Flamenco Inesita

Thoughts of Performance

In thinking of past and present shows of all sorts in my career, I find it especially interesting to experience the various ways the public reacts  after the dancing is over. Having danced in so many situations from cabaret to concert and back again, the individual venues offer a variety of ways in which the audience responds.

In some instances, there is no feedback due to custom or other factors which prevent a follow up. In many bookings, as in years gone by, there are reviews afterwards in newspapers, articles in publications, letters from management, faculty or admirers.

In recent times, concert appearances are followed by well-wishers backstage after a show, visits to the dressing room, or other “green room” contact.

A notable case is appearances at the Havana Restaurant and Bar where the show is presented in a very intimate setting. In the immediate moments after the last dance and song is done, the audience surrounds the performer upon descending from the tiny platform.

It is uplifing to be greeted in this way without delay by friends, acquaintances, fellow artists, and strangers eager to make physical contact and to express pleasure in what they have witnessed.

Apart from this, in today’s world when a phone takes a photo, it requires little more than pointing the device at the subject. An instant, and it is there!.  Furthermore,  having a picture taken together with people whom I do not know, or only casually is a special tribute.

Above all, it is satisfying to realize that my dance moves someone to express a feeling to me.

It makes all the effort and hard work worthwhile.