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Miguelito's Photo Diary and BlogDecember 16, 2005 - December 23, 2005
La Tasca Clarendon December 23, 2005 It's 2:37am on Saturday as I type these words. Just got home and like I said I was going to do, I ended up at La Tasca in Clarendon. As promised, I took pics. The dancers were Ginette and Debra Belo.  December 23, 2005 7:53pm 
Ginette and Debra Belo. December 23, 2005 8:48pm 
December 23, 2005 8:48pm 
December 23, 2005 8:52pm 
December 23, 2005 8:53pm After the first set, my friend wanted to go see a movie so we said goodnight to Ginette and Debra before going to the Ballston Mall nearby to see the 9:30pm show of King Kong. It was my second time to see it this week. Loved it! This is a view of the exterior of the Ballston Mall as we left to go to Silver Diner for a late night bite.  December 24, 2005 12:59am It's 2:50am on Saturday. Time for bed. I know it's Christmas Eve, but as a present to myself I scheduled an early afternoon jam session with one of my favorite dancers. So I better get a good night's rest. Ciao! It's 10:53am on Saturday. I got up a little later than I wanted to. Today's rehearsal is at 1:00pm so I have just enough time to squeeze in a little shopping before arriving at the dance studio. Anyway, this will be my last entry until I get back to my computer on late Sunday night. If I don't see you before then, Merry Christmas! Friday with Miguelito December 23, 2005 It's 11:33am on Friday as I type these words. Yeah I'm "wired" on caffeine right now and if you were here, you'd hear me speaking a mile-a-minute. :-) So anyway, the show at Andalucía (Thursday) went well despite a number of detracting factors: But the show has to go on and fortunately none of the customers made a fuss about me getting there late. You know me. I have a reputation for being the first one to show up at a gig mostly cuz I require the most time for setting-up due to my sound system. But this one time, I was very late. Today (Thursday) was different. I won't get into the details but let's just say I had a distraction at home, I took a nap afterwards to recover and when I woke up it was 15 minutes to showtime, yikes! Monica called from the Andalucía at 7:46pm. "Mike where are you?!!" "I'm at home, I just got up. I'll explain later. I'll catch a cab and be there as soon as I can." Click. Hung up without saying bye. I quickly got dressed, splashed cold water on my face to perk up and rushed out the door. Fortunately, I live close to a major street so I was able to catch a cab within minutes. But I decided to leave the amplifier at home since it would've slowed me down. I arrived at Andalucia at 8:22pm. Total fare $20.15. Ouch! Caught my breath. Composed myself and made my entrance calmly as if I was arriving early. Went to the bar, silenced my phone, opened the guitar case and quickly tuned up. Turned off the background music and headed towards the stage. As I walked towards the chair where I would be sitting for the show, I thought to myself, "What can I play that will be more audible since I don't have amplification?" I decided I would begin with a soleá with lots of rasgueados (strumming). It wouldn't help for me to physically play any harder so I just focused on being musical and it worked. I closed my eyes and soon I was lost in my own world enjoying the music as flowed from my imagination to my fingertips. I opened my eyes for a moment and noticed a lady at the table to my left adjusting her chair to get a better look at me, or rather be in a position to better hear me. It's not much, but it helped cuz I knew someone was paying attention, so I put a little more of myself into the music. Sometime later, I finished the soleá and applause followed immediately. I was amazed, mostly cuz I didn't think people could hear me that well without amplification but they did. Maybe they could see me enjoying myself as I played and that was enough despite not being that loud. Oh well. All I know is that whatever I did worked and it worked without amplification. So now, I'm almost even tempted to leave the amplifier at home next time around. Sometimes I like to go out with my friends afterwards and it's always a pain to think about where to put the amplifier: either in a friend's car (means my friend has to drive me home), or actually going home first and dropping it off before going out (time-waster), or leaving it at the restaurant (means I have to come back the next day to pick it up--another time waster). Of course, the ultimate situation would be to have a professional-quality sound system at each of the venues where I perform. That way I can just walk in with only my guitar and also leave at the end of the evening the same way. Anyway, back to the Andalucía. I hung out after the show with Monica and her friends. Turns out one them, Lisette, studied flamenco like ten years ago when she was still in high school. But of course, life happened and she forgot everything, even Sevillanas. Monica learned Sevillanas too. I was telling them that occasionally I get calls when dancers need subs--I'm the official DC flamenco telephone directory cuz I have just about everyone's phone number so everyone calls me at some point when they need to reach a dancer whose number they don't have. (Don't worry ladies, I don't give out the numbers to just anyone. I know some of you are understandably conscientious about your privacy and safety.) But when I think about all the times that dancers call me for subs at Jaleo and La Tasca, if I only danced Sevillanas well, I could go ahead and be the sub myself! OK so that's what I'm going to work on this coming year: learning all four coplas and getting my dance skills in shape--it's about time! :-) If there are any dancers out there that want to trade Sevillanas lessons for practice time with me (during the day), let me know! 
Talking on da phone at home. December 23, 2005 11:10am I'm in a talkative mood. Was just on the phone with a friend (see above pic) and just as the conversation was getting especially interesting I heard a beeping sound on my end indicating that my airtime was about to run out so I had to abruptly but politely end the conversation. 
My Menkes boots. December 23, 2005 12:41pm 
December 23, 2005 12:42pm Ugh! I gotta go out and buy some airtime--thank God there's a T-Mobile store closeby. But in the meantime, I feel like talking. This blog entry sort of satisfied me temporarily. Time for me to practice my taconeo--but shhh don't tell my landlord! :-) Ciao for now. By the way, tonight's gig at Cabanas is cancelled due to the Christmas weekend. I'll find some way to have some fun tonight. You can read about it tomorrow. Ciao for now. It's 6:14pm on Friday as I type these words. I'm just about to head out the door to meet someone in Arlington tonight, so I might as well stop by La Tasca in Clarendon to see who's dancing Sevillanas. Stay tuned for pics! Art 101 lecture by Miguelito December 21, 2005 It's 8:22pm on Wednesday as I type these words. Would you believe I've been up since 5:30am this morning? Surprisingly I don't feel tired yet. As you can see from the pics, it was my get-away-from-flamenco-for-a-day kind of day, or so I thought. :-) I spent the day at the National Gallery of Art and this time I focused on Renaissance works. This first painting is by the 16th century Italian painter Raphael. It's one of many "Madonna and child" themed works of the time. Cool thing was that in this gallery there were several examples of this theme by different artists. And because they were literally side-by-side I was able to see the similarities and differences with my own eyes instead of reading about it in some stuffy scholarly textbook--you know the type, where they overuse words like exquisite, sublime, quintessential. :-) 
December 21, 2005 1:06pm A few minutes later, a tour group came in and one of the museum docents explained the significance of the this oval-shaped work by, I believe, Perugino. 
December 21, 2005 1:15pm I'm no art history expert, but I am somewhat talented in the hands-on application of electronic visual arts skills--hello? I designed this website from scratch! So visual design does interest me very much! So does oral presentation--hence I paid attention to the speaking style of the lecturer as she described the painting by Perugino. So does writing. Whew! My hunger to learn will forever keep me curious about the world around me. Ugh, there I go off on a tangent again. ;-) You can learn a lot about a certain style by comparing interpretations. In the above examples, I compared Raphael and Perugino's interpretations of Madonna and Child. By the same token, you can learn about stylistic differences in a palo, say, bulerías. Marija Temo gave me some great advice years ago: put together a tape (or burn a CD or create a playlist on an Ipod) of nothing but bulerías by different artists and listen to this recording like mad. You may not be a music expert, but you'd be surprised what you can pick out just by trusting your ears. Listen to these bulerías one-after-the-other (side-by-side). After a while, you'll hear some things that are common to ALL bulerías and you'll also hear certain quirks that certain guitarists have in their interpretation of this palo. Same goes for the singer. A lot of guitarists use the same falsetas even when they record with different singers. Enough talk. Just do it. You'll thank me (and Marija) for this later, I promise! Oh, and one more thing, be sure to write down the names of the artists for the different tracks. It'll help you later when you have flamenco discussions with your friends when you properly credit a certain singing/playing style that you like or dislike. e.g. Tomatito's style of playing, Fosforito's style of singing etc. And if you like (or dislike) a certain artist's style, be able to describe, in concrete terms, why and please don't let me catch you using words like exquisite, sublime and quintessential! :-) So much for getting away from flamenco. :-) Of course, someone's been reading my blog and decided they would stop by the gallery too on the same day I was there! Turns out as I was walking into the area for Spanish paintings, I heard someone call my name. "Miguelito! Is that you Miguelito?" It was a college friend of dancer Ginette. Of course we talked about Ginette, what a wonderful person she is etc. :-) Then I went back to getting myself lost in this beautiful seemingly endless labyrinth. 
This hallway just goes on and on and on... December 21, 2005 1:48pm Oh yeah, back to the Spanish painting section. This is a work by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) titled Señora Sabasa Garcia. 
December 21, 2005 2:08pm According to the notes about this painting: Reread that last sentence paying particular attention to the word "spontaneous" and the phrase "retaining the immediacy of his first impressions." It resembles very much my own preferred form of flamenco interpretation: foregoing reworking of falsetas in favor of the less-polished but ultimately more vibrant musical energy of the moment. Get it? End of art lecture. :-) Later that afternoon, I finally got away from flamenco, or did I? I got together with a close friend that I first met through the Internet about a year ago. She first made contact when she sent me an email responding to my flamenco website. Today, we also celebrated the first anniversary of her blog. 
December 21, 2005 4:51pm Although flamenco was the original reason for our making contact, today we just talked about non-flamenco stuff, just regular day-to-day living. In addition to the warm company, I enjoyed a cup of one of the Juan Valdez specialties: macchiato arequipe. If you're from Colombia then you know what is arequipe. If you don't, ask your Colombian friends or better yet, visit Juan Valdez at 19th and F streets NW DC. Who knows? You might even see me there! Ciao for now. Tuesday with December 20, 2005  It's 1:03am on Wednesday as I type these words. This morning (Tuesday), I had a long discussion with a dancer friend about the book Flamenco Dance: Secrets of the Professionals by Paco Sevilla. A lot of what is discussed in this book is similar to the advice that I give to many up-and-coming dancers that I work with--in particular, how to effectively work with live flamenco guitar accompaniment. If you intend to become a professional flamenco dancer or just want to learn what us flamenco guitarists expect from professional dancers or hope that student dancers will eventually learn, BUY THIS BOOK! These are the titles of the chapters: Around 1:00pm, went with a friend to see that new movie Memoirs of a Geisha. It was a moderately interesting movie, except I was a little distracted so I didn't really get into it. :-) Then had to rush off to Cafe Citron to pick up my sound equipment. But as I left Citron, I was so focused on rushing off to the metro, I almost didn't notice when this beautiful Indian girl called my name. Walking at a brisk pace while dragging a 100 pounds of equipment, I was a little out of breath (Note to self: get back into the habit of running in the morning) when I stopped to greet her. It was my friend Sarika! (I went to her birthday party last Saturday) Usually I only run into her every few months, but this was like the second time in less than a week! Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and couldn't talk with her for very long. In retrospect, I realize I should've at least walked her to her place (lucky Sarika lives near Dupont Circle) and spent a few minutes catching up. She's a really cool friend and who knows when I'll run into her again? Fast forward a few hours later, I took this pic as I was about to go onstage for the first show. Even though I perform all the time, I still feel that special surge of excitement every time I go onstage. And why not? This is what I love to do and I get to do it several days a week! 
The stage is set and the audience is waiting for you! Are you ready? December 20, 2005 7:53pm We had some friends in the audience including: Behzad, Brandon, Carlton and Linette (not pictured). The dancers were Jen and Shahram (not pictured). 
December 20, 2005 9:37pm It was a good night: good crowd, friends in the audience and I was in a good mood. After the show, a guy walked up to me as I was putting my guitar away and congratulated me. At the bar, a couple of girls, one of them is a swing dance teacher from California, complimented me on my ability to follow the dancers so well. It's now 1:23am on Wednesday. I have to meet someone at 7:00am so I better get myself to bed! Ciao for now. Cafe Citron December 19, 2005 It's 10:11am on Tuesday as I type these words. When I first walked into Citron last night (Monday), I was surprised by the unusually large crowd. I mean aren't people supposed to be out Christmas shopping instead of partying on a Monday night? :-) As far as the show was concerned, the size of the crowd didn't matter that much. Most of the people weren't paying that much attention. Sometimes there was no applause or just a few polite claps. Oh well, what can you do? This is a bar and not a theatre where's it's supposedly a lot easier because at least in a theatre people are there specifically to see you. Of course we don't take it personally. The same thing has happened at one time or another at the other venues when I worked with other dancers. As professional entertainers (that's what we are), we're still expected to put on a good show no matter what. So that's what we did. You never know who's out there in the audience, so you got give your best, always. Turned out that the few people that actually were paying attention came up to me after the show to congratulate us. 
December 19, 2005 8:14pm (photo by Keith) 
December 19, 2005 8:24pm (photo by Keith) Having an underskirt allows the dancer to be freely expressive with the main skirt without worrying about raising it too high. Yes, the skirt is a tool for expression in flamenco. Don't be afraid to use it! 
December 19, 2005 8:25pm (photo by Keith) 
December 19, 2005 8:29pm (photo by Keith) I'm pretty proud of myself with how I setup the stage lighting. The whole group is lit, but the lighter color (yellow) is on the visual focus of the show, the dancer, and the darker color (red) is on the musicians so the audience can see them but still focus on the dancer. 
December 19, 2005 8:30pm (photo by Keith) I didn't realize this until Keith took pictures of us musicians, but the angle of the stage light creates shadows of us against the wall which adds to the visual appeal. Performers: read up on stage lighting. It adds a lot to the show, so it never hurts to know how to make yourself look your best with lights. 
December 19, 2005 8:34pm (photo by Keith) 
December 19, 2005 8:34pm (photo by Keith) 
December 19, 2005 8:35pm (photo by Keith) 
December 19, 2005 8:37pm (photo by Keith) For the hard-core party people: unfortunately, Cafe Citron will be closed this Saturday December 24th. If you still need your Citron fix, come back on Monday December 26th for the flamenco show. It's 4:46pm on Tuesday as I type these words. Time for me to go and get ready for my gig at Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria. One of the dancers will be Jen, an up-and-coming student. Looking forward to seeing her grow little-by-little as an experienced performer. Yay! Sunday with Miguelito December 18, 2005 It's 4:13pm on Sunday and my ride is picking me up in 5 minutes for a gig. So I'll just add the commentary later. It was a very inspiring rehearsal. Had a LOT of fun. Thank you Marsha! 
December 18, 2005 11:15am We went to the private studio in the back. This was the first time we had gotten together to practice since we made our debut on December 3rd. It took a few minutes to get back on track, but we when we finally connected artistically, it was like good times again. Turned out to be one of those freeform rehearsals where we just jammed the whole time. 
December 18, 2005 12:20pm 
December 18, 2005 11:29pm 
I love this studio--yeah it's aesthetically beautiful but more importantly I associate it with good memories. December 18, 2005 12:20pm Started off with me improvising some toque libre while Marsha (aka Rosa la Huracana) did some stretches and tried out some moves inspired by the music. When she started playing around with some rhythmic ideas, I tried to rhythmically match her and spontaneously morphed my improvisations to a farruca. So that's what we worked on pretty much the whole session. 95% jamming and 5% talking. Just the way I like it! 
Marsha working on footwork. December 18, 2005 12:21pm We don't have any upcoming performances scheduled, at the moment. But that's still no excuse not to get together and practice. And Marsha and I are smart enough to realize this so we schedule rehearsals anyway to continue to get to know each other artistically and work on material in a more relaxed manner--and besides, it's just fun! Uh-oh I feel a lecture coming on... However, it's too often that I only get together with dancers just before a show and there's the added pressure of getting our act together within a seriously compressed time constraint. Truth is some people work better under pressure. It works for me sometimes. But I'm one of those types that prefers several relaxed pace but focused rehearsals instead of just one that's frantic and at the last-minute. 
December 18, 2005 12:22pm On one hand, there have been times when I performed with a dancer for the first-time with no rehearsal whatsoever and the performance turned out to be amazingly good. Since I had no idea what to expect, I was so focused and paying attention to every subtlety of the dancer's movements that my improvised accompaniment meshed almost perfectly. Very satisfying but also very mentally draining and also heavily dependent on a dancer who is competent enough to clearly communicate to the guitarist solely through dance. 
December 18, 2005 12:22pm I can deal with last-minute rehearsals. These days dancers want all kinds of theatrical stops (cortes) and special musical arrangements that require explanation beforehand. When dancers give me these elaborate explanations at a last-minute rehearsal, I think to myself, "OK, this dancer must be new to flamenco." TIP: When it comes to last-minute rehearsals, simple and strong is better than sophisticated and weak. Audiences don't care that your cool (but complicated) step is by so-and-so famous dancer. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the complicated stuff too. But in a performance situation if it's weakly executed, it's weak, period. Simple and strong is always better. Theatrical flamenco requires sharp attention to detail and a very good memory (but so does tablao flamenco). We experienced performers can make theatrical flamenco look spontaneous. But personally I prefer less theatrical stuff because all the mental energy I devote to memorizing stuff takes away from the energy I could devote to watching for subtle changes in mood and for truly interacting with the dancer. I have spent many years accompanying dance classes and performances to the point where I can almost predict what a dancer is going to do next. And having a dancer verbally tell me what music to play and when makes me want to roll my eyes. C'mon you're a dancer and I'm an accompanist (and NOT a human CD player). I'll "listen" to you but you have to communicate to me what you want, nonverbally, through your dancing. If necessary, just give me a general outline of your routine then just shut up and dance and let me take care of the rest. End of lecture! :-) SUGGESTED READING: Please pull out your "bible" (aka Flamenco Dance: Secrets of the Professionals by Paco Sevilla) and turn to page 53 last paragraph from the chapter "Controlling Your Guitarist." "As a guitarist learning to accompany dance, I had always heard and read about the 'magic of accompaniment,' how a good guitarist could anticipate a dancer's every move...Eventually, I found I could accompany anything, even steps that were out of compás...But the dancer has to do her part. If her communication skills are inadequate and her concept of dance is illogical, no guitarist is going to be able to accompany her without endless rehearsal." Amen! 
Miguelito. December 18, 2005 12:23pm (photo by Marsha) It's 11:03am on Monday as I type these words. I'm performing at Citron tonight as usual, but I gotta get away from flamenco for the day. Maybe I'll go lose myself in the National Gallery of Art again. Ciao for now. 
December 18, 2005 12:24pm (photo by Marsha) 
December 18, 2005 12:24pm (photo by Marsha) Saturday with Miguelito December 17, 2005 It's 3:50am on Sunday as I type these words. I have an 11:00am rehearsal so I'll add the commentary later today. This first batch is from Alliance Dance Institute's showcase featuring Dimitri Savchenko and Marsha Bonet performing a Pasodoble choreographed by Frank Regan. 
Dimitri and Marsha. December 17, 2005 10:45pm 
December 17, 2005 10:46pm 
December 17, 2005 10:46pm 
December 17, 2005 10:46pm 
December 17, 2005 10:47pm Dimitri credits Marsha and I with helping him learn to capture the flamenco expression behind his performance. 
Dimitri and Miguelito. Note to self: I just realized that when good dancers pose for pics, they angle their body to a corner of "the box" and keep head facing foward. Look at me, I'm facing straightforward. Ugh! I spend so much time with dancers, I should've known this! December 17, 2005 10:50pm As much as I wanted to hang out at the showcase, I also wanted to attend my friend Sarika's birthday. She is a flamenco dance student that I met at Cafe Citron last year. So I went to the 14th and U streets to this recently opened club called Jin Lounge where the birthday gathering took place. Sarika's the girl in the middle wearing the purple top. 
December 18, 2005 12:28am 
Miguelito, Eddie, Sarika and Jin. December 18, 2005 12:29am 
View from the bar. December 18, 2005 12:39am 
December 18, 2005 12:51am Later we headed to Chloe Club in Adams-Morgan. 
December 18, 2005 2:08am Walking down 18th street, we passed by Tryst where I enjoyed coffee and good company the day before. 
December 18, 2005 2:09am All these years I've lived here and I have yet to enter some of these clubs! My thanks to Sarika for giving me an excuse to join her and her friends at some of these cool places! 
December 18, 2005 2:12am OK it's 4:00am! Time for bed. Friday with Miguelito December 16, 2005 Looks like I'm up early again but it's a good thing. It's going to be a full day so I need to get my email and website updates completed now since I won't have time to get back on the computer until very late tonight. 
Miguelito writing the blog. December 16, 2006 7:26am So what's going on today?  Checking my Palm. December 16, 2005 7:35am Starting off with a gig at the National Zoo. It's just a holiday party for the employees but the client wants flamenco dance shows throughout the afternoon from noon until 3:00pm! At 3:30pm, I'm going to meet up with a friend for coffee--it's rare that I get to just hang out with my dancer friends. (Usually we either rehearse or perform or travel to and from gigs.) Then I'm going back home to take a nap--I try to squeeze in some healthfuly rest whenever I can since I can't afford to get sick. Finally, I have my gig at Cabanas tonight with Ginette and Mariya, yay! It's 2:12am on Saturday as I type these words. Just got home--I told you this was going to be a full day didn't I? :-) I'm actually feeling tired so I'm just going to add some brief commentary and go straight to bed. The first gig this morning took place at the Amazonia building at the National Zoo. Of course the zoological park is huge with pathways that wind around in an serpentine fashion that normally would be fun to walk through except when you're in a hurry--which I was. 
December 16, 2005 12:13pm At least the scenery was beautiful... 
December 16, 2005 12:14pm I couldn't resist taking some pics along the way... 
Beaver and duck. December 16, 2005 12:15pm 
Mexican wolf. December 16, 2005 12:16pm 
Yay, destination ahead! December 16, 2005 12:17pm 
The stage and sound system. December 16, 2005 12:28pm 
View from my chair. December 16, 2005 12:28pm Ginette had just arrived at the zoo entrance, so I took it upon myself to meet her halfway to make sure she found the way to the Amazonia building where we were going to perform. We passed by the seals and just had to take a pic... 
December 16, 2005 12:48pm 
Gerard and Ginette on break between sets. December 16, 2005 1:45pm 
Miguelito. December 16, 2005 2:10pm (photo by Ginette) I left the zoo gig at 3:00pm so I could meet up with a dancer friend that I hardly see let alone hang out with. We were going to go to Lebanese Taverna to get some turkish coffee but it was closed so I suggested walk a bit and find a place in Adams-Morgan. We casually wandered down 18th St as if we were following our instincts and somehow ended up at Tryst. Usually this place is very crowded, but then again it was 3 in the afternoon so it was easy to find a free table. (The last time I was here was four years ago when I met up with the owner of Cafe Citron to negotiate the terms of my Monday night flamenco show.) I definitely wanted something warm to drink, preferably with caffeine. The drink menu on the table presented some tempting choices spiked with alcohol, yay! I ordered the Portland Coffee and my friend got the Hot Mulled Red Wine. 
December 16, 2005 6:48pm Before I met up with my friend, I had a Red Bull equivalent called Rock Star to wake up. So combine the energy drink kick with the caffeine from my Portland Coffee and I was like talking a mile a minute. Not to mention the alcohol which relaxed my inhibitions and made me talk about stuff, you know, personal stuff, yikes! My friend didn't seem to mind, plus it made me feel much better to get some of that stuff off my chest. Whew! 
December 16, 2005 5:11pm I was in the mood for something sweet so I got fresh strawberries with warm chocolate nutella dip. Yum! I love strawberries! 
December 16, 2005 5:11pm It was good to spend time with a friend, go someplace cool and different from my routine and relax for an hour or two. 
View from my seat through the window. December 16, 2005 5:14pm 
View from my seat towards the rest of the lounge. December 16, 2005 5:30pm They say vacation is a state of mind. And yeah, although I didn't go to Cancun like I originally planned, I was in a Cancun state-of-mind for a few hours. It was so good I almost didn't care that I was running late for my Cabanas gig. I still had to go home to pick up my sound system and head towards Georgetown! 
View from the back window of the cab as I left Adams-Morgan. December 16, 2005 6:56pm I arrived at Cabanas with just enough time to setup and chillout for a short while before showtime. The dancers were Ginette and Mariya. 
December 16, 2005 9:28pm There was a large group of ladies next to the stage. They loved our show and expressed their appreciation to applause and cheers. So I made a point of thanking them for their enthusiasm. I heard some of them speaking with an accent that I recognized, so I spoke to them in Russian: Bolshoe spasibo. Naday-use shto bam nravilca, da? Of course they all said, DA! Needless to say they were impressed with my language skills and probably very flattered that an American like me took the time to learn such a difficult language. (I actually love the sound of spoken Russian. For the second set I introduced the dancers both in Russian and Spanish... Dobri vecher. Ya xachoo prestavits mo-eex podroogi. Pervo, Mariya iz Ukraeena. I Ginette iz Peru. Ya amerikanets no moi roditali iz Phillipines. Naday-use shto bam ponravitsa. My Russian language skills won them over. Turns out they were a delegation of some sort visiting Washington DC and this was their last night before going back to Moscow. We helped make their last night special and afterwards they asked if would pose for a photo with them. 
December 16, 2005 9:59pm On my way home, I stopped by Booeymonger for a late night bite and as I was sitting at a table minding my own business. This girl at an adjacent table asked me about my guitar. An hour or so later I found myself sitting with her and her friends talking about me and my shows. Fortunately, I had a supply of promotional postcards for my Cabanas show which I passed out to these dancers. They had just left the Friday night party at the ballroom dance studio across the street. It's not too surprising when you think about it. This cafe is a dancers' hangout cuz there are three dance studios within walking distance from here! OK it's 2:57am on Saturday. I have dance class at noon plus my usual Saturday morning Argentine breakfast at El Patio, yum! Good night.
Photos taken with the Olympus Stylus 300 Digital Camera
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