The new look.

I've been blogging for a very long time...long enough to see blog technology evolve over the years. And after 4 years (and 500 blog entries!!!) of using Movable Type, I'm switching over to the cutting edge in blogging software: WordPress.

Not that you really care about the techy side of things. But from this day forward, you can access my well-known flamenco blog at this new easy-to-remember URL:

www.dcflamenco.com/blog

And if you subscribe to my RSS or newsfeed, here's the new URL:

www.dcflamenco.com/blog/?feed=rss2

Manuel Liñán at DC Dance Collective. September 23, 2010

It's 9-something pm on Sunday as I type these words. Between rehearsals, private gigs and my usual fun Saturday night gig at Cafe Citron, it's been a busy couple of days for me. But I finally got a day with nothing on the schedule so I "unplugged," stayed-in and seriously caught up on sleep! I'm up now so I might as well crank out a quick blog entry.

So this past Thursday, I decided to drop by DC Dance Collective to check out Manuel Liñán's ongoing masterclass and also say hello to the many dancers that I know but don't see on a regular basis. I checked my blog archives and it turns out that I did meet Manuel briefly at a post-concert party during Lisner's flamenco festival in February 2007. But that was years ago so I can't expect him to remember me.

I arrived at the dance studio about 20 minutes before the class started and gave the dancers a heads up that I was going to take pics. Met Manuel for moment and got the OK to bring my camera into the studio. Got caught up in a few conversations, time flew by and before I knew it the class started and I got to work!

Manuel demonstrating a step. September 23, 2010

I realize that sometimes people get a bit nervous when someone's taking their pics. So I have this way of holding the camera in my lap and discreetly have the adjustable display viewfinder screen pointing up so I can see what I'm taking pics of. Sneaky? Perhaps. But my intent is to document the class and at the same time, not make anyone feel self-conscious. Y'know what I mean?

Of course there are a few dancers I know that feel completely comfortable in front of the camera. In fact, there is one that seems to always sense when my lens is pointing in her direction. It's Mariana (pictured below) who took a second to pose so I could capture this moment. Thanks Mariana! ;-)

At Bambule in 2003 featuring dancers Marta Chico Martín and Sara Jerez with guitarist Ramin Rad and percussionist Jason Vera y Aragón. August 14, 2003

It's almost 1pm on Thursday as I type these words. Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter knew that I had a Hispanic Heritage Month gig yesterday. The typical routine:
1. Wake up early to meet up with the dancers and singer to carpool together to the gig. (these shows are typically at noon)
2. Setup sound system while the dancers change into costume.
3. Ceremony starts. Speech or two then we go on stage.
4. 20-minute flamenco performance. Applause applause.
5. Put away sound system and collect big fat paycheck. :-)
6. Deposit big fat paycheck and spend it.

Easy money, right? Yeah it is. But we deserve it. Us full-time artists have paid our "dues" practicing for years developing our flamenco skills so that we can crawl out of bed, show up at a gig, perform, and get paid an extravagant amount of money considering we're only actually working for 20 minutes.

But I left out one tiny but still very important item from the above routine. Can you guess what it is?

It's the tablao!!! For those of you who don't know, a tablao is very simply a wooden stage to give the flamenco dancers a percussive surface to showcase their footwork. And yesterday for the Hispanic Heritage Month performance, we had to bring a tablao to the gig because the room we performed in was carpeted.

So we arrive at gig and the singer and I carried the tablao from the car to the room. It's something I've come to accept as a part of my duties as a flamenco guitarist...supporting my dancers. But yesterday as I was carrying the tablao, a very large piece of plywood requiring at least two people, my hands were feeling a little pain. So I said to the singer, "Dude, my hands are in pain here. I shouldn't be doing this to my hands. I'm the guitarist and we have a show in 20 minutes."

Our security escort, dressed in business attire took my hint and offered to carry the tablao. 20 minutes later we went on stage and I played guitar just fine. But still c'mon I shouldn't be carrying heavy stuff right before a gig.

This morning I was thinking about how most of our clients have no idea about the technical requirements of a flamenco show. It's not their fault of course. It's up to us flamenco performers to educate them. And I'm not about to impose upon you my ideas of what kind of stage is most appropriate...because each dancer has a different level of what they'll accept as suitable for a performance. So for the benefit of those thinking of putting on a flamenco show in a restaurant, private party etc here's a small sample of some of the tablaos I've seen over the years here in the DC area.

8' x 8' on a raised platform Pictured at the top of page. Built by Jason Vera y Aragón, this consists of two 8' x 4' birch wood sheets supported by 2" x 4" lumber around the edges. This allows the sheet to have a hollow space underneath giving it a nice sound for flamenco footwork. The platform raises the stage about 6-8 inches and locks onto the latches. This kind of stage is pretty costly but it was a long-term investment for the show.

Ginette dancing soleá accompanied by Miguelito at Las Tapas. September 21, 2010 (photo by Даша)

It's almost midnight on Tuesday as I type these words. Got home about an hour ago. I really should go to bed at a decent hour for a change. I have an early day tomorrow and I can't afford to show up at the gig half awake. It wouldn't be fair to the dancers and the singer not to mention our audience! But since I'm up I might as well crank out a quick blog for now and make myself productive.

For the longest time, the Tuesday night manager at Las Tapas, Даша (pronounced DA-sha) has been offering to take pics of the show. I finally took her up on it for this evening's show featuring dancer Ginette. Thank you Даша!

September 21, 2010 (photo by Даша)

My usual routine for Tuesdays is to arrive a couple of hours before showtime. Here's the thing: I have more than 100 pounds of sound gear that I cart around on the metro. And it's not really practical for me to do it during rush hour when the trains get seriously packed with people. It's not a total waste of time to arrive a few hours early though. I can take my time setting up my sound system, warm-up my hands properly and relax a bit before the show.

But I must've been a little distracted this afternoon because I forgot to adjust the EQ. It's not disastrous when it's a bit off, but it's just not as inspiring for me as a performer when my guitar doesn't sound its best through the sound system. I don't want to get into the technical details, but the thing is that each venue has different acoustics and so I have to do a sound check every single time I set up. And today I forgot to do that. Bad Miguelito, bad bad bad! :-)

Ginette dancing Sevillanas. September 21, 2010 (photo by Даша)

Despite the minor EQ problem the show was still pretty good. Ginette danced wonderfully as always. On the other hand, my mental focus drifted several times when I would catch myself having a mental conversation with myself: "Ugh...what's the matter with the sound??? Just let it go. It sounds good enough. Relax and have fun with the show!"

It's easier said than done. But eventually I did just let it go and had fun. After the show, I was pleasantly surprised by the many compliments from the audience as we made our way across the dining room. Even though I was still a bit unsatisfied with how my guitar sounded this evening, the inspirational energy Ginette and I shared onstage more than made up for it.

Sometimes, I get great sound on certain nights, but the audience response is so-so. And other times sound is so-so and the audience response is great. Tonight was the latter. OK...time for me to stop whining now. In the grand scheme of things, it's all good.

Flamenco shows at Las Tapas are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:00pm. Thursdays at 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Call 703-836-4000.

José and César Oretea aka Duende Camarón at Vinoteca. September 19, 2010 10:43pm

It's 2-something pm on Monday as I type these words. And yes I'm proud to say I just arrived home after a fun night at Vinoteca. Things never seem to go as planned. This always happens. I promised myself I'd only have one beer and leave early. Don't get me wrong, the show was excellent...I just didn't want to stick around too long and be tempted have a couple more drinks and spend more than my struggling artist budget would allow.

As I was about to leave, I got a text from a flamenco fan who saw my Twitter update (announcing that I was going to Vinoteca) and so she decided to drop by. I hadn't seen my friend in a while, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to stick around for just one more drink. We split a bottle of Spanish wine, which by the way are half-off during Flamenco Sundays! $32 bottle slashed to $16 split between two came to $8 each plus tip.

Next thing you know it's 11:00pm. The show's over and I was about to rush off to catch the 11:23pm metro home. So as I was saying goodbye to everyone, I was introduced to this Italian girl who apparently is a regular. She asked, "Where are you going?"

And I jokingly replied, "We're going to your house to party all night!"

"OK! Let's do it!" Wow...this totally caught me off guard. But I went with the flow.

"Allright let's go!

So scratch the idea of catching the last train. I worked out another ride home and we headed to my new Italian friend's house for a few drinks with the Oretea brothers and friends.

After-party at our Italian friend's house. September 19, 2010 11:54pm

So after a few drinks, it was time to leave. Didn't want to overstay our welcome, y'know? César offered to drive me home which was totally in the opposite direction, but José said, "Why don't you just crash at my place?" I didn't have any plans in the morning, so I said, "OK!" And just like the old days (back in 2004) José and I sat out on the porch at his house, being the late night vampires that we are, and talked about music, life etc until who knows what time.

Monday morning hanging out with José and his nephew. September 20, 2010 11:46am

Next morning I was woken up when someone came in the room and announced, "Come upstairs for breakfast." So I joined the Oretea family for some coffee, bacon, eggs and some picante empanadas, yum! Got to meet José's nephew who seems to already have a headstart on decent rasgueo technique! No surprise.

So what's the point of all of this? Well, as much fun as I have doing flamenco for a living, I still need a vacation like everyone else. But I can't afford it right now. So the closest thing to a vacation is to leave the guitar at home, not think about work, go out and relax and go with the flow which is exactly what I did. Did I spend more money than I should have? Yeah. Is it the end of the world if I did. No. I'll figure somethin' out. But am I more relaxed now? Yes. Mission accomplished!

No that's not me in the picture, but I wish it was. :-) What a simple life a dog leads! Yeah so that's the most recent photo in my camera—during a break from rehearsal at a dancer friend's house. Whenever I write a blog I always have some photos of a recent flamenco-related event to publish along with it. But I haven't been out and about as much as I wanted to the past week, so that's the photo I'm going to publish today. Enjoy it!

In case you didn't know, here in the USA, from September 15th to October 15th is officially Hispanic Heritage Month. As it turns out a lot of end of summer festivals happen around this time and this year, especially this weekend there has been a lot of flamenco performances (many of them FREE!):

• September 17th: Flamenco Aparicio in Alma Flamenca at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore
• September 18th: Furia Flamenca at the H St Festival
• September 18th: Flamenco guitarist Marija Temo at Bloomingdales in White Flint
• September 18th: Natalia Monteleón's Arte Flamenco at Rockville Town Square
• September 18th: Manuel Liñán flamenco masterclass at DC Dance Collective
• September 18th: Furia Flamenca at the Lincoln Theatre in honor of Rita Moreno
• September 19th: Furia Flamenca at the International Chilren's Festival at Wolf Trap

Sadly, I couldn't make it to any of the above events. I'm sure some of my photographer friends will send me some pics to publish in a future blog. But to redeem myself for not getting out to do my photojournalist duty this weekend, I'm going out to Vinoteca tonight for the rumba/flamenco show.

But I'm doing so against my better judgment—on my struggling artist budget, I can only afford one beer. Hopefully I'll see some of you there tonight and nudge nudge, feel free to buy me a drink! ;-)

P.S. The next couple of weeks are packed with flamenco happenings. Checkout the calendar, show your support for the local flamenco community and come out to a show or two.

This will be a quickie blog so I can go back outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather while it lasts.

Flamenco Information Service Library newsletter May/June 1970 issue. Among the contributing writers is Jerry Lobdill, a former DC area flamenco guitarist!

Latest news is that a flamenco friend is entrusting me with her archive of the Flamenco Information Service Library (FISL) newsletters from the 60's and 70's. In addition I have a few issues of the Journal of Flamenco Artistry from the late 80's and early 90's. I suppose nowadays, thanks to people like me who document their respective local flamenco scenes online, newsletters (the paper version at least) are not really necessary. But in my self-appointed quest to explore and document the DC and East Coast flamenco scene before my arrival in 1991, these FISL newsletters will prove to be very useful!

Here's a little tidbit of info from the Current Events section of the May/June 1970 issue of FISL. Recognize any names and places?

MARYLAND:
Maria Morales, Spanish dancer, teacher, and choreographer, has been appointed faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Classes start in September 1970...

WASHINGTON, D.C.:
Dancer Lola Moreno, singer Manolo Leiva, and guitarist Carlos Ramos are at El Bodegon regularly.

Dancer Antonio Vega and guitarist Torcuato Zamora are at El Tio Pepe.

Occasional flamenco entertainment at El Toledo Restaurant.
(A. Coleman--correspondent)

Flamenco at El Manantial. Painting by Linda Czarra.

So a couple of days ago, I received a photo of a painting from one of my shows that you see above. It's by a local artist named Linda Czarra. Depicted are singer Gerard Moreno, guitarist Miguelito (that's me!) and dancers Pam de Ocampo and Sara Candela at El Manantial in Reston, Virginia. It's not like this sort of thing happens all the time but it's still pretty cool to know that we inspired someone in our audience enough to want to make a painting.

[UPDATE: Just heard that the next show at El Manantial will be on Thursday September 30, 2010 at 7:00pm featuring singer Gerard Moreno, guitarist Miguelito and dancers Ginette and Pam de Ocampo.]

You know how the dancer, guitarist and singer inspire each other onstage? Well the creation of a work of art by a member of the audience, be it a painting, a photo or a poem is kind of the same thing: a transmission of inspirational energy from one artist to another. To be fair, applause and shouts of Olé count too, but I just get a kick when someone such as Linda Czarra put so much time and energy into returning the favor and inspiring us performers with a beautiful painting. Thank you Linda!

Coming up this Saturday September 11, 2010, Sidney Harman Hall (in Chinatown) is presenting brief dance performances all day as part of the Arts on Foot Festival 2010:

• 3:00pm Furia Flamenca
• 6:00pm Flamenco Aparicio

Tickets are FREE but are made available one hour before each performance! First come first served! More info.

Flamenco dancer Sarah Hart and guitarist Miguelito at Las Tapas. August 31, 2010 (photo by Stan Peters)

It's 11-something pm on Wednesday as I type these words. My day off. Saw a movie (The American starring George Clooney). Spent a few hours reading an interesting book: "Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters." Got home around 10:30pm. I hadn't touched the guitar all day, but trust me I will make up for it after I finish this blog entry, for sure!

That picture above was from my Tuesday night gig at Las Tapas with dancer Sarah Hart. My thanks to photographer Stan Peters!

So I went to support my fellow flamencos this evening in another venue. And as it turned out, one of the dancers onstage was one that I had worked with the night before. Naturally I was already very familiar her tientos choreography but what made it especially interesting was that guitarist Behzad Habibzai's accompaniment had a couple of musically interesting twists that I hadn't heard before. I was very intrigued!

Understandably many professional dancers work out choreographies ahead of time and pretty much stick to them. And of course, they'll have bits of filler-choreography ready to pull out at a moment's notice, when the singer unexpectedly extends his letras, when the guitarist plays a longer falseta than expected, or if the dancer forgets her choreography and needs a few seconds to recall it. It happens. That's just how it is. But the important thing to realize is that the more experienced dancers can dance the same choreography with a different guitarist playing the same compás with different musical interpretation.

As for myself, the vast majority of my baile accompaniment patterns are based on the traditional ideas that everyone plays with a bit of my own interpretation mixed in. Other things that I play for dancers have come up organically in the moment when my concentration lapsed and I made a "mistake" that actually turns out sounding pretty cool which later becomes part of my repertoire. And sometimes I "steal" ideas from my fellow guitarists I see live or hear on recordings. And of course, I might actually painstakingly work out some musical phrases at home and later sneak them in during one of my shows to test them out. The dancers (and singers) do it to me so why I can't I do it to them too? :-)

There aren't that many guitarists that perform on regular basis here in DC. But what's cool is that each one has his/her own recognizable style. It happens eventually as you master the basics, try out ideas that speak to you and eventually you develop a personal "sound." But when you do this for a living (or as a serious hobby) it's very easy to fall into the rut of playing the same things all the time. I'm not saying it's a bad thing necessarily. If you play the same stuff all the time and it sounds good, expresses what you want to say musically and inspires the dancers and singers, by all means do it!

But ultimately you want to grow as an artist. I certainly do! Unfortunately I can't afford to go to Spain to study as much as I'd like. But I can still listen to and study recordings, watch videos, jam with my fellow guitarists and even schedule a lesson with one of them!

But as I realized this evening, going out to support my fellow flamencos turned out to be a lesson in itself. I left with a couple of musical ideas to play with, a fresh take on something very familiar, an extra boost of inspiration.

I'm speaking from the guitarist's perspective of course. But I'm sure the same principle applies to dancers too! So while I continue to incessantly tweet, blog, and announce in Facebook and my website all my shows and the shows of colleagues, go out there and check out the shows. Not just to support your fellow flamencos...but to actually learn something new.

Anywayz, I'm going to keep this blog short. I can't wait to play my guitar!

That's me, Miguelito, in June 1995 at the Washington Folk Festival (photo by Stan Peters).

It's 11:55am on Monday as I type these words. I'm not going to lie. Summer has been fun so far, but not much to report flamenco-wise. I mean over the past few months I could've easily cranked numerous blog entries about the the same people, places and events you've read about before. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what I do most of the time anyway.:-) But regardless I've been sticking to my primary mission: to keep the local community of what's going on (even if there isn't much going on).

Lately, my longtime photographer friend Stan Peters has been uploading some old flamenco pics to Facebook. "Old" is relative term of course. But I mean old as in from the 90's. That pic of me you see above was taken in 1995 at the Washington Folk Festival. I was 28 at the time and having the time of my life. I was pretty much the only young 20-something guitarist in the DC area at the time.

The other "young flamenco guitarists" at the time like Richard Marlow, Ramin Rad and Behzad Habibzai didn't arrive on the DC flamenco scene until a few years later. In the meantime I was getting calls left and right and doing everything from the low-paying and non-paying street festival gigs to the full-fledged theatre performances. (Full-disclosure: I had a full-time office job too so I could afford to take on low paying and free gigs at the time.)

While I was thrilled with the idea of getting paid for doing what I love, money wasn't my main motivation. It was, and still is, a lot of fun playing guitar for dancers (and singers too when we are lucky to have them). And it's an added bonus to perform for a live audience. The idea of sharing this most beautiful art form with others motivates me again and again each time I'm about go onstage.

[photo on the right by Stan Peters, taken at the DC Feria de Sevilla in 1997]

Fast forward to current day and things are pretty much the same. I'm a little older and presumably a little wiser too. :-) I still get that thrill each time I go onstage (I'm not exaggerating...I really do!) and money, despite the hard economic times, is still not a motivational factor.

But 2011 is approaching and June 1st of that year will mark 20 years that I've been involved in the DC flamenco scene! So while 20 is just an arbitrary number, it's a good time as any to reflect on where I've been and where I'm going and to think about how the DC flamenco scene has evolved.

Yeah I admit that seeing pictures of myself from the 90's has got me in a nostalgic mood. But enough about me. What do I have in store for you, my loyal readers? Well for starters I'm scheduling interviews with some of the older generation of DC flamencos some of whom were active in the scene long before I arrived in 1991! It'll be very interesting to get their take on how things have evolved, how things have changed and how things have remained the same over the past 20 years.

And while I'm at it, I'll start interviewing some of the current younger generation of flamencos and not just the performers and teachers, but also the local students and aficionados. Not all of us are destined or striving to become full-time artists but in a way being an amateur is in a way a more noble approach: when the amateur does flamenco, it's purely for the love of the art and etymologically, amateur does mean lover anyway.

Anywayz, let's get back to the regular blogging format and let me talk about the pics you see here from my gigs the past week or so...

Flamenco dancers Emily Mazzotti and Sara Candela performing Sevillanas at L2 Lounge in Georgetown. July 1, 2010

It's almost 11pm on Monday as I type these words...my second blog entry in one day! This past Thursday International Club of DC hosted "An Evening in Madrid: Flamenco and Paso Doble Dance Performance" at L2 Lounge in Georgetown.

For the flamenco portion of the evening the featured artists were Emily Mazzotti and Sara Candela, both of whom danced beautifully!

Furia Flamenca members Karina, Estela Velez (director), Evlyn, Sylvia, Amy and Lauren opening the show with Sevillanas. June 30, 2010

It's 9-something pm on Monday, the day after Independence Day, as I type these words. I'm behind on blogging as you know, yada yada yada...but hey, cut me some slack: I've been busy performing! And I'm just one of those types that can't just blog like it's a job. I have to be in the mood. Ugh...yeah I know. Us artists can be so temperamental. :-)

So this past Wednesday, DC-based dance company Furia Flamenca gave a free performance at The Forum at Harman Center for the Arts in Chinatown. With camera in hand, I did what I do best: document the DC flamenco scene wherever and whenever. Being the struggling artist that I am, when admission is free, you can bet I will cover it! :-)

Cori Bernal dancing a soleá accompanied by guitarist Miguelito and singer Hector Márquez. June 17, 2010 (photo by Franciska)

With the struggling economy, business for us flamencos has been slow the past year and while it is picking up little by little, we're all still struggling. But every now and then I get a whole string of gigs one after the other...when it rains it pours, as the saying goes. And last week was one of those weeks! Besides rehearsing everyday for the Hurricane Whispers gig with Helena Lalita, and my usual weekly gigs at Las Tapas and Cafe Citron, I was also tapped to join Natalia Monteleón's Arte Flamenco for their monthly show at Jalapeño's Restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland last Thursday.

I have played for Arte Flamenco for more than 10 years and I am one of their regular guitarists, but this was my first time to perform at Jalapeño's so I was especially excited. It's not too often I get out to Annapolis, other than driving through on my way to the beaches in Delaware.

Don't let the strip mall exterior fool you. Upon first pulling into the parking lot, my impression was that this was a tiny fast food restaurant, but once you get past the bar, you're greeted by a fancy glass wall fountain. The hostess then leads you to the dining area with fancy classic wooden chairs, white linen-covered tables and murals depicting presumably the Spanish countryside.

Dancer Ginette, videographer Seanie Blue, guitarist Michael Leuchtenberger, singer/violinist Helena Lalita, singer Sandra Bishop, guitarist Miguelito and sitar/tabla player John Protopapas. June 20, 2010 (photo by Jani)

It's 2-something pm on Thursday as I type these words. It's been almost two weeks since the DC Feria and I still haven't published pics. So much catching up to do! But to be honest I'm drowning in a sea of pics (many of them gorgeous!) so it'll take me some time to sort through them. In the meantime, I'll catch up on blogging by publishing a few short entries starting with the most recent flamenco-related event this past Sunday at the Wonderbox.

My friend Seanie Blue and I have known each other since 1991, the year I first arrived to live in the DC area. He's one of the masterminds behind Wonderbox, an artspace based here in DC. While on a recent trip to Southern California he stumbled upon a young musician named Helena Lalita and was so intrigued by her talent he decided to bring her to DC to adapt a suite of songs (authored by himself, Peter Fox and Steve McCormick) and have her collaborate with me on flamenco guitar, singer Sandra Bishop, tabla/sitar player John Protopapas, guitarist Michael Leuchtenberger and flamenco dancer Ginette Perea.

Discussing the program. From left: guitarist Wilver Hernández, singer Naíto, guitarist Hector Márquez, percussionist Mateo Romero and dancer Sarah Hart. May 28, 2010

It's 1-something pm on Monday...a mere 12 hours since I last published a blog entry today! It's 85° F and sunny outside and yes, I am indoors in front of my Mac, but I can't help it. The sacrifices I make for the DC flamenco community! :-) Seriously though I'm in the mood to publish something so here goes...

This past Friday, a group of some friends of mine that I like to call "Los Jovenes Flamencos," who all happen to be in their early 20's, performed in a fundraiser concert at St Michael Archangel Catholic Church in Silver Spring. I wasn't able to go, but fortunately Hector's sister Marylin and members of Wilver's family took pics. Enjoy!

Flamenco guitarist Miguelito and dancer Ginette. Seanie comments, "Study of Ginette, dancing from the waist up: She is sprawled on the floor, and Pérez crouches beside her as Blue shoots from a distance to compress the focal plane. Shot on a 185mm zoom MF Nikkor lens which is the favorite of model train enthusiasts." May 29, 2010 (photo by Seanie Blue)

It's 1-something am on Monday as I type these words..the last day of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Just got home after spending the evening at the Georgetown Waterfront with a friend. Of course we stopped by Bodega and after consuming a very potent pitcher-and-a-half of white sangría I seriously had to lie down. But that was an hour ago and now I'm sobered up and wide awake!

So this past Saturday my flamenco dancer friend Ginette and I returned to the new arts/music space "The Wonderbox" but this time to do a shoot with photographer Seanie Blue. Although we had been to the "Box" only once before, it was already feeling like home mostly because Seanie, being an artist himself, had a pretty good idea of what to say and do to make us feel comfortable.

Seanie comments, "...the session goes for 3.5 hours, has five costume changes, and consumes 1,238 photographs. Manual lenses, focused each time, dancing subject! But the results are cool."