Miguelito. September 15, 2006 9:51pm (photo by Branko)

Despite the rainy weather, the restaurant had a lot of reservations and the crowd was pretty lively. Perhaps a little too lively since they were more into their own conversations to take notice of the show. It's nothing personal I know. Happens to all of us, cuz, let's not forget: we are performing in a restaurant after all and not Carnegie Hall. And if the people would rather just eat and socialize and ignore the show, well that's their prerogative. Sad but true: generally we Americans are so uncultured sometimes.

Miguelito and Pam. September 15, 2006 9:56pm (photo by Branko)

What's ironic is that sometimes when we're at our artistic best, the audience isn't paying attention. And occasionally when we're having an off night performance-wise happens to be when we have aficionados in the audience. Oh well, what can you do? I hate to say this, but it's a job. So we still have to put on a good show no matter what--there still might be one person in the audience who actually is paying attention and they deserve a good show nonetheless. As artists, if we're not feeling the audience, we focus of performing for each other. That usually works.

Pam de Ocampo. September 15, 2006 9:57pm (photo by Branko)

Just bear in mind that dancing and performing are completely separate skills. It's possible to be a good dancer (having good technique and being able to execute choreographies perfectly) and still not be a good performer. I know, I bring up this topic all the time. But it's still very important because I don't want student dancers who have aspirations to become performers to practice like crazy and expect to wow the audience the first time around.

Miguelito, Pam and Ginette. September 15, 2006 10:03pm (photo by Branko)

I mean, yeah, by all means practice as much as you can, but when you get out on stage for the first time just be aware of the fact that performing on stage is a very different experience from practicing in the studio. It's OK to make mistakes in a show, but the important thing is to be able to recover from them quickly and maintain the energy of the show.

Ginette Perea. September 15, 2006 10:05pm (photo by Branko)

You get the point. I just want congratulate my fellow performers Ginette and Pam who demonstrated what it means to be a good performer. They gave it their best as always. And at the end of each dance when there was almost no applause, they took their bows proudly of course and we looked at each other and just quietly chuckled to ourselves.

Miguelito. September 15, 2006 10:09pm (photo by Branko)

This bring to mind about earlier on Friday when I did a Hispanic Heritage month gig with Pam and Midori. Good audience but during the fin de fiesta bulerías at the end, the building lost power and the lights went out. Thank God it was daytime and there were lots of windows, so we weren't caught in the dark. Anyway, my sound system went out too but the show went on and I continued playing the guitar as if nothing happened although I did play louder to be heard in this large room. My dancers carried on without flinching or losing a beat and we maintained our audience's attention such that they remained quiet and attentive until the very end when they gave us such enthusiastic applause not only for the show itself but probably for the fact that we didn't let the power outage diminish our performance.

Afterwards, Pam said to me, "Thank God for live music!"

Amen. People, CD's can't adapt. I say this not only for when the power goes out but for artistic reasons. If the dancer or singer decides to extend a section or shorten a section or try something out of the blue based on the feeling of the moment, the competent flamenco guitarist will be there to support her wherever she decides to take it. Of course, I'm biased here, but this just underscores the fact that CD's do not belong in a flamenco show. Well, if you live in an area where there are no guitarists available, I'll let you slide. End of lecture. :-)

Anywayz, getting back to the show at Cabanas, I just want to thank our friends showed up support us and enjoy the show.

Martin, Ginette, Branko, Pam and Jason Vera y Aragón. September 15, 2006 10:27pm (click on da pic for the color version)