Rehearsing before the students arrived. February 7, 2008 6:49pm (photo by John Vazquez)

The class was scheduled to start at 7:00pm but I was supposed to get there 6:00pm-ish and do a soundcheck. The sound guy Danny set me up with a mic on a boomstand, a comfortable armless chair and a monitor speaker so I could hear myself amidst all the foot stomping (very important!). Total professional. Not to say that tweaking the sound for flamenco guitar is easy, but we were done in a matter of minutes. So I had plenty of time to chill.

A reporter was coming to interview me and Sara a little later, but I texted him to let him know I was already free. Lo and behold, as I was about to run out to Starbucks for a doppio, I ran into reporter John Vazquez in the lobby, said hello, and invited him back into the theater where he could interview me in relatively quiet surroundings. In the lobby there was all kinds of activity going on with the theater staff, people buying tickets and the employees from Jaleo setting up their food and wine tables.

Lisner seats about 1500. February 7, 2008 6:59pm

So we entered the theater and found a spot right in front of the stage. John pulled out one of those fancy handheld digital recorders, the kind with stereo mics and sound quality suitable for professional podcasts. Gotta get myself one of those! Anywayz, John will be reporting on the whole flamenco festival and I'll publish the link when it's available.

Sara's chatting with reporter John Vazquez from the online publication La Pluma Digital. February 7, 2008 7:00pm

The class was well-attended (in fact it was sold out!). There were about 30 students. Sara divided them up into three lines to fit them comfortably on the tablao on the stage. She began the class by introducing herself and yours truly. In the interest of saving time and getting into the dance, Sara skipped the mini-lecture about the history of flamenco.

The palo for the class: farruca. Originally this was considered exclusively a man's dance. Dancers like the legendary Carmen Amaya (1913-1963) changed that tradition by wearing pants and learning the intricate footwork style previously only performed by males. In any case, the rhythmic phrase is in 4/4 and is relatively easy to pick up for the newbie in an hour-long class.

Interestingly, the choreography that she taught for this class is very similar to the one that Sara herself learned when she was taking her first flamenco classes with another local dance teacher named Ziva about 12 years ago. I know because I was the guitarist in that class! Little did I know that Sara would become a professional dancer years later and would teach this choreography in educational presentations such as this one.

View from my chair. In a few minutes, this stage tablao will be filled with 30 dance students. February 7, 2008 7:01pm

Sara covered some of the basic vocabulary. In particular, she introduced the students to the names of the different parts of the shoe:

punta or toe
tacón or heel
planta or ball of foot
golpe striking of the whole foot on the floor

Soon afterwards, she launched into a very basic footwork pattern for farruca. The class picked it up pretty quickly and as expected, during the "easy" sections, they speeded up the tempo. It's a natural tendency considering the excitement of dancing on a real stage with professional lighting and an imaginary audience of 1500 adoring fans. Not to mention having live guitar accompaniment from a semi-famous flamenco guitarist: me! :-)

People recognized me: in fact there were at least a few students who winked or waved at me during the class. And afterwards some of them came up to meet me and complimented me on my website.

February 7, 2008 8:25pm (photo by John Vazquez)

About halfway into the class I noticed that local flamenco gurus Ana Martinez and Paco de Málaga quietly entered the theatre and sat in the last row of the orchestra section seating area. They were trying to be discreet, but c'mon I know who they are: they are local legends. And having them out there made me feel like I had a very discerning audience to play for. Not to mention the fact that my guitar was being amplified and filling the theater with sound. Every little nuance, good and bad, was there for Paco and Ana to hear.

It's a good thing though. Earlier when John was interviewing me he asked me about how I got involved in the local flamenco scene and I told him a little anecdote about how when I first arrived in DC in 1991 and went to a tablao called El Bodegón (now closed) and saw a performance by Paco and Ana, little did I know that I too would become a performer on that same stage a mere six years later. In a way, Paco has been kind of like a flamenco father to me: always encouraging me, passing on his wisdom and not afraid of telling me like it is. I only took a few guitar lessons from him but his informal guidance over the past sixteen years that I've performed in DC has been very valuable to me as a flamenco.

Sara Jerez and Miguelito. February 7, 2008 9:07pm (photo by John Vazquez)

I asked Paco what he has been up to these days, since he no longer works at the Guitar Gallery. He said to me, "Now I'm enjoying my life." It's all relative of course, he did for living what satisfied his soul: playing flamenco. That and he sold guitars. But now that he's retired, so to speak, he's traveling and now that he's not performing as frequently as he did in the past, he's free (unlike myself) to attend all the concerts in the flamenco festival.

Ironically, as a longtime promoter of the flamenco festival I do have the privilege of getting free tickets, but I can't always take advantage of that privilege. The drawback of being a busy local performer!

After the class, Sara ran backstage, quickly changed into costume, came back out and performed a Guajiras while her students watched. Applause, applause. Sara plugged my website. I passed out my flyers (see below) which incidentally I whipped up in five minutes at the Kinko's near my house before heading to the theatre. Couldn't pass up this opportunity to promote the local flamenco scene!

The flyer I passed out at the end of the class.

After packing up my guitar and thanking the sound technician (very important!) I made my way out to the lobby to enjoy the Spanish wine and cheese reception sponsored by Jaleo. The lavish spread included

Endives with goat cheese, oranges and almonds
Pasamontés Manchego – Mild sheep’s milk cheese
Idiazábal - Pleasantly sharp, smoky sheep's milk cheese
Garrotxa - Semi-soft ash rind goat cheese
Picón – Goat, sheep and cow’s milk blue cheese
Tortilla española
A selection of red and white Spanish wines.

I chatted a bit Carl Graci, Lisner's marketing manager and Claudia, a member of the theatre staff. Met a prospective guitar student named Chris and a couple of dancers, Carolina and Kirsten, who are fans of my website. Little by little, I'm drawing more and more people into the local flamenco community. I enjoy doing it. Hopefully I'll see some more new faces at upcoming flamenco performances and social events.

I was tempted to stick around for the dance class to be taught by Ana Martinez, with accompaniment by Paco de Málaga but I had way too much to drink on an empty stomach and seriously needed to get some dinner. The tapas were good, though, but they didn't fill me up.

It's 2:00pm and I better get out of the house while the weather's still beautiful and enjoy the day. As for tonight, I'll be performing at Cabanas in Georgetown with Ginette Perea and Shahram. See you there!

P.S. If you haven't bought your tickets for Lisner's Flamenco Festival already, DO IT NOW!