On this Throwback Thursday, I’d like to to take you back to my first solo, which was solea por bulerias. (I wrote about it here four years ago). When I performed it, I was about a year-and-a-half into my flamenco training. I cringe when I watch the following rehearsal video. I cringe when I watch any video of myself dancing, but the early clips are especially painful.

But they shouldn’t be. Because if you’re a dancer, you know a year or so of training isn’t much in flamenco years, and it takes much longer than that to feel comfortable in a palo (or your own skin, for that matter) to dance alone in front of an audience. Not to mention technique, which takes for-EVER to refine. Anyway, today I’ll take pride in my early achievement and share this video from 2010 with you.

Reminiscing is fun, but I have other motivations here. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be revisiting and re-working this piece. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now. The goal is to increase the difficulty a little, but more importantly, for me, to perform it with a greater level of confidence, technique and artistry. In other words, to perform it as a flamenca of nearly six years.

Here’s where I started. In a few months I hope to show you an updated version.