Our little dancers had their first performance at Sage Hill School in Newport Coast and they were wonderful!

There was an interesting article in the New York Times last week about the role of foreigners in Spain studying flamenco, and here's the video that goes with it.  Carmen Ledesma, one of the woman I loved studying with in Sevilla, is featured in the video.  Watch it or read the article, both are very interesting.  

Here's the link to the article: Flamenco's Foreign Saviors

I want to mention the show I saw last Sunday at the Fountain Theater in Los Angeles. Adriana Maresma Fois was so beautiful - she looked like a Goddess when she danced! Her poise and form are so striking, that each movement looked so perfect...I loved watching her.  In fact the whole show was awesome.  Manuel Gutierrez & Mizuho Sato were also amazing! Manuel & Muzuho are two of the fiercest and most creative dancers - we're so lucky to have such good flamenco in Southern California.  They make it look easy and it's incredible hard what they do - I was just blown away by Sunday's show.  In fact it was one of the best shows I've seen at the Fountain.  It was both traditional and theatrical - more theatrical than I've seen in a long time at the Fountain - the guajira they did together was gorgeous.  And Juan's guitar playing accompanies them so well - his guitar playing feels so good.  Anyway, I had to give them all a shout out and praise them - the artists deserve so much more than my little mention on Facebook but it's all I've got.  Awesome job guys - I'm so happy I saw it!

Adriana and Juan are warm and generous, our time with them was wonderful!  We learned a whole letra of Tientos with a manton and we did some awesome hip and body exercises.  And Astra brought her beautiful flamenco fashions to sell - I think 4 of us got new trajes or faldas.  What a weekend  ¡Gracias ustedes!

We are having a workshop with Adriana Maresma.  Here is her website if you'd like to learn more about her:
 www.adribaila.webs.com

For more workshop information, and to register, CLICK HERE

Hope to see you there!

THIS IS SO EXCITING! You can watch the KUMPANÍA documentary on flamenco in Los Angeles from your home! It's on youtube for $2.99! Last night I was up until almost 2am watching it and it's beautiful. One of the things I enjoyed the most ab...out it was that the dancers & musicians in LA, who I have admired for so long, share their personal experience - and they are so humble! Their humility while they talked really touched me deeply. Besides the people & the dancing, the movie itself showed some beautiful shots of LA - it was awesome. Katina Dunn and Avi Cohen made a beautiful documentary. Here is the link to the trailer - click to play it and a link to watch the actual documentary should pop up in a few seconds. Click on that then follow the instructions. Let me know what you all think.

We performed for the first time at Downtown Anaheim's Art Crawl and it was so fun! Emily & I danced and Joe Hickey kindly accompanied us on the guitar and with his cante.  We hope to be able to do this again but with more people and in the summertime, when it's not so freezing! 

Photo credits: Maurice Turner

This is such a good flamenco documentary - the title translates into 'Good singing hurts'. The camera follows the late Moraíto who was a treasure - if you don't already know of him you will love him. And he will introduce you to his whole family, who are all special, and they share their insight. It's awesome - enjoy!

The beginning of a brand new year and we want to encourage everyone to learn flamenco! Or to keep it up - or to take it to the next level.  Here's a little inspiration: did you know dancing makes you smarter? 


It's true! But don't take my word for it - trust the smart folks over at the dance department at Stanford Univeristy - read for yourself:

The article says that dancing can help reduce the risk of dementia in old people - but not all dancing.  They say social dancing. And by social dancing they mean the "kinds of dances where you must make as many split-second decisions as possible."  


That is totally flamenco!  So now I'm thinking I better get my 72 year old mama learn to flamenco dance!  In fact it's time to start a flamenco class for senior citizens.  I wonder if my mom, or even my dad, would actually do...I'll keep you posted!  


In the meantime, here's a great video of where tangos all started - Triana Pura.  At the 3rd minute and 25 second mark a really old woman gets up and dances and it's just beautiful.