DCFLAMENCO - Flamenco in Washington DC

Miguelito's Photo Diary

December 11, 2004 - December 18, 2004

Holiday Party at the IMF Saturday December 11, 2004
Fundraiser in Delaware December 11, 2004
Columbia Restaurant (Tampa, Florida) December 16, 2004
Fundraiser for Iraqi Children at Luna del Sea Bistro (Baltimore) December 18, 2004

Fundraiser for Iraqi Children at Luna del Sea Bistro (Baltimore) December 18, 2004

Luna del Sea Bistro, located in Baltimore, is where they feature a flamenco show every Tuesday night. We were invited to perform this past Saturday night for an important fundraiser organized by Morteza. My thanks to Jamahl for taking these photos.

Sara Jerez dancing guajiras. I can still remember being there playing guitar when Sara was taking her first flamenco class 8 or 9 years ago. Now I have the pleasure of working with her almost every week! December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

On New Year's Eve, Sara will be performing a few Sevillanas shows with Aleksey Kulikov at Jaleo Bethesda. December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

Sara will be performing with me at Cafe Citron this Monday December 20th. December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

Tamara Sol dancing solea por bulerias. One of the things I love about flamenco is that onstage I get to see personality sides of friends, like Tamara, that I don't usually see when we're just hanging out. When Tamara's dancing solea por bulerias, alegrias or whatever, she's hot! :) December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

I can remember last year, a regular Las Tapas customer made an unusual request. He said, "I'm bringing my mother to Las Tapas on September 19th. I want Tamara to be dancing on that stage. You can get whoever for her partner but I want Tamara. Money is no object."

As it turned out, she wasn't available and Las Tapas was closed on that date thanks to Hurricane Isabel. December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

Tamara will be in her hometown in Arizona for the holidays and it's very likely she'll be performing again on New Year's Eve with Mosaico Flamenco at the Hyatt Resort at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale. (see pics from last year) December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

Fin de Fiesta Bulerias. December 18, 2004 (photo by Jamahl)

I'm promoting everyone else's stuff, I might as well promote my own New Year's Eve plans: dancer Ginette Perea and I are performing again in First Night Alexandria this time with dancer Shahram Tehranian. We're doing three shows: 7:15pm, 8:45pm and 10:15pm. Checkout the pics from last year.

Columbia Restaurant (Tampa, Florida) December 16, 2004

DC area guitarist R.J. Uebersezig is visiting Tampa and happened to catch a flamenco show at the Columbia Restaurant. Thanks R.J.

Trivia question: which DC area guitarist used to regularly perform at this restaurant? (Answer below)

Welcome to the Columbia Restaurant. December 16, 2004 (photo by R.J. Uebersezig)

December 16, 2004 (photo by R.J. Uebersezig)

Faustino Rios, originally from Texas. December 16, 2004 (photo by R.J. Uebersezig)

December 16, 2004 (photo by R.J. Uebersezig)

The DC area guitarist that used to perform at this restaurant was Jesus Serrano. I learned about this fact from his niece, Sandra Serrano, who was a dancer at Columbia Restaurant and several years ago visited the Andalucia Restaurant on the night I was performing. Sandra has her own website. If you go to her shop, you'll see some t-shirts with an interesting variation on "Flamenco not flamingo!" Check it out! Here's a pic of Jesus Serrano after Jose Merce's DC area debut at Lisner.

Fundraiser in Delaware December 11, 2004

I wish I could attend every flamenco event in the area but I can't so I have to rely on people sending me pics. My thanks to R.J. Uebersezig for helping me out here. Dancer Micaela Moreno and R.J. performed at a fundraiser in Delaware last Saturday while I was at the IMF party.

Micaela used to live in the DC area but moved to Delaware a few years ago which unfortunately is seriously lacking in flamenco action. Currently, she's very much involved in the local hispanic community and is constantly looking for opportunities to present flamenco. Not being one to just sit there and say "Man I wish there was flamenco here." Instead Micaela's making it happen! When a flamenco community eventually does get started in Delaware, you can be sure Micaela will be in the middle of it!

Big thank you also to R.J. for making the 2-hour trip to donate his services at this fundraiser.

December 11, 2004 (photo courtesy of R.J. Uebersezig)

Holiday Party at the IMF Saturday December 11, 2004

I've had the pleasure of performing in/attending a few ritzy parties in DC, but this one I have to say was definitely the most extravagant. Five floors of the IMF headquarters with different themes were filled with international buffets (Middle Eastern, Italian, Indian, Japanese, Latin-American, African), open bars and live entertainment ranging from a live salsa band, arabic band, jazz orchestra, Greek dancers, North Indian bhangra dancers, whirling dervishes, ballroom dancers, can can dancers, flamenco dancers and more!

I'm sure the party budget was in the range of six figures. I should have known--IMF stands for International Monetary Fund. Note to self: add an extra zero in my artist fee next time around. :-)

There must have been more than a thousand people attending this party. I figure the chances were pretty good that I'd run into somebody I know and sure enough I did! This is my longtime friend, John Boulet (inventor of Le Technique), standing next to me while I was warming up before the show. December 11, 2004 9:29pm (photo by Lenore Boulet)

Shahram dancing Garrotin. December 11, 2004 9:43pm (photo by John/Lenore Boulet)

December 11, 2004 9:45pm (photo by John/Lenore Boulet)

December 11, 2004 9:49pm (photo by John/Lenore Boulet)

Sara Jerez dancing solea. December 11, 2004 9:51pm (photo by John/Lenore Boulet)

See that skeleton in the back? The theme of this room is Day of the Dead done in the typical Mexican style of decoration--reminds me a little of my Cancún trip last year. December 11, 2004 9:54pm (photo by John/Lenore Boulet)

Sara, John and Miguelito. December 11, 2004 10:03pm (photo by Lenore Boulet)

The IMF treated us really well with everything from paid parking, a private locker, "green" room with drinks and snacks, free food etc. My thanks to IMF event organizer Paola Zambrana and to Linda Byron for referring me to this fun gig!

Photos taken with the Olympus Stylus 300 Digital Camera

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