Finally! The Paco Peña show!!!

The day: Wednesday, February 1, 2006.
The time: 7:40 PM

Flamenco buddy/good girl-friend D and I arrive at the university with [we think] lots of time to spare. To our utter surprise, the parking lot for the auditorium is full. Neither one of us has ever seen it packed to this extent before. After two fruitless drive-arounds, we’re forced to go to the next lot. I’m suddenly glad we only have one car between us – and suddenly concerned D’s going to get soaked on the walk to the theatre, as it’s been threatening rain all evening and she’s forgotten her umbrella. Luckily, the rain seems to opt for compassion for once and we’re able to make it to the auditorium virtually dry.

The lobby is quite busy, but not as busy as the fullness of the parking lot might have suggested. A handful of the usual faces, for sure – regular flamenco fans/students from around town, Flamenco de la Isla Society members and sympathizers, andformer students of Alma de España. I’m not sure what the capacity of the Farquar Auditorium is, but the handful of familiar faces could have only accounted for 10% of the seats… The completely sold-out seats. One can only wonder where all these sudden Flamenco enthusiasts hide the rest of the year…

At 8 o’clock sharp, Veronica Maguire, my Flamenco teacher and dancer extraordinaire, gets on stage to present and welcome the performers. She’s done within 3 minutes, exits and the company takes over the stage.

And... this is about when I start kicking myself for not thinking of bringing a pen to make notes. I already know I’m going to get sucked up into the performance, feel overwhelmed with music and rhythm and compás, and that there is no chance in hell I’m going to remember even a fraction of all the stuff I so keenly want to pay attention to – including the stealing of moves for my own piece, that I’m currently working on…