollow underneath. Ugh. Oh well. Divas bitch, but professionals make the best of the situation with what's available, right? So of course, I brought in my sound system and quickly and discreetly set it up and went "backstage" to warm-up and discuss the program.

It's been a long time since I last performed with Micaela, but I had worked with her hundreds of times literally since 1995 so I had her choreographies filed away in my mind--just had to dust them off and mentally review them. We only had time to talk through the program and just go on and perform, which we did.

Since we were the surprise entertainment, we didn't announce ourselves. Just went out there sat down on the "stage" and started the show....

This room is large so I wasn't sure if we'd "connect" with the audience since they were seated a good twenty to thirty feet away (flamenco is at its best in an intimate setting.). So I cranked up the volume and got the "party" started with Sevillanas. Micaela and Carlton got up and danced four coplas. When they posed at the end of each copla the conversations faded and the applause and cheers got louder and stronger. Turns out that I had the gain on my microphone turned up so it picked up the sound of the footwork--thank God!

Mica danced a Guajiras for her solo and frankly I wasn't expecting to be impressed considering that she hasn't performed in more than a year. But her technique was on. Footwork was strong and her llamadas were clear. Apparently all that performing experience over the years paid off! And the audience was really digging our show. So we fed off of that energy.

Next up was a totally improvised canción por bulerías that Carlton and I jammed on backstage while we were warming up. We just decided, "Hey that sounds good, let's do it," and so we did it! TIP: unless the client is asking for a specific length of time in a performance, it's better to give less and leave them wanting more. So I reminded Carlton to take the lead here and be decisive about when to end. There's nothing more draining than a song that doesn't climax or come to an end. So he decided he'd do three letras and a short but exciting salida.

I didn't know if the audience would respond to a cante solo, but they did. Turns out the client is from Bilbao (in the Basque country) who represents wineries in Spain. He and his Spanish colleagues were impressed that we did include some cante and they especially enjoyed the letras that Carlton chose to sing because they could understand every word. Nice!

Overall, everyone was happy. Us performers felt more and more comfortable as the show progressed and afterwards, the guests and event organizer paid us compliments. Compared to the other live entertainment they've used for past wine tasting events, we really did kick things up a notch. Our contact person used the word "mesmerized" in describing the reacton of her guests to our show.

I packed up my sound system while Micaela and Carlton changed. Schmoozed with the winery folks and got to sample some of the merch. Sometimes at these types of gigs, the reps slip us a few free bottles, but not this time. Oh well. Feeling in a festive mood, we continued our party on the second level where there was a filmmakers party in progress. We just crashed it. Hehe.

Al, Micaela and Carlton at the bar on the second floor. June 21, 2006 10:10pm

It was Wednesday. Not exactly a party night. But there was a party vibe going. It's just that this room is huge: I felt like I was at Love (formerly Dream--the mega dance club in DC), that's how large it was. So as you can imagine for a Wednesday night in Baltimore, it was quite a challenge to fill this place and make it feel like a party. Oh well. After one round of drinks (courtesy of Al), we decided to find a place to get some dinner.

Miguelito and Micaela in front of Gardel's. June 21, 2006 10:19pm

Carlton had to leave cuz he had to wake up early the next morning for work. So I joined Mica and Al in their quest for a late night meal. There was a courtyard across the street with lots of outdoor bars and rock music blaring so we thought we'd give that a try. No luck. Door to door we discovered that the alcohol was flowing but the kitchens were all closed. Ugh.

Courtyard across the street. June 21, 2006 10:36pm

We asked some taxi driver for late night dinner suggestions and he recommended Little Italy which was just a few blocks away. Turned out to be a really good tip, cuz we were seriously starving and McDonald's just wouldn't have hit the spot. We found a cluster of Italian eateries and ended up at a place called Sabatino's and an hour or so later we walked out more than satisified--their portions are huge! We were spent so it was time to call it a night. Made it back to DC by 1:00am-ish and said our goodbyes. Yet another fun flamenco-filled night. Life is good. :-)