About

My journey with flamenco has been like gradual awakening over the course of many years, so I don't know exactly where to begin with my story. How far do I take it back without boring you to death? Hmm... Well, it's my website, so what the heck... here's the long version:

 

I was raised as the only "white girl" in a center city barrio of mostly Puerto Rican and Mexican immigrants in a large town in Southern New Jersey. I grew up hearing salsa, merengue and mariachi music blaring from all quarters. Being from a family of musicians, I was naturally intrigued, and this was my introduction to music outside the mainstream. In high school, despite my disdain for mainstream music, I was involved with every music club and class possible. My senior year, I began dating an exchange student from northern Spain. At the end of the school year he went back to Spain and I began my studies of music in college. For the next two and a half years, in between our studies we would spend holidays and summer vacations together in Northern Spain and the US. It was during this time that I realized the music of Spain is very diverse. Kids, it's not all flamenco! In fact, the folk music of Northern Spain sounds like what you would expect to hear in Ireland or Scotland- replete with indigenous bagpipes… it's true!!! When our relationship eventually ended and I returned to the US, I created a little website devoted to Asturien folk music and Llan de Cubel so I could proclaim to the world that Spain's music is more than just flamenco. Throughout Spain, pride in regional culture, food, music, dance and traditions runs very deep. My exchange student boyfriend made clear his disdain for flamenco, and so, for the duration of my time in Spain I was insulated from flamenco.

His only acquiescence was to take me to a showing of Joaquín Cortés Pasión Gitana in Gijon in 1995. I was impressed. But I wouldn't see real flamenco performed onstage again until 8 years later when Rafael Campallo brought his cuadro to Philadelphia.
My curiosity about other forms of Spanish music went largely unsatisfied for a long time. As a poor college student, I recall walking home from the train after work one day and seeing some Andrés Segovia albums on the trash. I rescued the old vinyl albums and listened to them over and over. Those Segovia albums gave real legitimacy to the classical and Spanish guitar for me. And I wanted more… The music library at my college had a dismal selection of Spanish guitar and flamenco music on vinyl. I suffered through countless hours of manually searching through albums for some real gems. Eventually, accessing streaming flamenco music online became easy and I spent hours listening every day. At some point, I really fell in love with flamenco.

Really, it's a natural progression that since I'm really into Spain and music, that I would take an interest in flamenco music. However, what is surprising is that I, who am a terrible klutz, am taking flamenco dance lessons. I'm the kind of person who is always walking into things and dropping things. Why I decided to take flamenco dance lessons, I don't exactly know. Fate? At 3 am after working all night in the ER two years ago, I concluded I would take dance lessons because I needed the exercise. I searched the miraculous world wide web and by morning, viola! I had found myself a local flamenco dance teacher (on Miguelito's awesome DCFlamenco.com site.) Anna Rubio has been my teacher since then and she should be canonized (because trust me, she has to be a saint to put up with my lack of coordination.) I'm a musician- not a dancer. But darn it, I know I can do it, I've got compás. But try explaining that to my feet. Really, I'll never be a dancer, but I'll always be gitana flamenca. I was born with Flamenco in my soul. It has always has been, I just didn't know it was there.

And so, I created this website for those of you who are searching for something... Those of you who have caught a glimmer of flamenco out of the corner or your eye and felt the irresistible pull of Flamenco.

Be sure to check out some of my favorite images of my flamenco friends and artists. They have all be taken by me, save a few who were generously shared by friends.