Albuquerque Day 7 Extra: Nick as Guest Blogger!

I’ve asked my brother Nick to write a guest blog from the perspective of a flamenco newbie. Enjoy part 1 today…

Hello Fellow Flamencopotami, (I’ll explain this term later.-m)

I guess you probably know a little about me but for those who don’t, I am THE younger brother. Just for the record, any mention of “Sister” refers to our favorite flamenca and blogger. In fact, I always have and probably always will call her by that. “Sister has always been like a sister to me” is what we always joke to one another but I have always followed her around the way Flounder followed Ariel in The Little Mermaid. As you can probably tell, we are pretty close.

This was a week of firsts for me. During this week, I visited a new state, rode a train for the first time, tried my first sopaipilla (they’re delicious by the way), consumed green chile AT LEAST ONCE every day, seen some amazing Spanish dancers do what they do best, meet some super nice blog readers, and try my hand at flamenco dancing. Before I continue on, I think it is important that I give everyone some history…

Believe it or not, this trip has been five years in the making. I remember what happened five years ago. I think Sister was in a transition period of her life. She had been sick (and a new superhero was born) and I think she was reevaluating certain goals in her personal life. I remember that she had been down for a while when all of a sudden, flamenco BECAME her life! When she would have been at home, she was now going to dance class three days a week. When we would have been listening to Lady Gaga and The Killers in the car, strange wailing would be blasting from the stereo. When she would have had SOME money left over from her paycheck, she now had NO money after paying for dance lessons, shoes from Spain, dance outfits from Etsy, and even those cheap little tank tops. It was strange, at first, seeing how this hobby had consumed my sister’s life but when I saw how happy dancing made her, I became supportive.

Some of you may not know, but I was there when Married to the Dance was conceived. Sister told me that had mom and dad not given us money for food, she would not have been able to afford our delicious burrito dinner. When she explained her financial predicament and I jokingly told her that the family was concerned, she told me that we don’t understand what it’s like to be married to the dance! I loved that and thought that it would be the perfect title for well…anything! At the time, I had recently watched the movie Julie and Julia and I told her to start a blog. If she was as passionate about flamenco as Amy Adams was about cooking, a movie studio would buy the rights to the story and we could play ourselves in the movie. Although no studios have called, I have really enjoyed learning about flamenco and seeing my sister do what she loves to do…DANCE!

I just thought that I’d fill you in. Tomorrow, I’ll recount my experiences during my first week of dancing after my penultimate dance class.

Nick