The most "flamenco" experiences I've had outside of Spain were not flamenco at all. One was a break dance battle at Wayne State University in Detroit and the other was a jazz concert in Albuquerque at the African American Performing [...]
Someone said to me the other day: why don’t you rent studio space at X studio and teach classes there, you know the owner is very collaborative. Wait, what? What does collaboration have to do with where I rent studio [...]
Here are two words I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing, mostly because they are misused: community and collaboration. This blog post will address the first one, and the latter will be addressed in a future blog post. Let’s [...]
Radical ideas that shouldn't be radical (in flamenco more specifically, but in other dance forms too): 1) holding auditions 2) letting dancers wear their natural hair (i.e. not slicked back) 2.5) letting dancers be individuals 3) not choosing dancers based [...]
No one person is the be-all end-all. Well, maybe your kids, or grandkids, or significant other are your world. But that's not what I'm talking about. In the dance world, I've seen dancers flock to a single person and talk about [...]
I think artists often get pigeon-holed by audiences, critics, and even their peers. And I think that sucks. Big time. I've heard through the grapevine that people talk about my shows as "out-there contemporary stuff" that they're not interested in. [...]
Lineage in dance, and particularly in oral dance traditions, carries a great deal of weight. Without respect for those that passed the traditions on to us, we lose the essence of the art form. And without allowing our students to [...]
What do I want for Christmas? More than anything, I want dancers. I've been trying to choreograph on just myself pieces that I really envision for multiple dancers. And guess what? It just does not work. It's like a painter [...]
Recently I was honored to have two high school choreography students call and interview me for a class project. They asked some outstanding questions that really made me think. And one answer I keep going back to...they asked what was [...]
Snippets from conversations I have had with audience members after performances that give an idea of how flamenco is viewed by U.S. audiences:Where are you from?I grew up in New Mexico, but I've lived here since 2008 (NYC).But you must [...]
