I have decided to keep up my flamenco blogging even now that I am in the United States.  This blog will follow my adventures in flamenco–wherever they lead me, across the U.S. and hopefully back to Spain in the not too distant future.  For those of you not already familiar, you can read about my year in Spain as a Fulbrighter at alicesadventuresinspain.blogspot.com.

Performing at El Meson in Santa Fe on August 17, 2013 with Joaquin Gallegos and Mina Fajardo. 

It’s been a bit of a rough transition coming back to the states, I can’t deny that.  In Spain, I was living and breathing flamenco, and I didn’t have to worry about anything other than furthering my knowledge of this incredibly complex art form.  It was a gift of a year to be able to focus on my art and not worry about money or anything else.  Now that I am stateside, I am starting to put everything I learned to good use, but I miss that immersion and stress-free flamenco life in Spain (and I miss the food!)

I spent the last three weeks in Albuquerque, sharing what I learned in Spain via lectures, demonstrations, and a performance (more on that in the next blog post).  I’m excited to have so many opportunities to share my experiences in Spain here in the United States.

The challenge here will be continuing to learn and grow even without the full-on immersion and even while I focus now also on the business side of things.  There has to be a balance between creating opportunities for oneself and simply creating art.  I know it will always be a fight to keep those in balance, but it’s worth it, without a doubt.  And I feel so lucky to be making ends meet doing what I love to do, and to have the support and love of so many people.

Let the adventures continue…