Flamenco-filled weekend. November 17-18, 2006
Miguelito playing opening guitar solo at Cabanas. November 17, 2006 8:16pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
Originally, one of my favorite dancers Ginette Perea was scheduled to perform with me this past weekend, but unfortunately she had a major car accident late on Thursday night. She's fine now but had to excuse herself from this past weekend's gigs so she could recover from the trauma. I'll be sending her some flowers this week and if you'd like to include your name and a "get well wish" on the greeting card, just email me.
So I had to find a substitute dancer, and fast! Of course, I know just about all the performers in the DC area, however most of the ones that I would normally call to sub were either taking Nélida Tirado's workshop or were already booked to perform that night. Did you know that on Fridays, besides Cabanas, there are three other venues employing DC flamenco dancers? Tapeo, La Tasca Clarendon and La Tasca Old Town. With two dancers at each venue, that's a total of eight positions to fill every Friday night!
I decided to give the newly-arrived Samantha Zerpa a try. You may remember her from my recent blog entry about her show in Venezuela. She recently emailed me telling me she had just arrived back in Virginia. I gave her a call on Friday morning asking her to perform at Cabanas and she said yes!
Here are a few pics of Samantha's DC area tablao debut. Thanks to my friend Carla Pacheco for volunteering to be my photographer for the evening.
Samantha Zerpa in alegrías. November 17, 2006 8:22pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 17, 2006 8:22pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 17, 2006 8:22pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 17, 2006 8:23pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 17, 2006 8:26pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 17, 2006 9:13pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
Fast forward to the following night, Saturday, at Tapeo. Samantha did such a good job on Friday, I invited her to dance at Tapeo with Sarah Hart.
Sarah Hart in soleá at Tapeo. November 18, 2006 8:07pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 18, 2006 8:08pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 18, 2006 8:09pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 18, 2006 8:09pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
November 18, 2006 8:11pm (photo by Carla Pacheco)
Sarah, Miguelito and Samantha. November 18, 2006 9:14pm
After the show, I was invited to an intimate house party in DC with a few friends and...
A spectacular rooftop view of DC--that's the Washington monument on the horizon. November 18, 2006 11:11pm
Tapas galore. November 18, 2006 11:23pm
Guinness. November 18, 2006 11:30pm
Gran Marnier served in funky tilted tumblers. November 19, 2006 12:55am
We had a good time lounging around, conversing and listening to an eclectic variety of music and admiring my friend's collection of gargoyles. Hehe. After that last glass of delicious liquer at the end of the party, I was so mellowed out and sleepy and was so tempted to crash there, but I managed to prop myself up off the comfortable floor pillows that I was laying down on, stood up and after thanking our gracious hostess, made it out the door and arrived home a little after 3:00am.
Fast forward to Sunday, I woke up late and stopped by DC Dance Collective in time to play for Anna Menendez's 4:00pm class. It has been several months since I last played for her Sunday evening class, not to mention Estela Velez's Sunday afternoon classes at Joy of Motion. (Estela: I'll stop by your classes soon.)
I don't know, I guess I've been busy doing other things on my Sundays. Anywayz, it was good to be back although our class "cheerleader," the always vivacious Angélica, wasn't there to kick up the energy level a notch. But what was cool about this afternoon was that we worked on a palo that I'm not familiar with: bamberas. The only info I had to go on in figuring out how to accompany the bambera was the unfamiliar melody of the letra that Anna sang, that it had a solea por bulerías feel and that the key was por arriba. Here's a link that describes a bambera and includes an mp3 soundbite. Assuming what I read is true, the bambera is a folk song that has been flamenco-ized. Enough "research" for now.
It's 12:10am on Monday. Time for bed. With all these recent late nights and suddenly colder weather, I'm already feeling a hint of scratchiness in my throat. Can't afford to get sick. Good night!
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Comments
Aah, no picture of Ernesto?!
Posted by: Karine | November 20, 2006 12:21 PM