Manuel Linan Masterclass at DC Dance Collective. September 23, 2010

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!

The History of Tablao Construction in DC

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.

Lazy Sunday afternoon with Miguelito. September 19, 2010

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.