Mis Hermanas: Mexican Tour, November 2010
After many setbacks of one sort or another, Rosario finally managed to realize her dream of bringing her story back to the people and area where it all started. As one could imagine, this was the result of a lot of organization and planning by many people – but mostly by Rosario – and it went off without a hitch.
Airports, ground transportation for 15 people, hotels and food, theatres and technical requirements, even introducing a new dancer into the show: all of it went super bien in large part thanks to our stage manager Gia Nahmens and our good friend and brilliant light designer Gerald King who had to work in four different venues before they had the luxury of not having to strike it all to start over somewhere else.
As usual, our singer Angelita blew everybody away with her tremendous energy and emotion and my partner on guitar Miguel Ramos is an absolute monster. Every day I learned from him and I want to thank him for being such a great companero. The new “Rebecca”, Barbara Breeton, did a great job in both her solo as well as her character development and group work. The other dancers were brilliant as ever and got better and better with each show, we believe in large part due to the opportunity of getting to know all of Rosario’s sisters in their own environment. Rosario’s sister Lupita and her husband Roberto threw a welcoming party for everyone in their backyard with lots of food, tequila and mariachi. It was a great evening and a good taste of Mexican hospitality for the visitors.
We opened on the 22nd of October as guest artists of Miguel and Claudia Fuentes’ Festival de Arte Flamenco in Monterrey’s largest theatre Teatro de la Ciudad. The following night was a performance in Aula Magna. We were invited by the U.A.N.L. (Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon), which had an absolutely gorgeous hall with unbelievable stained glass windows. about 500 seats, and terrific acoustics. It was perfect for flamenco.
The next morning we were driven to Montemorelos where we performed at the Museo Historico de Montemorelos for close to 800 people outdoors at night with a full moon rising and warm breezes, surrounded by orange trees and the sounds of crickets. Since Montemorelos is right next to the town where Rosario was born, she was bombarded by hugs and kisses and tears and it took us awhile to return to the hotel. The following morning we were invited for breakfast at Hacienda La Mota in General Teran (Rosario’s hometown) where her sister Anadelia and her husband Hector outdid themselves in the food department: machacado con huevos, longaniza, barbacoa, and fresh orange juice from their orchards. If that wasn’t enough, as soon as we stepped out of the bus a local trio started up and soon everyone was dancing to the Tamborazos. Their garden looked like a tropical paradise with flowers and peacocks running around. I knew that this visit would be one of the highlights of the tour for the artists, and it was!
The following day we drove back to Monterrey and went straight to the airport for our flight to Mexico City. After two days off, a number of interviews and a 6am pick-up from the hotel for a morning TV program on Channel 11. we opened in Mexico City at the Bellas Artes on Thursday Oct 28th. Since this was a long weekend (Dia de los muertos), a lot of people would be out of town so we couldn’t be sure of the turnout. However, each night was better than the night before as people started to text their friends to urge them to see the show. The last night was almost sold out and if we had continued our run, I’m sure that we would have had to turn them away at the door. Every night different people would look for us backstage. It was a pleasure to see Patricia Linares, our guest artist in 1997 who also gave a very good curso de cante in Vancouver. Also, we caught up with La Winy Amaya who taught a dance workshop at Centro Flamenco in 1999, her husband Santiago, as well as La Morris. Even Rosario’s high school teacher stopped by!
Mexico City was wonderful. The weather was perfect and there were many good restaurants and mercados to choose from. Many of the dancers went to the pyramids for the day or shopped in the trendy districts of Roma and Polanco or just kicked back in their hotel rooms. There are a number of different organizations who expressed interest in bringing us back as soon as possible, so we will see what happens. The way this work touches people is truly amazing! The biggest surprise of the entire tour was a surprise visit by our daughter Alejandra and her boyfriend Ben who flew in from Berlin to be with us. It was the first time that we had actually met him and he passed the “Dad Test”! They are a wonderful couple. I also ran into another Canadian friend of mine in Mexico who I always see at that time of the year, La Monarca – the monarch butterfly. I don’t know how they do it, but everywhere we were we saw them going in the same direction into strong headwinds around big buildings - six feet off the ground or ten stories high. They never fail to amaze me.
I think what I’m trying to say is that my wife is a large monarch butterfly who flew with a company of 14 on her back to Mexico and never gave up or quit — and then she took us all back to Canada safe and sound.
En hora buena Pharaona!
