Candidate Nominated!

Great news... we held our nomination meeting today and Randall Weeks was nominated as the candidate for the Green Party of Canada, Calgary West. We are very excited to have a new candidate in place in preparation for any upcoming elections. The EDA and I are looking forward to helping him build his campaign. Congratulations Randall!
www.calgary-west.greenparty.ca

Sevilla Flamenco Tour

Sevilla 2007.....

In case any of you are interested in also visiting Spain, keep reading about our recent trip!! The plans for the next one are currently in the works - quite possibly sometime this summer....

The flamenco tour this year turned out to be fantastic!! The students keep telling me how much they enjoyed themselves. There was a great group dynamic and so much adventure in 2 weeks that I couldn't believe they managed to do it all! Classes, sight-seeing and tapas all in one day! It helped that this time around we were all centrally located together, right by Alfalfa, the heart of the cultural district in Sevilla. The picture to the above is of Tracey, Julie, Linda and Liane at Bar Universal, just around the corner.

Daily classes were held at Taller Flamenco, with Felipe Mato - an hour and a half of hard work a day...The beginner group studied Solea and the intermediate group worked on a Solea por Bulerias. Here are are a couple of pics of the girls at the school & also practicing on the rooftop...(our funky outdoor "studio").

We were able to have meals together a number of times - tapas at our apartment with wine before going out...the group also got together for a tapas evening on our rooftop terrace and we had a terrific dinner at Eng and Sylvia's the evening before everyone left. Most often, however, we ate at one of the many fantastic restaurants around Alfalfa. Here is a picture of one of my favourite hang-outs, Bar Alfalfa, where they serve Italian/Spanish dishes and great Tinto de Verano.

The day most of us arrived, we took a trip to the Giralda. The largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Beautiful and magical (especially when half-hid in the fog at night). The weather this first week (and some of the second) was mostly rainy, it is winter after all. However we managed to catch several days of great weather...and now of course that we're all gone it is sunny and warm every day!

The first weekend we hung out at La Carboneria with Ricardo (some of you may remember him, he played guitar in the Flamenco Sur show this past October). Over the course of the 2 weeks we got to know Antonio as well, Cristina's boyfriend (an ex-torero with lots of fascinating stories). In the last week of our stay we met Tonico, a flamenco guitarist, who was extremely kind and generous - plus a lot of fun to hang out with and talk to.
Holly, Kevin, Tonico and I had some great evenings - complete with orange blossom wine and a flamenco bar that shuts its doors so that if you walked by outside, you wouldn't even know it existed....

One of the highlights out of all the excursions was undoubtedly the day that everyone went to the Alhambra. Tracey led the tour there and here are few of the amazing photos she took of the interior of Alhambra (one of the wonders of the ancient world) and of Albaicin (the old moorish quarter of Granada).

Other organized excursions included a visit to the Alcazar (palace) of Sevilla. We wandered around the gardens and took many, many photos. Tracey and I climbed over a gate and snuck onto the very high ramparts of the castle wall. There are fantastic views of the grounds from up there! It is one of my favourite places to be. I can be often found there (usually by the security guards :-) writing in my diary....


Here is a picture of Eng, Sylvia, Tracey and Julie together in the gardens of the Alcazar.

Needless to say, we saw more flamenco shows that most people do in a lifetime! They included: several trips to Casa de la Memoria (Choro, La Moneta, etc.), Nino de Pura, Miguel Angel Cortes, Arcangel, Angeles Gabaldon, Jose Merce, Antonio Canales, Carmen Gomero.... and I think I am missing a whole bunch. There were lots of opportunities to not only see dance, but to fully appreciate the cante and guitarra. What better place than in Sevilla?

During their stay, most of the group also managed to see lots of the other amazing sights Sevilla has to offer (all you have to do is take a simple walk to see the most incredible architecture). The sights included: Plaza de Espana, Museo de Belles Artes, Museo de Flamenco (literally around the corner from home), Torre de Oro, Triana (how I miss Triana!), and the shopping streets of Sierpes and Cuna. I noticed everyones suitcase was filled with mounds of polka-dotted fabric...I can't wait to see you all in your new skirts and dresses!

I shouldn't forget to mention that cafe con leche and chocolate napolitanas were also a hit...they became a dietary necessity :-)

Bernadette stayed an extra week which was a really nice surprise. She took in more classes, came to my show (it was wonderful to know she was there). We were able to wrap up our trip together with the most memorable and amazingly magical night of salsa dancing! (look at us smiling!). That is Ilse on the far right, a dancer from Toronto who was in Sevilla at the same time.

So now we are all back in Canada. Thought perhaps we'd missed winter, but not quite ;-). It was wonderful to be able to share Sevilla with all of you. It is very exciting being around students who are there for the first time...the enthusiasm is catching! Looking forward to meeting you all there again. Andalucia is after all only a plane ride away ----

Regreso a Sevilla

Here is a link to a clip from when I performed at the Alcazar, Sevilla. The music has been substituted as the original sound quality was poor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mximNKFq4XM