Flamenco and basic etiquette
Isabelita and Ginette Perea dancing Sevillanas at Cabanas. March 7, 2008 9:34pm (photo by Pablo)
It's 3:00am on Friday as I type these words--on vampire schedule as usual. Despite the late hour, I'm in a productive mood. Just finished two loads of laundry, cleaned the bathroom, took out the trash. Added a new event to my flamenco calendar. Now while I wait for the last load of laundry to dry, I thought I'd crank out a quick blog entry before I call it a night.
I've performed in quite a few tablaos in the DC area over the past 17 years. Each one has its own unique ambience. Of course depending on a variety of factors (some controllable, some not), they range from loud and rambunctious to relatively quiet.
Eleven years ago, I was performing at the legendary El Bodegón restaurant in Dupont Circle with dancers Micaela Moreno and Edwin Aparicio (who at the time was just getting started in tablaos). It was a great honor for me to perform on the same stage where distinguished members of the older generation of DC flamencos made their mark including Manolo Leiva, Ana Martinez, Paco de Málaga, Torcuato Zamora, Carlos Ramos (My apologies: I know I'm leaving out a whole bunch of other important artists, but I'll write about El Bodegon more extensively another day).
What impressed me was that the manager/maitre d' introduced us artists before the show began. Very classy! It set the stage, so to speak, for the audience to stop their conversations and direct their full attention to the show. For the most part, it felt as close to a theatre show as was possible in a restaurant setting. I enjoyed my time there, but sadly El Bodegón closed its doors for good in 1997.
The question in my mind at that time was, "Will there be another venue as classy as El Bodegón?
March 7, 2008 9:34pm (photo by Pablo)
There was one place I performed for a short while a few years ago called El Manantial (in Reston, Virginia). It's still in existence but they don't currently have regularly-scheduled flamenco shows. We had the manager introduce us artists. They turned down the house lights and the servers were under strict orders not to walk around during the performance. Wow!
As much as I loved this kind of treatment, I know it's not realistic to expect this at all the local tablaos. But even then, I should still be able to expect the average restaurant patron to show some class and exercise some basic etiquette during the show, right?
Miguelito. March 7, 2008 9:34pm (photo by Pablo)
Miguelito and Hector Márquez. March 7, 2008 9:35pm (photo by Pablo)
I'd say 95% of time the audience treats us artists with respect while we're onstage. But the occasional moments when they are less than classy (to put it mildly), it gets to be soo unbelievably bad that I usually think to myself, "What the f&%k?"
Isabelita. March 7, 2008 9:37pm (photo by Pablo)
Miguelito, Isabelita and Hector. March 7, 2008 9:39pm (photo by Pablo)
Not to worry: I'm not going to turn this into a extended rant by listing all the horrendous incidents over the years. But last Friday at Cabanas, in the middle of our show (and during a very dramatic soleá no less), this one couple decided to get up and try to dance to the music right in front of the stage!
I thought to myself, "Is this for real? You've gotta be kidding me!"
March 7, 2008 9:49pm (photo by Pablo)
Did I lose my temper? Almost. But it wouldn't have been fair to my dancer if instead I focused my attention on this extremely rude behavior. The short-term solution: think about the rest of the audience, focus back on the flamenco dancer, savor the pleasure of performing flamenco as always and get through the show. Long-term solution: discuss with the staff the possibility of having them "nip it in the bud" when they see situations like this about to develop. Although no one amongst the customers openly complained, this rude couple nevertheless did interfere with the enjoyment of the show for their fellow audience members.
Rest assured. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often, thank God! We're professionals of course and we got through the show, enjoying ourselves as always.
I'd love to hear some comments from my readers out there. What would you do in a situation like this one? Would you have handled it the same way? If not, what would you have done differently?
Pablo and Isabelita. March 7, 2008 10:36pm
Ginette with some of her fans: Luís, Francisco, Johnny and Eric. March 7, 2008 10:48pm
Karen. March 7, 2008 11:08pm
As for tonight (Friday), I'll be performing at Cabanas with Ginette Perea and Shahram. See you there!
UPDATE: read some of the comments to this blog entry in MySpace. Also here's a recent article about how DC restaurants are getting louder.
« Retrospective: Flamenco at Catalan West Restaurant November 11, 2000 | Main | Flamenco at Cafe Citron on St Patrick's Day. March 17, 2008 »
Comments
first things first: i give you props for staying focused on the performance and your responsibility as the accompanying guitarist. good job.
here's a suggestion: if you and the dancer were of the same mind, what would've happened had you stopped the performance? *assuming the audience is attentive*, the rude couple would've immediately become the focus of attention. they'd look like fools in front of a crowded restaurant and presumably change their behavior.
it's my experience that rude people usually stop their rude behavior when they recognize everyone else disapproves. in this context, the performers have a unique opportunity to reiterate that social disapproval (i.e. by diverting attention paid to the performers onto the rude people).
it's not a perfect approach, and it won't work in certain circumstances (e.g. if the audience isn't attentive). but it could be effective on some occasions.
just a thought. but let me know if you try it out! ;)
Posted by: patrick | March 14, 2008 7:13 AM
I believe Patrick makes a good point, bring focus onto the rude behavior which in turn will create social disapproval, eliminating the rude behavior. But I think this could be taken a step further which will almost certainly draw more audience attention and disgust towards the situation - bring humiliation upon the participants. If such rude people have the audacity to disrespect artists who spend many years crafting their work by ‘dancing’ in front of the stage, then force them to do so on stage for the whole audience to see. Announce you have 2 people that think they can dance better than your dancer, and force these rude individuals to show the audience what they have. You could have your dancers to force them to do strong footwork, mock their movements, or even do a Farruca around them in disgust of their presence. When done with them, just dismiss them with a flung of the hand.
But there exists the issue of whether to stop a performance to simply rectify disrespectful behavior, losing the energy and emotion that’s been building up to humiliate imbeciles. I truly believe when presented with this situation, pouring emotion and energy into your art form just to be disrespected does cause detriment to the piece you’re performing. By stopping the show to perform mockery may alleviate some anger you and the dancers are harboring, and may redirect emotions for the remainder of the show.
Posted by: marc | March 14, 2008 4:30 PM