Flamenco

Tonight I am off for a week to the ski slopes. That will be exciting because I have not been skiing in over five years so not sure how it will go, but cute, French ski moniteurs will be on hand to help.

Last night, Andrea and I went to a flamenco performance at a theatre nearby. I booked it randomly a few weeks ago because I wanted to offer some kind of cultural entertainment to my friend but she doesn't speak French so it had to be music or dance. Unwittingly, I chose the best art performance I have seen in a long time. It was one of those rare experiences where from the moment the lights went down to the last clap one gave herself over to the enjoyment of "art". My eyes were glued to the stage, where four beautiful women from the four corners of the world were performing a flamenco choreography involving Arabic, gypsy, South-American and Spanish moves for over an hour and a half, but I could still sense the audience collectively holding its breath in anticipation of what more amazing and beautiful stuff was going to happen onstage. There was no coughing or humming, no playing around with plastic bags or ringing mobile phones: only pure excitement and energy of the event was to be felt and I (we all) didn't want it to be over. It was truly blissful, I almost fell in love with those women and at the very least I was dying to be like them and feel the passion and the pain and the joy and the energy they exhibited...

Back to more mundane pleasures: this morning squash, later yoga (poor Andika, I am making her go) and tonight drinking and eating before I have to catch the night-bus to the mountains.