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 Perea, 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 Perea. Seanie comments, "Study of Ginette Perea, 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 Perea 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."

Miguelito playing guitar at the grand opening of The Wonderbox. May 23, 2010 (photo by Andrés Jacome Melkonian)

It's 11-something am on Wednesday as I type these words. As usual, I'm doing my blogging at a cafe using free WiFi while getting my caffeine fix.

So this past Sunday, flamenco dancer Ginette Perea and I were invited to perform at the grand opening of The Wonderbox, a new art/music space in DC founded by Seanie Blue and Andy Cassatt.

Among the guests were many fellow artists from musicians to dancers to actors to photographers to videographers and more! And while I could've handed my camera to someone in the audience to take pics of our flamenco show, instead I waited to see what some of photographers in attendance that evening would come up with.

My friend Andrés Jacome Melkonian gave me permission to republish here some of his work...thanks Andrés!

Farruca. May 15, 2010 (photo by Gail Kapsambelis)

It's 4-something pm on Friday as I type these words. The weather's gorgeous again and I'm indoors at my neighborhood Starbucks. Sipping an iced café americano by the window watching the people walk by...so much for concentrating on writing this blog. Oh well. :-)

So last Saturday Arte Flamenco performed in its 10th annual student recital. Of course, it was scheduled the same time as my weekly gig at Cafe Citron so I couldn't go, but thank God my new dancer friend Franciska came through with photos from the recital. Here's a small random selection for your enjoyment.

Flamenco dancer Ginette Perea performing Sevillanas at Cafe Ciron. May 8, 2010 (photo by Jani)

It's almost 2pm on Saturday as I type these words. The weather's sunny and breezy now but I'm indoors at my local Barnes and Noble cranking out a quickie blog. Not to worry, I promise I'll get some fresh air for a bit before getting ready for my flamenco gig tonight at Cafe Citron.

So yeah it's been a while since my dancer friend Ginette Perea has performed at Cafe CItron. As you might imagine the past year or so, she's been busy with work and finishing up college. In fact, by the time you read this she'll have graduated by then...congrats Ginette!

Tonight's show (assuming you're reading this on Saturday) at Cafe Citron will also feature a dancer that hasn't been in my blog for awhile: Sara Candela. She recently moved back to the DC area from Chile and has been getting settled back in to the local flamenco scene again, teaching at Joe's Movement Emporium in Mount Ranier, Maryland and dancing here and there but mostly at El Manantial in Reston, Virginia.

There's a lot of stuff going flamenco-wise this weekend that is of interest to you my readers. But believe it or not, not all of it is here in DC. Read on...

Singer Gerard Moreno and Miguelito rehearsing with the students in the dance class studio. May 6, 2010 (photo by Nikki Everette)

It's midnight on Thursday as I type these words. Yup and this'll be the second blog entry tonight!

After about a year-and-a-half "sabbatical" I got back into playing for dance classes again in the Spring of 2010.

I was already playing for Marsha Bonet-Savchenko's classes at Regan Dance Center (in Landmark Mall, Alexandria, Virginia). I mentioned Marsha already in a blog a few weeks ago.

Then my singer/guitarist friend Gerard Moreno referred me to professor Miriam Phillips aka "La Miri" who teaches flamenco at the University of Maryland, College Park.

When I showed up for La Miri's class for the first time I was actually a few minutes late. Of course I had played for hundreds of dance classes over the years (I've probably been to more dance classes than your average flamenco dance student!) with many different teachers, so I was pretty confident that I could handle whatever she asked me to play.

It was also my first time to meet La Miri in person so I didn't really set myself up for making a good first impression. Grrr...but as I walked in she was in the middle of making some introductory remarks about the history of flamenco so I quietly grabbed a chair, picked a suitable place to sit, tuned my guitar and waited for her cue.

DC-based flamenco singer Maestro Manolo Leiva with visiting Chicago flamenco dancers Cristina Gutierrez (left) and Grey Kelley. May 4, 2010

It's 10-something pm on Thursday as I type these words. Yeah I chose to stay in and catch up on sleep but at this rate I'll be up for a couple of hours working on this blog and maybe a second one later tonight.

So last week on May 3rd and 4th, the DC area's most prestigious and expensive Spanish restaurant, Taberna del Alabardero, presented a two-night run of the show, Forever Flamenco by artists from Chicago namely:

Dancer/director Azucena Vega
Cristina Gutierrez, dancer
Grey Kelley, dancer
Ricardo Santiago, dancer
and guitarist David Chiriboga.

The poster announces Jesús de Araceli but he couldn't make it at the last minute (I heard it was due to visa problems) so guitarist David Chiriboga took his place.

Soul & Duende is a flamenco dance company based in Chicago and Madrid, Spain

Of course, being a performer myself, I was busy both nights the Taberna show took place. But after I finished up my show at Las Tapas on Tuesday, I rushed on over to say hello, take a few pics and hang out with the flamencos from Chicago.

Miguelito at a dance showcase organized by Marsha Bonet-Savchenko. April 24, 2010 (photo by Gerasimo Borneo)

I'm just going to come out and say it: yeah, I've been slacking on the blogging lately. It's been more than two weeks since my last entry. But I have a good excuse: I've been busy with flamenco gigs left and right!

So what have I been up to? The usual weekly tablao gigs of course, plus school shows, private shows, dance classes, going to my colleagues' shows too! So much to cover but let me begin with last night's gig since it's still fresh in my mind.

Do you remember Marsha Bonet-Savchenko? I met her about five years ago when she first arrived from Orlando, Florida to check out the flamenco scene here in DC. Life happened, she got married and focused on her ballroom career and we lost touch for a few years. But a few months ago, we reestablished contact and I started playing for her flamenco dance classes again and was invited to perform in a dance showcase.

The above pic was from the dress rehearsal but the show pics will be coming soon. Look carefully. Notice anything unusual in the pic?

My Antonio Aparicio flamenco guitar.

It's 11-something pm on Wednesday as I type these words. Weather was gorgeous today and of course with the temperature in the high 80's I made sure I spent a lot of time outdoors basking in the sun and (with the help of Zyrtec) breathing the fresh air. Around 8pm I played as usual for Marsha Bonet-Savchenko's flamenco class and had a blast, as usual. Awesome day overall! And everything was going so well until I got on the bus to go home...