How did this Maine girl, who grew up in an old farm house, with a big family, and surrounded by animals, come to dedicate her life to flamenco? It was a cold, dark night… actually it was ;)

I grew up in Maine and started university in the amazing city of Montreal. Montreal is COLD in the winter. But as a multi-cultural city with a vibrant arts scene, it had amazing little corner shops where you could rent movies from all over the world (back when we still rented movies).

On a very cold and wintery night in 2002, all I wanted to do was curl up on my sofa and watch a movie. So, I walked down to our neighborhood’s local video shop and saw the movie Latcho Drom by Tony Gatlif sitting on the shelf. As an anthropology major, it peeked my interest and I rented it.

Back in my little apartment, I watched this movie, totally enthralled in the journey of the Roma people from the Thar Desert of northern India to southern Spain, passing through Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and France on their way. The film concludes in Andalusia, Spain, highlighting the song and dance of Remedios Amaya and La Caita, among many others. Having never studied flamenco before, I didn’t understand much about the meaning behind the song or the dance unfolding, but I was captivated beyond all measure, moved to tears, and hungry to know more.

That led to first listening to a lot of flamenco music and seeking out flamenco dance performances in Montreal. It wasn’t until 2 years later, while living in Toulouse, France, that I finally had the courage to take a dance class. Toulouse, being close to Spain, boasts many great flamenco studios and artists. I remember a moment in one of my first classes, while doing a footwork drill, when I felt a sudden ease in what I was doing. Somehow, it felt right in my body.