Pam de Ocampo dancing a seguiriya accompanied by guitarist Richard Marlow. January 28, 2010

It's 5-something pm on Friday as I type these words. I'm at a Panera in Arlington taking advantage of the free WiFi while enjoying coffee. Yeah, I know. I usually go to Barnes and Noble to blog, but just wanted to mix it up a little and try a different place.

Anywayz, it's been a busy week flamenco-wise: every day I've either been performing, rehearsing or going out to a show and supporting my fellow flamencos. Last night (Thursday) was one of those nights. I never really know who will be dancing on a Thursday at Tapas and so when I arrived around 7:30pm (half an hour before showtime) it turned out to be dancers Anna Menéndez and Pam de Ocampo!

Pam de Ocampo, José Oretea, Richard Marlow and Anna Menéndez. January 28, 2010

Flamenco shows at Las Tapas (in Old Town Alexandria) are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Call 703-836-4000.

Just a couple of quick updates on the local scene:

Flamenco is back at El Manantial in Reston, Virginia starting this Saturday around 7pm and 8:30pm. Call 703-742-6466 to make reservations and confirm showtimes.

For those of you coming out to my flamenco show at Cafe Citron on Saturday nights at 7pm and 8pm, please remember to call ahead at 202-530-8844 and reserve a table by the stage for the best view.

This Sunday January 31st, Things To Do DC is hosting Taste of Spain: Dinner and Flamenco Dance Show at Las Tapas featuring guitarist Miguelito with dancers Sarah Hart and Ginette Perea.

On Friday February 5th, International Club of DC is hosting An Evening in Madrid: Flamenco Dance Performance at Cafe Citron.

Also on February 5th, local dancers Sara Jerez and Ana Martínez are giving dance workshops for beginners on the stage of Lisner Auditorium as part of the 10th Annual Flamenco Festival.

On Monday February 8th, the Corcoran Gallery is hosting Dressed to Dance "a unique, live runway show and simultaneous dance performance showcasing a selection of historic and modern avant-garde Spanish dance costumes."

Lisner Auditorium's 10th Annual Flamenco Festival officially begins on Tuesday February 9th in Gala Flamenca featuring Pastora Galván, Manuel Liñán, Belén López and Rocío Molina.

Dancer Anna Menéndez performing an alegrías. January 28, 2010

Anna Menéndez teaches at the American Dance Institute in Rockville, Maryland.

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

Singer José Oretea and guitarist Richard Marlow. January 28, 2010

Anna Menéndez and Pam de Ocampo dancing bulerías. January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

Pam de Ocampo in alegrías. January 28, 2010

José Oretea and Richard Marlow. January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

Anna Menéndez dancing soleá. January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

Fin de fiesta bulerías. January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

I hope you enjoyed the pics. That's all for now. For the latest updates on the DC flamenco scene, visit www.dcflamenco.com

Dancer Emily Mazzotti and guitarist Miguelito at Cafe Citron. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

It's Sunday around 5-something pm as I type these words. Seems to be my ritual on Sundays now to blog at my neighborhood Barnes and Noble. It has everything I need: free WiFi, delicious coffee and the occasional distraction of interesting books, magazines and pretty girls.

About last night...so far my efforts promoting the Saturday flamenco show at Citron are paying off: besides the announcements in my blog, website and Facebook status updates, I also tweet regularly. Still…other than seeing the end result of filling Citron with customers every Saturday, it's hard to track the success of my online publicity campaign. But guess what? Last week, I did meet two people who told me they heard about my shows via Twitter!

Last night, however, we didn't pack the place until the second show. There are all kinds of factors that come into play: the weather, traffic delays, competing events around the same time, who knows? But it seems that we're always pushing the showtime later as we wait for customers to arrive in time for their table reservations.

Thankfully, it so happened that my dancer for the evening, Emily Mazzotti, was celebrating her birthday so a bunch of flamenco friends showed up—mostly dancers. Cajón player Jason Vera y Aragón even joined us onstage! (Thanks Jason!)

Emily Mazzotti. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

One minor problem with having the show in the back dining area is that the number of available seats is very limited. If people arrive for dinner and the flamenco show, without a reservation they usually end up being seated in the booths further back where the view of the stage is obstructed.

So I was toying with the idea of installing a video camera focused on my stage and projecting a live video of the show on a large screen for the rest of the club to see. Citron uses a projector by Optoma. So all I need to do is buy a video camera (but which one?) and the appropriate cable or can I do this wirelessly? If anyone out there has experience setting up a live video feed, email me!

Miguelito. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

For now, in addition to the shows on stage, we might continue to do what we tried out the previous week: perform Sevillanas for the customers seated in the booths area. We just did one copla each for each table. I played the guitar "unplugged" and strolled alongside Sara Jerez as she danced and played the castanets. The customers loved it. And at the very least they got to see what they came for: a live dance show, albeit a short one.

Emily Mazzotti. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Emily Mazzotti. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Emily Mazzotti and Miguelito. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

For the first eight years that I performed at Citron, we always had live cante by singer Gerard Moreno and for a short while with José Oretea. But when the economy took a dive last year, we had to cut the budget slightly and cut back the performers to just guitarist and dancer.

Of course I've been doing shows for a long time without a singer in many different venues, but after having live cante in the show at Citron for so long, it felt a little strange not to have it anymore. But as they say, "The show must go on!"

January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

I'm hoping that at some point in the near future, we'll bring back a singer into the show. We'll see. But for now, in a way, not having a singer, does give me the opportunity to grow more as a musician.

Miguelito and Emily Mazzotti. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Escobilla de soleá. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Anywayz, so that's my DC flamenco scene stream of thoughts for now. To paraphrase one of my favorite YouTubers PhilipDefranco, "That's all that really mattered to me this Sunday, my name is Miguelito and you've just been filled-in!" Except his name is Phil so "filled-in" sounds like "Phil'd in." Get it? I wanna come up with a clever sign off playing off my name for when I start making YouTube videos on the DC flamenco scene.

Atsushi, Emily and Miguelito. January 23, 2010 (photo by Jani)

My thanks to everyone who came out to my show at Cafe Citron last night. Your support is very much appreciated. Speaking of support, I'm about to head out to Vinoteca to take pics of the rumba/flamenco show featuring guitarists Richard Marlow and José Oretea with dancer Sara Jerez. It starts at 8:00pm and I'm already running late, yikes! See you there!

Sara Jerez and Miguelito. January 16, 2010 (photo by Steve Johnson)

It's 2-something pm on Sunday as I type these words. Apparently, it seems that a LOT of people had the same idea I had on this rainy day: spend the afternoon sipping coffee at the café and do some work on the laptop. Luckily, a table freed up moments after I arrived.

Anywayz, about last night: the attendance was very good! (I know, I know. I'm an artist and my attention should be focused solely on the quality of the show, but as a struggling self-employed musician I can't neglect the business side of making a living in the arts.) You'd think that being that the show is on Saturday, it should be no problem getting people to come out to my show. Thing is that Citron is a very popular club on the weekends but the insanely large crowds don't arrive until 11:00pm-ish. So it's still my job (and the restaurant's) to somehow get the word out and get people to come in at 7:00pm or 8:00pm on a Saturday night in time for the flamenco.

It's still a better night than Mondays, when the flamenco show used to be scheduled. Although I do take pride in saying that my fellow artists (and there have been many!) and I were able to bring in crowds on Mondays from 2001 to 2009 (that's eight years!) which is traditionally a very difficult night to get people come out!

Anna Menéndez and Sara Jerez. January 16, 2010 (photo by Steve Johnson)

So last night, all the tables next to the stage were reserved for dinner for people who wanted to see the flamenco show (yay!). Also a couple of the booths were reserved too. The first two tables next to stage were occupied by friends of mine, who incidentally were former coworkers from when I had a full-time day job almost ten years ago. Plus I had some friends from my current temp day job! On top of that I had my usual group of flamenco friends in the audience too! Thanks everyone for your support!

But still, there were quite a few faces I didn't recognize, and that's a good thing! We're bringing in new people, yay! I did take time to meet some of these new people, told them about my website etc etc. Hopefully they'll be back again and they'll bring in more new faces. We'll see in the coming weeks.

Sara Jerez and Anna Menéndez. January 16, 2010 (photo by Steve Johnson)

The first four pics you see here were taken by friend Steve Johnson, who was playing with his new Nikon DSLR that he got himself for Christmas. Good job Steve! I asked him for a few more details about his new toy. He writes:

"The camera is a D90, and that lens was a AF-S Nikkor 18-105mm VR. I'm actually excited to come to the next show, because I have a few different lenses I want to try out. I'm still learning the settings with this camera, so different lighting and movement situations like this are great practice. I'm going to buy a AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 in the next week or so, which is supposedly great for low lighting."

Miguelito and Sara Jerez. January 16, 2010 (photo by Steve Johnson)

The remaining ones you see in this blog, were taken by my friend Jani, who has taken literally hundreds of photos of my shows over the years. Thanks Jani! He used my Canon S3IS. While being a very powerful consumer point-and-shoot, my S3IS has taken lots of abuse from heavy use over the years. It's been dropped, spilled on etc and yes, I did take it with me once while paintballing on a muddy field!

For those of you photographers who want to know what lights I use:
1. Standard flood light 100 watt halogen PAR38 with hot pink gel coming from stage right
2. MBT PAR64 LED cycling through the spectrum from stage left

Miguelito. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

For those of you haven't been to Cafe Citron to see my flamenco show the past few Saturdays, I hope these pics give you some idea of what it's like. Just bear in mind, that unlike before, you need to reserve a table near the stage to get the best view of the show. Last night, most of the tables near the stage were reserved a week in advance! So if you plan on coming, do yourself a favor and make your reservation NOW! The number is 202-530-8844.

Sara Jerez and Miguelito. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Sara Jerez is the regular dancer here and she has quite a following, but she will be sending alternate dancers from time to time. This coming Saturday, we'll have a guest dancer, but I don't know who that will be yet. I'll announce the name of the guest dancer later this week. Past guests have included Ginette Perea, Sara Hart, Emily Mazzotti, Kyoko, Pam de Ocampo and many more, each of whom have their own hordes of fans!

Sara Jerez and Miguelito. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

We did have a special surprise appearance by our dancer friend Anna Menéndez. She happened to be at Citron celebrating a birthday of a special someone: her husband Tom! And of course, we couldn't resist inviting her to join us onstage for some Sevillanas. If you don't already know, Anna is a very well-known performer and teacher (she teaches at American Dance Institute in Rockville) who has trained quite a few dancers in the DC area!

Sara Jerez. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Anna Menéndez, Miguelito and Sara Jerez. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Sara Jerez, Anna Menéndez and Miguelito. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

It's all about customer service right? Well, the people who were seated in the booths were too far away from the stage to see the show. So to sort of make up for it, we did an impromptu serenade at a few individual tables (see pic below). Just one copla of Sevillanas each for three booths. It was kind of spontaneous and the crowd seemed to like it.

Sara Jerez. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Sara Jerez and Miguelito. January 16, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Mmm...yeah. I know...I kinda slacked off on my New Year's resolution of blogging at least once a week. I'm behind schedule by one day, so sue me!

In any case, thanks again to everyone who has come out to the flamenco show on Saturdays the past few weeks. I appreciate your support!!!

PS Don't just support me. Checkout all the local flamenco and rumba shows listed in my calendar of events.

Miguelito (that's me!) opening Cafe Citron's new Saturday night flamenco show with a guitar solo. January 9, 2010 (photo by Rosie)

It's 3-something pm on Sunday as I type these words. I'm at Barnes and Noble, comfortably seated at the coffee shop area sipping a double espresso and listening to a shuffle mix on my iPod—just my way of gettin' myself in the mood to blog. So it's DC Flamenco's 14th birthday? Big deal. It's more like a personal milestone to be acknowledged for a moment but not really celebrated in a big way (Seriously, how many people do you know who have a website that's been around that long?).

So yeah, my website's been around for so long now, it's considered a normal part of the flamenco scene but that's a good thing. It's not like screaming out to the world, "Hey, there's flamenco in DC!" It's more like, "We know you know there's a flamenco scene in DC, here's more info about it." What's cool is that in conversation, local flamencos say things like, "I read it on DC Flamenco..." and have no need to elaborate what DC Flamenco is!

Honestly though, a little glory would be nice...who doesn't like being showered with praise? But I'm just thrilled enough knowing in my mind that in some small way, my work here has had and continues to have an impact on the ever growing awareness of the DC flamenco scene.

(Anywayz, while you indulge my little online party of self-praise, enjoy these photos from last night's flamenco show at Cafe Citron featuring dancer Emily Mazzotti.)

When the topic of DC Flamenco comes up in conversation, there are two types of people I encounter...

Closeup of Miguelito's hands. January 9, 2010 (photo by Rosie)

1. People who have kept up with my website (mostly my blog) for long enough that they know so much about me.
Maybe I am a bit of a exhibitionist, but I just let my thoughts flow as I write and my theory is that over time, without realizing it, I tend to repeat things about myself enough that you'll get to know me whether you want to or not!

For example, a few years back, this one dancer friend of mine invited over for dinner one night and when I arrived I could smell what she was cooking. Turns out it was one of my favorite dishes and of course I told her. She replied, "I know, I read it in your blog!"

But my point in putting out a blog is not just to promote what's going on in the local flamenco scene (and to inform beautiful women what to cook me for dinner when they invite me over ) but also to give you a first-hand account of the life of someone who makes flamenco for a living. Is living a flamenco-filled life fun? Yes, most definitely! Is it stressful? Yes, sometimes, but the pleasure of doing what you love balances it out, most of the time. But I know that it's not practical for most people to perform on stage for a living, but I hope my blog does inspire people to make time for doing what fulfills their heart's desire, whether it's flamenco or salsa or World of Warcraft.

2. People who have known my website for some time now, but have no idea that I'm the creator.
These people will talk about DC Flamenco as if I'm just another person who knows about it, but I quickly inform them, "Oh yeah, that's MY website!" to which most people respond with, "That's you, really?"

Logo for DCFlamenco.com

This kind of reaction puzzles me a bit. Last time I checked the tag line for my website title was, "Miguelito's wonderful website for flamenco in Washington DC and beyond." Not to mention that my website logo has a picture of me (albeit tiny) and I haven't changed that logo for years—I've learned that it pays to maintain a consistent look for establishing a brand.

Emily Mazzotti and her husband Chris dancing Sevillanas. January 9, 2010 (photo by Jani)

It's OK. No serious harm to my ego. But I should be happy enough that they know about my website anyway (right?) and that they use it regularly to find out what's going on in the local flamenco scene. I suppose these are the type of people who google "flamenco," find the info they need and quickly move on. (Try googling "flamenco" and you'll see that DC Flamenco consistently shows up in either the first or second page of results!)

Miguelito and Emily. January 9, 2010 (photo by Jani)

The teacher directory and calendar of events, while probably being the most visited parts of my website, represent only a tiny tiny fraction of the content. I have more than 400 blog entries, probably close to 500 now, with thousands of pics of the local flamenco scene.

So I consider myself more of a blogger than writer. I say this because I don't always write for the art of writing. Don't get me wrong. I like to write well when I can. In fact I did really well academically in English and writing classes in high school and college—not boasting, OK maybe a little, just saying that I know I have the skill to write well if I want to.

I call myself a blogger in the sense that I am someone who's passionate about flamenco who happens to have the ability to write. Not the other way around. I am not a writer who decided to pick flamenco as topic so I can try to sound clever and show off with catchy alliterations like "fiery flamenco." Try googling that and you'll see how often that phrase has come up in reviews of flamenco shows over the years!

Oh God, I can feel myself starting to go off on a rant. I better stop here. Besides, my laptop battery is down to 26% so I better sign off now and publish this entry. I'll continue this train of thought in another blog entry. For now, enjoy the rest of the pics!

Emily and Chris. January 9, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Playing an intro to soleá. January 9, 2010

Emily executing a quebrada turn in a soleá. January 9, 2010 (photo by Chris)

Escobilla por soleá. January 9, 2010 (photo by Chris)

This is Russ, my former housemate when I lived at the Pink Flamenco in Chevy Chase from 2005 to 2007. January 9, 2010

This is Rosie, one of my most devoted fans! January 9, 2010

Idi, a longtime supporter of the flamenco show at Cafe Citron. January 9, 2010

Jani, one of my volunteer photographers, with Lina, the cute Colombian bartender who works on Saturdays at Citron. January 9, 2010

One last glimpse of Citron before heading to Sarah Hart's birthday party later that night. January 9, 2010

Hope you enjoyed these pics from Citron—remember flamenco at Citron is now on Saturday nights with shows at 7:00pm and 8:00pm. Monday nights Citron features a rumba show by Duende Camarón from 8:30pm to 11:30pm.

Also, this month a lot dance teachers are starting their winter session classes, so now's a good time to register if you haven't already:

Sarah Hart at Rodas Movements in Takoma Park, Maryland starting Thursday January 14th.
Estela Velez at Joy of Motion at Friendship Heights (DC) and Bethesda, Maryland.
Daniel Paredez at Born 2 Dance in Vienna, Virginia.
Edwin Aparicio at DC Dance Collective in Friendship Heights, DC.

Marija Temo is offering her usual Flamenco Communication workshop on January 17th and 24th in Vienna, Virginia.

There are more teachers who start new classes this month. For a more complete list of teachers visit my directory.

Guitarist/singer José Oretea at Cafe Citron. January 4, 2010

It's 4-something on Tuesday afternoon as I type these words. I'm at my neighborhood Barnes and Noble, yet again. Don't know what it is, but between the crème brûlée latte and being surrounded by others furiously typing away on their laptops, I feel very productive!

In any case, I'm working on my second blog in one week—yeah, one of my new year's resolutions is to publish at least one blog entry every week, so I'm doing good so far. :-)

So yesterday (Monday) as I was mulling over the possibilities of where to hang out on my first free Monday night in years, I got a call around 3:00pm from my fellow musician friend, José Oretea, informing me that his rumba flamenca group Duende Camarón was going to be playing in the Monday night time slot at Cafe Citron starting TONIGHT!

So I did what I do best: spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, texts and my well-known website DCFlamenco.com. I didn't expect much of a turnout for a last-minute announcement especially on such a cold windy night. But even though the attendance last night was kinda sparse, I'm pretty confident that most of the flamenco community now knows that Duende Camarón is playing Mondays at Citron and that attendance will start to grow as word gets around.

If you're one of the few people out there that has never heard of Duende Camarón, checkout some music samples at their website.

Enjoy the pics!

José and César Oretea. January 4, 2010

José and César. January 4, 2010

As you might guess by the worn-away paint, this is the same stage used for the flamenco show on Saturdays here at Citron. January 4, 2010

Painting by Judita, one of Citron's manangers. January 4, 2010

Tools of the trade: Digitech JamMan for playing prerecorded percussion loops. January 4, 2010

José and César. January 4, 2010

José and César. January 4, 2010

José and his reflection in the mirror. January 4, 2010

José. January 4, 2010

César. January 4, 2010

José and César. January 4, 2010

I'm lovin' the fact that my colleagues and I fill-in two time slots at Cafe Citron every week:
Rumba by Duende Camaron on Mondays 8:30pm-11:30pm
Flamenco by Miguelito and Sara Jerez on Saturdays 7:00pm-9:00pm

In both cases, the stage is in the dining area in the back so be sure to call ahead at 202-530-8844, make a table reservation and specifically ask to be seated next to the stage. If you're at the bar, you can still hear the music just fine, but it's better being closer to the artists.

See you there!

Sara Jerez dancing soleá accompanied by Miguelito at Cafe Citron. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2010! Remember me? Did you miss my blog posts? Yeah I know...it's like the first time I've posted anything since September last year. To be fair, I have been sort of blogging via Facebook status updates and photo album entries, and while most people I know are on Facebook, I don't want to leave those of you not on Facebook out of the DC flamenco info loop. [If you haven't already, please add me as a friend on Facebook.] So here goes...

It's 6:30pm on a bitterly cold Sunday here in Arlington, Virginia. The temperature is 24°F but with the wind gusts blasting against my face it feels more like 9°F, seriously! In any case, I'm warm and comfortable here at the coffee shop section of the Clarendon Barnes and Noble while I work on this blog and take occasional sips of a tall crème brûlée latte, yum!

So what's new? Hehe...there is an ulterior motive (isn't there always?) for this blog post. Well, after eight years performing every Monday (that's roughly 400 shows!) at Cafe Citron, the management decided to give us the Saturday evening time slot. Hence the title of today's blog post: "Saturday Night Flamenco at Cafe Citron."

What happens whenever there's a change after such a long period of eight years? Well for one thing, there's going to be a short period of confusion amongst the regulars, some of whom will, understandably out of habit, still go to Citron on a Monday and be disappointed not to find any flamenco going on. So I apologize in advance: I'm going to be promoting the Saturday Night Flamenco show ad nauseum!

Why should you come out to my show on a Saturday? Here's a list of reasons...

Guitarist Miguelito. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

1. To support the arts and the local flamenco scene.

Yeah...I know a lot of you are looking forward to the upcoming 10th Annual Flamenco Festival at Lisner Auditorium (I surely am!), but if it wasn't for us local artists and teachers tirelessly promoting the art of flamenco in the DC area, concert presenters like Lisner wouldn't be able to answer the question that needs to be answered: "Is there an interest in a flamenco festival in DC?"

The answer of course is a resounding YES. And thanks in large part to my website, DCFlamenco.com with more than 400 blog posts with thousands of pics documenting the local scene, people all over the world are aware of the active flamenco community we have here! And of course, thanks go to the local flamenco community for giving me material to photograph and blog about!

Flamenco dancer Emily Mazzotti and guitarist Miguelito. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

The way it works is that a lot of people discover flamenco for themselves or reignite their interest when they come out to our shows or when they hear about classes at the local dance studios. But a lot of these shows and classes wouldn't continue to exist if we didn't have people supporting the local artists and teachers by regularly coming out to the clubs, restaurants and dance studios. We're the ones promoting flamenco year round and we need your support!

But while my ulterior motive is mostly to promote the Saturday Night Flamenco at Cafe Citron, don't just come out to my shows. Go checkout my colleagues at the other venues like Las Tapas, Vinoteca, Cabanas etc. Complete schedule at DC Flamenco.

Emily and Sara dancing Sevillanas. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

2. Become a part of the community by getting to know other flamenco fans and aficionados.

Since the show at Citron has been around since 2001, we've gradually developed a regular following. A lot of them have come and gone—DC is a town of transients with people coming for college or internships, staying a while and moving on. But we do have people who are still around who have been coming to Citron's flamenco night for years! And we do have some who have moved out of town or to the other side of the world, but visit DC occasionally and make it a point to stop by and say hello.

What's cool is that while these people come from all walks of life, our differences don't stop us from getting know them through what we have in common: a love for flamenco!

Emily and Sara. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

3. Experience flamenco in a relaxed ambience.

Let's get something straight here. This is not a concert hall. Cafe Citron is a bar, club, whatever you want to call it. So yeah, sometimes we have to compete with the noise of people having a good time but are not there necessarily to watch the show. It's to be expected. So we're a little less formal here.

We frequently have flamenco friends, singers, dancers and guitarists that stop by to support us. And we often invite them to join us onstage. You never know who will drop by, so it's always a nice surprise, even for me and I pretty much know everyone!

But in the interest of keeping things professional, this is not an open mic night. :-) Most of the time we'll gladly invite student dancers to come up and dance a copla or two of Sevillanas. It's fun for us and the people love it when we "spontaneously" invite someone to join us onstage. Actually, I've managed to recruit new dancers over the years this way. Haha!

Sara. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

You'll pretty much see me playing guitar at Citron 99% of the time. Same goes for my dancer, Sara Jerez. But occasionally, she'll send a substitute such as dancers Ginette Perea, Emily Mazzotti, Sarah Hart, Kyoko, Pam de Ocampo etc all of whom have performed extensively in the DC area for years. But even though Sara Jerez is there most of the time, she keeps it fresh usually with variations in the choreography that she'll come up with on-the-spot. Plus the energy of the crowd is different from week to week so it's always a little bit different every time.

Flamenco dancer Sara Jerez with guitarist Miguelito. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

4. Citron is a fun place to go on Saturday nights.

[Editor's note: this blog is getting longer than I planned, so I'm going to cut the list short here.]

Even if you're not a flamenco dancer or aren't really up to getting up onstage yet to dance some Sevillanas, you can still get your dance fix here at Citron after the show.

If you're into salsa, reggaeton, merengue, or pretty much anything Latin, the DJ's here are top-notch and it's pretty much obvious by the crowds that come back week after week. This place gets seriously packed with people who love to dance!

So come early in the evening. The flamenco shows are at 7pm and 8pm while the place is relatively uncrowded.

Call 202-530-8844 to make a reservation and be sure to specifically ask for a table near the stage. (For you old-timers, the show used to be in front of the bar but has been moved to back part of the club)

Or grab a seat at the bar. During the show, you'll have to stand near the dining area to watch. We finish up with the flamenco close to 9pm while it's still early enough in the evening to chill awhile before the crowds come and you can enjoy the rest of your evening dancing the night away at Citron or elsewhere.

Emily providing palmas. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Escobilla. January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Smile of satisfaction--show went especially well thanks to the support of all of our friends! January 2, 2010 (photo by Jani)

Some of my flamenco friends (from left): Chris, Mutsuko, Cipri, Denise, Daniela, Emily. January 2, 2010

Remember how I mentioned that I recruit dancers sometimes when they come up and dance Sevillanas? Well, Emily Mazzotti (pictured above) was one of those dancers, really! That was almost three years ago, and now she's a frequent performer and an up-and-coming dance teacher based in Crystal City, Virginia.

Anywayz, here are more pics of many of my flamenco friends that came out to the première of Saturday Night Flamenco at Cafe Citron. Thank you everyone for your support!

Sherry, Mila and Rob. They reserved the table of the front of stage and it so happens it was Mila's birthday. January 2, 2010

I've known Mila (pictured above) since she was 13 while she was taking flamenco classes with Ena Camargo. I was very honored that she decided to celebrate her birthday at Citron on the night of my show. Happy birthday Mila!!!

Emily, Milagros and Jani. January 2, 2010

Jani (pictured above) is a longtime supporter of the local flamenco scene. He often volunteers to photograph my shows. In fact, he was my volunteer photographer for the show this evening. Thanks Jani!

Idi, Anita and Kristiina. January 2, 2010

I've known Idi for years. He's been coming to Citron for the flamenco show for as long as I can remember! Thanks for your support Idi!

Emily, Miguelito and Milagros. January 2, 2010

While I was very happy to see so many friends, it also happened to be my dancer friend Milagros Uribe's (pictured above) last time to party with many of her friends before moving back to Perú tomorrow. :-( I know you'll be back soon, but we'll miss you Milagros!!!

Checkout the pics of Milagros in performance last year.

Chris, Milagros and Emily. January 2, 2010

Just a few of my many beautiful flamenco dancer friends: (from left) Denise, Daniela, Mutsuko, Milagros and Emily. January 2, 2010

If you've scrolled through the pics, without reading anything at least read this:

The flamenco show at Cafe Citron is now on Saturday nights at 7pm and 8pm.

One last glimpse of the new stage setup before calling it a night. January 2, 2010

Ciao for now! Thanks for reading my blog! For more information about the DC flamenco scene, visit www.dcflamenco.com.

PS the DCFlamenco website will be 14 years old on January 10th!

Miguelito playing a rumba to open the show. August 10, 2009 8:15pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Wow...it's been like two months since my last blog entry! What can I say? It's been a slow summer business-wise. Just about all the flamenco shows in the DC area have had to cut back on their budget. For example, at Café Citrón, I had to let go of my singer. The show is still pretty good without cante, but trust me on this: live singing brings the performance to a whole other level!

The flamenco shows at Las Tapas and Cabanas also had to cut back. The rumba shows have also been affected too. The Monday night Ozio show has been canceled. Same with the Thursday night show at Aroma.

So that's the latest update on the scene in general. But I'm not going get into why business is slow. Please don't say, "It's the economy." I've heard that too many times. But as they say, the show must go on. And so it is with my flamenco show at Café Citrón.

This past Monday was dancer Sarah Hart's first time to perform at Citrón. Although she has already been actively performing in just about every flamenco tablao in the DC area for years, for whatever reason she never got around to the Dupont Circle area until now. Welcome Sarah! (Not to be confused with dancer Sara Jerez who performs most Mondays at Cafe Citron. Yeah it can be confusing having two dancers named Sarah but they're both very talented and beautiful!)

Sarah Hart. August 10, 2009 8:21pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Sarah. August 10, 2009 8:22pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

These are pics from the second performance of the evening where Sarah danced Sevillanas, tientos/tangos and bulerías. When we had a singer, we would normally fill-out the program with a couple of upbeat rumbas to contrast with the more serious side of flamenco. So nowadays I play a couple of rumba instrumentals which isn't that easy for solo guitar so I have to use a loop machine which basically plays MP3 files of rhythm guitar, bass and percussion so I can improvise melodies on top. My guitarist colleagues have already been doing this for years at the other venues that focus more on rumba like Bambule, Ozio, La Tasca, Guarapo, Vinoteca etc.

Sarah. August 10, 2009 8:23pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Sarah. August 10, 2009 8:29pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Not surprisingly, Sarah made quite an impression on the audience, some of whom came up to her after the show to inquire about dance classes. Last I heard, Sarah teaches at Roda Movements in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Sarah. August 10, 2009 8:32pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Sarah. August 10, 2009 8:37pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Sarah. August 10, 2009 8:38pm (photo by Rachel Hart)

Please note that the Monday night flamenco shows at Café Citrón are at about 7:00pm and 8:00pm. I know it seems early, but that's the schedule for now.

Business seems, little by little, to be picking up again (knock on wood) at most of the local venues in the DC area--I can't speak up for the flamenco scenes in the other parts of the USA. Do support your local flamenco performers and come out to one of the shows sometime soon!

I don't say this for the sole reason of packing the places where I perform. Think about it. The flamenco shows at clubs and restaurants are where a lot of people see and experience flamenco for the first time. If I'm able to introduce one new person to flamenco each time I perform that's enough to make me feel I'm doing my part to sharing this wonderful art form.

Sarah and her sister Rachel relaxing at the bar with our Monday night bartender "Gato." August 10, 2009 9:00pm (photo by Miguelito)

This Saturday August 15, 2009, Furia Flamenca will be performing in a program titled "Metro DC Dances" at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre. Details in the calendar. Marija Temo is offering a cante workshop on Sunday August 16, 2009 at Roda Movements in Takoma Park, Maryland.