DCFlamenco is getting a facelift!

Sketch of one of many redesign ideas. August 30, 2007 11:15pm

Long time readers of DCFlamenco know that I used to do a redesign of the website once a year and would unveil the new look on or about the anniversary (January 10th). Nowadays with more than 500 pages in the site, a redesign gets to be a major task. Not that I don't want to do it, but I have to go beyond just adding a few fancy graphics here and there. When I do a redesign that affects my whole site, I have to think it through carefully and balance the considerations between achieving a more modern look and making it easy to navigate and most importantly: making it easy for me to keep up to date. Let's face it, I'm a busy guy and if updating the site is a pain in the butt, I'm going to procrastinate and eventually fall behind on my work and we don't want that!

I'm just thinking out loud here cuz I just want you to understand that this is a major undertaking that will be very exciting as I explore some of the latest web technologies (mostly to help me automate what I used to do manually) and as I experiment with different layouts, color schemes and graphic ideas.

Some of my long time readers are probably wondering, "Why fix something that isn't broke?"

Flamenco and mathematics

Miguelito practicing guitar in his "home office." August 30, 2007 12:01pm

The past week or so, I've been practicing guitar twice as much as usual. Even to the point of squeezing in a few technical exercises as I wait for webpages to load.

I could go into the reasons why I'm especially inspired, but you've probably heard it all before. Doesn't really help to analyze how I got here to this state of inspiration. Just gotta focus on taking advantage of it while it lasts. It might even come as a surprise to you that I'm listening to trance in 4/4 and superimposing a bulerías compás on top of it just to challenge myself. I do that sometimes when I'm warming up at Cafe Citron on Mondays right before my show. I can't help it since the DJ's music is playing so damn loud! But I gotta remember that I'm playing in a place that's well known for being a dance club. No use in trying to fight it---hence I use the dance music as a metronome as I practice bulerías.

So it takes three measures of 4/4 to cycle through one compás of bulerías. Simple concept to understand but it's quite another thing to feel it physically. It's just a matter of slow repetition to internalize the combination of the 4/4 beat pattern of trance (or salsa, reggaeton, merengue or whatever) against the 12 beat pattern of bulerías. One exercise to ease your way into this is to verbally count to 12 along with the music in 4/4 while emphasizing the accents. Then you can try it out on your instrument or if you're a dancer, you can try out a marking pattern.

You can apply this idea to other palos. For example, I can remember quite a few times, dancing the first copla of Sevillanas with my dancer friends at clubs while the DJ played salsa music. It's a musical challenge but if you can pull it off and keep it flowing smoothly, noone will realize you're dancing something else.

There actually have been studies on the relationship of flamenco to mathematics. Google it and see for yourself.

As for today (Thursday), I have a rehearsal at 3:00pm so I better sign off and get ready. Ciao for now!

Precious musical moments

DigiTech Jamman is part of my stage setup at Las Tapas. August 21, 2007

It's 2:56am on Wednesday as I type these words. After my usual Tuesday night gig at Las Tapas, I headed over to an acoustic rock open mike in Arlington to support a fellow guitarist as he played his set around 11:30pm.

Got home around 12:30am, changed into some comfortable clothes and practiced guitar for about two hours until I heard a vigorous knock on my door. Who could that be at 2:30am? I quickly opened the door and it turned to be, I assume, one of my next door neighbors. He looked like he dragged himself out of bed and put on whatever clothes he could grab in a hurry...

"Are you playing some music?"

In the background was blaring the sounds of bulerías Sólo Compás playing really really loud---probably annoyingly loud for someone who doesn't know what flamenco is.

"Um, yeah. I'll try to keep it down."

Flamenco and Belly Dance: what’s the connection

Uncredited dancer performing a piece titled Bendição. August 26, 2007 7:07pm

It's 11:46pm on Sunday as I type these words. Got home a short while ago. One of my flamenco friends, who also does belly dance with a company called U Street Caravan, performed at Joy of Motion's Jack Guidone Theatre. It was a sold out concert and she was kind enough to reserve a ticket for me! Thank you K!

It's always challenging taking dance performance photos when the lighting is very dim, which it was for most of the concert. Don't get me wrong. The dim lighting suited the mood of the dances very well--it just didn't make it any easier for me to get some good photos. Out of 160 pics I took, only a handful were usable and I only chose to publish three.

I've been making an effort to bring my camera everywhere I go with the intent of getting lots of practice taking photos especially at performances. Sometimes I get plenty of good shots and other days I only get a few. But each time I learn something new. For example, I just gotta use at least an ISO (digital film sensitivity) of 400 and even then I still get some graininess in the resulting photo but at least it's fast enough to somewhat freeze the motion of the dancers. I still haven't found the perfect combination of aperture and shutter speed that I could apply in every situation. Most of the time, the first few shots at a performance are trial and error.

I'm very proud of the pics I took of Edwin's concert a little more than a month ago. So I tried to use the same camera settings that I used that night for this past evening's belly dance performance, but they didn't quite work. Oh well, it's a challenge, which I love, but I'm confident that it's just a matter of more practice and experience before I'm able to get more consistent higher quality pics.

So I suppose now you're wondering why I'm publishing belly dance pics in a blog about flamenco?

Thursday night flamenco at Taste of Jerusalem in Silver Spring

Manuel and Isabelita Otero dancing Sevillanas at Taste of Jerusalem. August 23, 2007 8:22pm

It's not too often that I get out to see tablao shows in the DC area, cuz hello? usually I'm the one who's performing in them.

So when I heard that guitarist Torcuato Zamora was starting up a new weekly tablao show, I was determined to clear my schedule and show up and give my moral support. Turned out to be on a Thursday which worked out perfectly. As expected Torcuato's loyal fans and friends packed the place. Naturally, as the self-appointed official photographer and historian for the DC flamenco community, I brought my camera and took lots of pics. Here's a small random selection for your enjoyment.