Isabelita and Raquel dancing Sevillanas in the dining room at Tapeo. December 29, 2006 7:30pm

Raquel and Isabelita. December 29, 2006 7:322pm

Every Friday night at Tapeo, Isabelita regularly performs Sevillanas with a different partner that changes from week to week. Previous partners have included Jason Vera y Aragón, Samantha Zerpa, Raquel and I'm sure a few others whose names escape me at the moment. The Friday show at Tapeo has been around a little more than a month now while the flamenco show on Saturdays, when I perform here (usually with dancers Ginette Perea and Sarah Hart) has been around since May 2006 when Tapeo first opened its doors to the general public.

With the Sevillanas shows also going on Friday nights at La Tasca in Clarendon and its recently opened "sister" in Old Town Alexandria, this could be yet another recent sign of increasing popularity of flamenco in DC or perhaps the local Spanish restaurants are simply jumping on the bandwagon of the Sevillanas floor show idea that the original downtown DC Jaleo restaurant started back in April 1993.

I know because I was actually there at Jaleo's grand opening accompanying members of the DC chapter of the Spanish Dance Society in a flamenco show including dancer Jaime Coronado--this was one of the few times that Jaleo featured something other than Sevillanas. Also at Jaleo's 1993 grand opening was guitarist singer Marija Temo who made one of her very rare restaurant appearances accompanying dancer Susana Lorenzo.

Isabelita. December 29, 2006 7:33pm

From a business perspective, the floor show idea works well for the restaurant. They only have to hire at the most two dancers and there's no need to sacrifice table space for a costly stage and they perform with recorded music. But at the same time, there is the challenge of performing between tables oftentimes dancing just inches from seated customers.

Careo. December 29, 2006 7:34pm

Since I was already here supporting my fellow flamencos, I decided to enjoy a few tapas. They are done very well here at Tapeo: the chef obviously takes great pride in presentation of his exquisitely-prepared culinary creations and yes, the food tastes as good as it looks!

Vieras al Azafrán (scallops with saffron cream sauce with mashed potatoes). December 29, 2006 8:05pm

Chorizo a la Parilla (grilled Spanish sausage with mashed potatoes). December 29, 2006 8:05pm

Actually I had a glass of beer, but I couldn't help noticing this bottle behind the bar...

Bottle of tempranillo with a guitar on the label. December 29, 2006 8:24pm

Raquel and Isabelita dancing second show of Sevillanas. December 29. 2006 8:34pm

December 29. 2006 8:37pm

December 29. 2006 8:55pm

I had my guitar with me, so Isabelita asked me if I would play a little. She also suggested doing a set of Sevillanas outside (it wasn't that cold anyway) for fun of course and for a little publicity for the crowds passing by.

Raquel and Isabelita dancing Sevillanas outside in front of Tapeo accompanied by Miguelito. December 29. 2006 8:56pm (photo by Michael Long)

December 29, 2006 8:57pm (photo by Michael Long)

Raquel, Miguelito and Isabelita. December 29, 2006 8:57pm (photo by Michael Long)

Raquel had to rush off afterwards, but the night was still young and it wouldn't make sense to let Michael go home for the night without at least stopping by Las Tapas where rumberos Cesar and José Oretea aka Duende Camarón perform every Friday (and Saturday). Of course, we asked the lovely Isabelita to join us. She gladly accepted our invitation and soon after arriving at Las Tapas, as the party was just getting started, Isabelita didn't waste any time getting on the dance floor and not surprisingly charmed the other customers there with her beautiful and flirtatious rumba moves. She obviously absolutely loves to dance and you can see it in her facial expression...

Isabelita dancing rumba at Las Tapas. December 29. 2006 11:10pm

December 29, 2006 11:19pm

Isabelita acknowledging the band: Armand, José and Cesar. December 29, 2006 11:41pm

José did a spontaneous interpretation of one of Michael's favorite songs: "Vengo del Moro."

Michael Long and José Oretea. December 30, 2006 1:11am

December 30, 2006 1:11am

I hope you enjoyed these pics. I really should go to bed now, but I was feeling inspired and couldn't resist doing a little blogging about Friday's fun-filled night. Hopefully later today (New Year's Day), I'll get around to editing pics from Saturday night's show at Tapeo featuring dancers Ginette Perea and Sara Hart. Ciao for now. Goodnight!

P.S. Just a reminder, for those of you hardcore flamencos who wanted to squeeze in some partying at Cafe Citron, unfortunately the usual Monday night flamenco show is cancelled for tonight. But let's all plan on coming to the show next Monday January 8th and start off the new year with bang, OK?