I like this photo – don’t know what else to say.
This shot was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it opportunity during the dress rehersal of “ARCHitecture Flamenca,” a dance event at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM). Details of the event last November are here.
CNM professor Bridgit Lujan came up with the show’s premise during her year of exploring the history of Flamenco while on scholarship in Spain. I took Professor Lujan’s “History of Flamenco” class earlier in the year and asked if she needed photos taken to capture the event.
During this particular rehearsal, I took over 800 photos tonight as a project assistant to the production’s chief photographer N***. The dance ended and the stage lights slowly faded to black. While the blue, violet, and purple all mesh together in a weird gradient pallet, i saw the color of the white lily flower on the dancer’s head. This one was my favorite shot from nearly 32 gigabytes of photos.
No filtering, no Photoshop, no fancy tricks.
Just a once-in-a-blue-moon lucky shot.
Back in June 2024, as part of the History of Flamenco class, I had to attend a show during the Flamenco Festival in Albuquerque. My travel being what it was (is?) I missed the week-long exhibition and grabbed the last show – a public recital of the National Institute of Flamenco’s various age-groups and expertise.
In short, the morning hours were amazing. The colors, the music, the dancers, and singers gave a great performance. From the awkward young group of girls and boys who looked more like line dancers to the experience performers with tapping beats from blurry foot-movements… it was a show worth watching.
I’m grateful for Professor Lujan for allowing me to continue my educational journey into the world of Flamenco with the participation in her “ARCHitecture Flamenca” show.
If you want to see what a portion of what this Flamenco world is all about, I cannot offer solid recommendations. I’ve seen too little to offer an educated opinion – I’m just a fan-boy at this point. But while I’m typing this, I am jamming out to “Djobi, Djoba” by the Gipsy Kings… and a bit of Camarón de la Isla is on the playlist afterwards.
I don’t speak a lick of Spanish, but this is too catchy a beat to sit still.
Joseph T. Page II 