Saturday night [Sept. 27] we attended the Flamenco Festival at the Lobero Theater. As soon as the curtains went up there was music. Then the dancers came and their brightly colored costumes immediately grabbed our attention. Rafael came out, already drenched with sweat, and flamenco’ed like crazy in his tight black spandex outfit. With each new dance came a new matching outfit, complete from head to toe. Half way through, at the climax of the performance, when everyone was truly perspiring and having a great time, the fire alarm went off. We thought it was part of the performance at first, but when people started filing out of the theater, our minds changed. The flashing lights and sirens didn’t stop the dancers, they went on, and they were fantastico!

Gracias, Flamenco Arts Festival, for bringing flamenco to Santa Barbara. It was our first experience with flamenco, and we can’t wait for more!