Why am I bisexual?

Every man I meet makes me a bit more lesbian.
Every woman I meet makes a bit more heterosexual.

Vertebrae

Last week I entered the classroom of my 17 year old bilingual students. I stood in front of them and started talking : “Good morning,. Everybody sit down , open your books” And then I noticed her, A.
A is a 17 year old students that came from Romania a few years ago. Her Spanish is perfect and she actually helps her mum with paperwork and finding work as a cleaner in different places. She has this disease the name of which I ignore and which makes her body a hip of lifeless twisted bones and muscles. She can only move her head. She writes with her mouth and the teacher has to pass the pages of her books. She is intelligent and has no psychological disability whatsoever. I looked at her and said
-Good morning A. How are you?
-Fine- sh answered happily
-I see they have not come to get you.What class have you got now?
-English.
-Would you like to stay or would you like us to take you there?
-I'd rather be taken there- she said smiling
-Ok...so..could somebody please help A. to get to her class.
And so this boy got up, put her things in her bag and took her to her classroom.

My school is especially adapted for physically disabled children. We also have some mentally disabled ones, and sometimes a combination.
There is L, who is 13, and it is like if he was 6. He gets a computer to write, because he can hardly do it, and he usually throws it onto the floor, just to have a laugh. When you ask him, he tells you this with a naughty silly childish laugh.
And there are these two girls with a corset, and this boy who did not have any problems until he went for a very simple surgery, and woke up being unable to talk, or walk or eat. And now he is learning to do all those things, but he can remember he was not like that before.

And every morning A and everybody else are there, smiling back at you when you say good morning. And everytime I walk by them, I remember how lucky I was my broken vertebrae did no affect my spine.
December 28th was the 10th anniversary of my first two broken vertebrae. The day I decided to romantically go down a slope with a silly sleigh. I remember the moment I fell, the darkenss, the coldness of the snow, the fear when the doctor said to me “ You have broken your vertebrae”, and the tense question I could hardly articulate “What does that mean?”... but I can't remember the pain.I just remember my scream filling the air while I knelt on the snow. Humans tend to forget the pain.
So this year, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of me being born again, of me being so lucky to be able to walk, and dance.

And everyday, when I go to school and stand in front of any of these kids who fight so hard, who lead such difficult lives without even thinking about it, for whom everything is three times as hard...everyday I stand there and I know I have nothing to teach them .There is nothing in the world I could ever teach them. I can only learn from them. They are the lesson to be learnt..

The voices in my head: carrying my bag

I can´t avoid it. I have very strong convictions about things. And then, I have this habit of looking at things from the outside, particularly when I am feeling embarrassed or ashamed, or in trouble, and I repeat as a tantra "I will laugh at this in a year, I know, I will laugh at this in a year"

So there I go. I meet this nice guy at a bar, and we get on well, and he talks to me. And then, we move to another bar and he says " Let me carry your bag". The big bag full of things I carry around all day, with the dancing clothes, the little computer, a book, a notebook, etc.
His words get to my brain, and it takes like a second to actually process them " Let me carry your bag", they echo. And a respond quickly pops up in my mind " My bag? You wanna carry my bag? Why?" But before I can say those words, another voice answers, and they kind of start talking to each other.
-What do you mean why? -says voice 2
-Yes, why would he want to carry my big huge heavy bag-answers voice one
-Oh, come on, he is just being nice, give him the bag
-But what is the point? It is my bag, I am responsible for it, you can't just be going around giving your responsibilities to people
-Oh come on, just give him the fucking bag. It is just the way it is done. you have been carrying it around all day, and you are fucked. GIVE HIM THE BAG!!
-No, don't do it. Why would you do that.It's so.....
Then I shout ( in my head, but I Shout) "ENOUGH!"
I breath deeply and look at this nice guy who has been kind of confusedly staring at me for the few extra seconds this has been going on within my head. I breath, smile, blush slightly and say in a sweet voice while smiling " Oh!, Ok. Thank you". And hand the bag over.
And it is just such a relief to get some help to carry the bag for once. It is so nice to feel you can rest for a second and you don't have to be taking care of everything all the time.It is so nice to be able to relax for a bit, that you realize the voices in your head are all bullshit.They talk from sheer fear.The fear of knowing that being helped is so nice that, when you get it back to carry it on your own again,is going to be twice as hard.

Holy ( from holes, mening with holes in it) pants

Last Thursday I got up to go to my theatre class in NYC.
I get up early to take a shower before the guys working in the kitchen of my friend´s apartment arrive. They are very nice, and I have nothing against them, but having a shower while you hear two guys you do not know talking next door, one of whom has already told you how “well equipped” you are...it's a bit weird.
So I leave early, and take the N to go To 42nd. But the train goes very slowly, and stops. A weak female voice coming from some speakers I can't locate explains something I can not quite understand. Five years of English philology, 20 postgraduate credits in English Linguistics and Literature, a masters degree in course by an American university, years living in English speaking countries, and still can not understand those vital things to survive, like the fucking voice coming from the speakers at train stations. I swallow my high school nerd pride, and ask an American looking guy what the lady said. Not a clue he says..such a relief for my self esteem, although still don't know what happens.
After some long minutes, I go out and find the real lady...the lady behind the speakers in the middle of the train. Until then, I thought she was just an entelechy, a legend. But she is a real person in the middle of the train. She explains something about trains, and tracks and stations..she might as well have carried on talking through the speakers. And then somebody says something I finally understand “ Uff...it means at least a couple of hours until the service works” Finally, some proper English.
I ran downstairs shouting, “ anybody wants to share a cab to somewhere?” And this really kind guy who is with two other woman that come at that point and join us, tells me he is going somewhere where I can take a train, and I say yes, without having even figured out where. I get in the taxi with these three people who seem to be coworkers, stressing about the time, and the train and the place to go and suddenly I pay attention to the ladies talking next to me...” I have never seen more than 2 butterflies together”, “Oh yeah..they only live for a day” Then I decide to go back to my world of being late and stress, expecting to see a butterfly flying across the cab at anytime.
I finally make it to the class, one of those long ones. When I finish I go here and there, I get a ticket for a fringe festival show, I go to the fat cat club to listen to music and write and end up in an eletronic music party that somebody I met in the street told me about, but I can´t find him. Instead a meet this nice guy and we talk and have a good time, and it gets so late I end up not going back to my apartment that night, to go back to class the following day.
Amazing people working in wonderful class. I love acting. And lots of memories of things that happened before...The topic of today: humilliation and love....I am fucking sorted...You all know my greatest hits list. No please, no...don't go through it again. I am going to quote my brother here:a list made up by the kind of things done by “ a pathetic Woody Allen character, but a boring one” Well, I disagree now, I get the fun of it.
And in the warming up, all the clothes flying while we dance. These young beautiful thin girls dancing around int heir sexy underwear. I knew I should have got some sexy underwear from woman's Secret. But...would it have been useful? I mean...you know...my tits...they have this rare tendency to escape all the time, even when I am just slightly running to catch a bus in the street.
And then, the wisdom of your mother suddenly strikes you like a flash of lightening in a dark night. All these years thinking your mum was crazy and laughing at her idea, when she used to say to you “Don't wear holy knickers, in case something happens to you and you end up at hospital”All this years you answering “ As if I am going to care about holy pants if I end up at hospital, mother”
And then, the moment where this dancing girl takes her pants off and strips down to her underwar. Your moment to decide, shall I go with her on this? Shall I take my pants off?And then, the lighting in your brain and your mum's voice echoing..hooooly kniiiickers...and for a second you freeze, because e you know you were down to your last pair of pants before doing the laundry and try to remember...did I put on the holy knickers that have been waiting at the bottom of the drawer to be sawn for the last 2 years? And you could swear the blue pants were not the one with the whole in them...but....can you be sure about it?
So you take the safe side. And dance away in you not holy leggings and your short skirt. Nudity in a tehatre class...maybe...Holy pants...never. Let's leave the humiliation for love,

The mermaid´s dance

"I know what you want," said the sea witch; "it is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess (..)Your tail will then disappear, and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, and you will feel great pain, as if a sword were passing through you. But all who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being they ever saw. You will still have the same floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly; but at every step you take it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow. If you will bear all this, I will help you.(…)”

She had never danced so elegantly before. Her tender feet felt as if cut with sharp knives, but she cared not for it; a sharper pang had pierced through her heart.(…)


Hans Christian Andersen


Today I went back to a dancing class, after a year of not being able to do any sports. The doctors said it is fine to go back to do whatever I want, and I just want to believe it. But it is not their back that hurts.

I joined a beginners contemporary dance class. After a year my body has changed, I have put weight on, my joints ache and my back keeps killing me, every day, every moment of the day.

I did contact for three years and contemporary dance for one. I was not particularly good or amazing. But now that I am back, every single little movement hurts. Even the simplest of the movements feels so much harder and difficult, more difficult than when I took a dancing lesson for the first time a few years ago. And I suddenly remember Andersen´s little mermaid, not the Disney version, but the real one. And I realise that the words he wrote a hundred years ago, that I read maybe 20 years ago, had remained somewhere in my brain, waiting to come alive.

I lie down and feel where my body gets in contact with the floor. And I feel the pain, radiating from the centre of my back, following my ribs, wrapping around my chest like a big long cuddle of a hurtful lover. We move around on the floor, moving in ways very different to normal life movements, and my joints start complaining, sending me silent messages through the nerves only I know about.

We stand up, we bent and allow our upper body to hang, and the spine breathes and the air comes in between the vertebrae in a painful kind of relieve. We keep bending and straightening up. I am familiar with this pain, when I bend to pick things up from the floor or I get up in the morning.

Then I lift my arms and we start moving them around. And different parts of my back muscles complains depending if they go up in circles, or straight, or around, or if they stay up on the side…

Working with the feet is such a relieve, and then we move on to a beginner choreography. And we have the music, and we dance a bit, mixing together all the elements with the different parts of the body, and we roll on the floor, and then stand up, and bend, and move our arms and bend our upper body and go down on the floor again and jump…And joint after joint complains, and all the muscles in my back find a moment to remind me of their existence.

Suddenly I can visualise the Little Mermaid dancing along this very same music, floating on cutting sharp knives. And I know exactly how she feels. I might not be the prettiest human being, or move as lightly as a dancer…but I know how it hurts and I am an expert at setting my heart on the wrong person. And something inside me moves with the music, and my dancing, and her dancing, and the sharp knives on her feet, and the huge axe across my waist, and the pang that pierces your heart and the blood that only you can see.

The class is over and I change. It is frustrating to have to start not from the beginning, but from a point before the beginning. I mix a couple of pain killers with some water and can’t find my little mermaid any more. She is probably back to being a daughter of the air. She still has two hundred years to go to find her soul. She still has hope, and so do I. After three fractures in my back, I might not float around like she did, but I am still dancing. And I smile, for her to count one year less of her three hundred.

Click here to read The Little Mermaid

Gay wedding/ Boday gay

Last weekend I went to a wedding in the middle of Spain, in Cáceres, where you can find one of the most beautiful historical towns.

I went there four days after comig back from New York, not knowing where I was or what for. I met some friends I had not seen for a year, and I danced and cried and ate and drank and flirt, in an outdoor night wedding next to a medieval castle, with flowers scattered all around, and a fountain, and lovely live music, and a great video that my brother made for the grooms, and beautiful speeches . The theme was The wizard of Oz and on every table there was the name of a movie to identify yours. Even when I still hate weddings in general, framing myself in the usual affected wedding mood, it was a great wedding. Despite the fact of it being a very expensive posh one. ( I told you, I don't like weddings)

I asked my friends if it was going to happen what usually happens to me in the gay weddings of my male gay friends: all guys are gay, all girls are straight...In the end it was a mixture of people, and I was more interested in sharing time with my friends, who I left here last August,than in anything else. However, when my brother was booking a room for me in the very posh hotel I told him to put somebody in the room with me to share the cost, and his answer was "Sorry, we all come in couples". And I said " Excue ME"

So there I was, for two nights... no, for one night and a half, in the big room of a posh hotel, on my own. I never go to posh hotels, unless I am with the band, and then there is two or three of us in each room. I told my brother I wanted to change the hotel for the youth hostel in town: it was 50 euros difference and, at least, you can go to the main hall and there is always somebody wanting to chat, but he persuaded me to stay there with the rest of the group. The group that shared a room with their partners in their expensive rooms next to my lonely bed.

I am used to go places on my own, particularly after NY. And I go places and I meet people. I am not obssesed about finding a partner, it somehting that happens, but I think about true love. My brother says I am just naive and stupidly innocent. Not so long ago, I developed a crash on a teacher, and it was great, because it was just a simple naive innocent honest thing with no intention of anything beyond, and it reminded me that sometimes, you meet somebody and something tickles inside you; it reminded me that there is always the chance that you might still meet that person that makes your eyes sparkle. It reminded me that love is something different from the guy that you pick up on a bar one night or the silly chats you have when you flirt with somebody that is ok and could be something, but who does not really matter.

I could not avoid feeling a bit odd. The odd number in between the even group of happy couples. An odd person in an odd place with odd clothes. I don´t have the type of clothes you wear in a posh wedding where people wore exclusive designer clothes. My concert clothes are winter clothes and are not so flashy and desginer like. I have a much better time in a burningman event, sleeping in a tent where my cajon and me don´t fit together, or at a BM party dressed like Isis wearing a couple of wings. I should have gone there with my Isis wings. But, instead a wore this old-fashioned top that my mum had made for me 15 years ago and fixed for me, and this nice skirt that is elegant but did not quite go with the top., and sandals because my nice concert shoes were coming from NY in a box...

So there I was, dressed a bit odd and not caring about it, which was also odd; feeling a bit odd; looking at places in an odd way like if I had just arrived from another planet...And then I realised that the oddity really came from inside, from something that was struggling not to die, like a big odd fat warm biting big chunks of something in my stomach.

And it´s all because, even when I am absolutely over the moon sharing time whith my friends and the people I love, NY hurts.

Colposcopy and Edward Scissorhands/ De colposcopias y Eduardo Manostijeras

(This post is for those women who are going to undergo a colposcopy and a biop[sy for the first time. Do not worry...it's awful, but not as bad as it seems.)

There is something in the tranquilizing words of a physician that is kind of uneasy. For example, when you are happyily at h ome, watching TV having a beer and the cell phone rings. You answer and it is the doctor , who says:

-How are you?

-Fine, thank you
-We got the results of you pap smear, and it is not clear. You need to have a colposcopy and a bipsy done. You have a displasia.But don't worry, it is not cancer
Worried? Who was worried? I was happily surfing the net until you called.And I never said anything about cancer.
While your brain is thinking this, the guy lkeeps talking at the other side of the phone, saying something you quite not get.

And after that, you get to the gyn clinic andyou have to sign a paper confirming that you have been explained the whole procedure and you agree with it. But you have been explained the whole proced

ure, in a shock state in perfect English, which is not your language, through the phone. So you sign you agree to something you did not really completely understand

Then you sit there, waiting for the doctor, wrapped in a huge paper sheet, looking at an enormous massive chocker-block microscope. And you think " Hey,. the doctor uses this to observe whatever he takes out. Because there is not way that can fit in there"So the gay arrives, you slide down and he puts the speculum in. In fact, I have never seen the speculum at the gyn's, because you can't see with the sheet they put around you. It looks like this, on the right. So the gay puts it in and you hear " wricki, wricki, wricki", and it is the thing opening. It does not really hurt, but it is uncomfortable. And because you stay with that in for a while during this test, at the end you get like period pains, because your body tries to get rid of it. But it is not really painful, do not panic.

Then the guy says, " Ok, I am going to put some vinegar in" And you think " Vinegar? I have had strange requests from guys on the internet like wine, or chocolate o icecream...But vinegar?" .
And just when you are there, feeling like a lettuce, the guy gets the microscope, you feel something warm, which is probably the light, and suddenly realize that, yes, the big massive chocker-block microscope fits in there. Again, it is not really painful.

Then he says," Ok, almost done" He puts something in with a cotton bud, which seems to be something like anesthesy, I think. And I think this because after this, he looks at the nurse who passes him an incredibly big pair of scissors, like the ones on the left, and he says " You are going to feel a pinch" And you think " A pinch??!!! Wait wait... what do you mean a pinch? ...what are you doing with those scissors... WAIT!!" And just when you have collected enough courage to say something, it is to late, because you hear the noise of the scissor closing " huich". I did not feel anything, not pinch, no pain, but I heard it, and this is why I think he had put some anesthesy.

Then he says "Ok, this is done" And you think " ok, ok, you keep saying ok, ok what? Take it out take it out" And he puts some more things inside with cotton buds, and finally takes the speculum out. You sit up and he sympathetically passes you a sanitary towel.

And then, you wait until he has left the room and go to the bathroom where you take the sheet off and get your clothes again. He talks to you, and the you have to wait for two eweeks to know the results.

And life goes on, with one small difference. Suddenly, Edward Scissorhands has lost all his sex-appeal.



Hay algo en las palabras tranquilizadoras de un médico, que a veces resulta inquietante. Por ejemplo cuando estás tan tranquilamente en tu casa viendo la tele tomándote una cervecita y te suena el móvil. Lo coges y es el médico que te dice
-Hola como estás?

-Erm bien gracias.
- Hemos recibido los resultados de tu citolog'ia, y no ha salido bien. Tienes que volver. Hay una displasia, pero no te preocupes, no es c'ancer.

y piensas "Preocupada? Quien estaba preocupada? Yo estaba tranquilamente mirando el internete, hace tres minutos, y no estaba pensando en c'ancer"

Asi que en este momento, tu cerebro se cierra en banda a lo que te explican que viene despues,

Y despues de eso , cuando llegas al gine,tienes que firmar un papel confrimando que te han explicado el procedimiento completo y que estas de acuerdo con ‘el. Y te lo han explicado, en un estado de shock en un Ingl’es perfecto, que no es tu lengua, y por tel’efono. As’i que firmas que est’as de acuerdo con algo que en realidad nunca llegaste a comprender.

Y te sientas ah’i, esperando al m’edico, envuelta en una hoja de papel gigante, mirando a un microscopio enorme y gigante. Y piensas “ Hey, el m’edico utiliza este microscopio para observa las muestras que toma. Porque esto no puede caber ah’i dentro”

As’i que llega el hombre, te resbalas hacia abajo en la camilla y te pone el speculum. De hecho, nunca he visto un speculum en la clinica del gine, porque no puedes ver nada con la s’abana de papel que te ponen. Se parece a esto, a la derecha. Asi que el t’io lo mete y oyes “wricki, wricki,wricki”, y es la cosa que se abre. En realidad no duele, pero es muy molesto. Y como te quedas ah’i por un rato, al final te da como dolor de la regll, porque tu cuerpo intenta expulsarlo. Pero en realidad no duele, que no cunda el p’anico.

Entonces el hombre dice” Muy bien, voy a poner un poco de vinagre” Y t’u piensas “ Vinagre?? He tenido muchas peticiones extragnas por internet como vino, o choclate o helado…Pero vinagre?”

Y justo cuando est’as ah’i, sinti’endote como una lechuga, el t’io coge el microscopio y sientes algo c’alido, que es probablemente una luz, y te das cuenta de que , s’i, el microscopio gigante s’i que cabe. Pero, de Nuevo, no es doloroso, solo asquerosito.

Entonces dice “Muy bien, casi hemos terminado” , y pone algo con un palito de algod’on, que es como anestesia. Y digo que es como anestesia porque despu’es de esto, mira a la enfermera que le pasa unas yijeras incre’iblemente grandes, como las de la izquierda, y dice “ Vas a sentir un pellizquito” Y t’u piensas “ un pellizquito??!!!Espera, espera…que quiere decir un pellizquito?...que est’as hacienda con esas tijeras…ESPERA!!!” Y justo cuando has conseguido el valor suficiente para decir algo, es muy tarde, porque oyes el ruido de las tijeras cerr’andose “ jhuich” En realidad no sent’i nada, ni un pellizco , ni dolor, pero lo escuch’e claramente.Por eso creo que puso anestesia.

Y dice “ Muy bien, ya est’a” Y tu piensas “ Muy bien, muy bien, no haces m’as que decir muy bien. Muy bien qu’e? S’acalo , s’acalo” Y te pone algo m’as dentro con los palitos de algod’on, y finalmente saca el esp’eculo. Te sientas y el t'io te pasa una compresa con aire de que pena me das.
Y entonces esperas hasta que se va de la habitaci’on, y te vas al bagno donde te quitas la hoja de papel gigante y te vistes. Habla contigo y tienes que esperar dos semanas para saber los resultados

Y la vide sigue, con una pequegna diferencia. De repente, Eduardo Manostijeras ya no tiene ning'un atractivo.

(Este post es para aquellas mujeres que tiene que hacerse una colposcopia y una biopsioa por primera vez. No te precupes…es asquerosito,pero no tan malo como suena)

Mice

As I sit down marking papers in my classrooms, the mice that live here start running around the class. I sigh, make a noise and they seem to go, and I do not know if feeling like Cindirella and start singing with them, or like David Copperfield and write a 400 pages book about it.

Can you imagine what happens when in a class of about 25 15 year old kids, after spending ten minutes to get them quiet, a mouse runs across the class? People on top of the tables, people running out of the class, screaming....And when it happens at 8, and at 9, and at 10...I just sigh. It was bad enough not to get any respect from thekids in my class....But not getting it from the mice, it is just too much.

I got a thing that is suppose to make some kind of noise that human don't hear and makes the mice run away. But I can actually hear it,, when there are no kids, of course, and it bothers me, but the mice are still there.

I have to turn the grades in tomorrow. I told my boss that I am not going to be on time, cause the mice ate them. But he did not buy it. So I am going back to my classroom with my mice to keep grading....sigh!

A dream come true: The Carnegie Hall ( versión española abajo)

Some dreams are so unlikely that we do not even dare to dream of them. They are so unreachable, so impossible, that we do not even allow our imagination to linger on them.

And sometime, life is so amazing, that it delivers one of these dreams to our door, and we receive one invaluable gift, probably without deserving it. And suddenly, lots of different elements of our life come together in a strange magical way to form this dream, and everything starts making sense, and we look at the past with a different light. And we understand some things that we never understood why they happened, and we rejoice in things that, at the moment, did not seem a matter of joy.

All since I started studying music at 14, I wondered how it would be to be down at the stage with the orchestra. Down at the national Auditorium, or the Teatro Monumental , where the best orchestras play. But I never thought it would be possible for me to get there, ever in my life. And somehow, for some reason, for many reason that have nothing to do with music or my flute, last month I played at the Carnegie Hall...My heart beat still rises when I pronounce that name and I still get goose bumps.



It was amazing, walking down the stage, sitting down in the middle of the band and being a part of the creation of music, starting from silence. The seats, the people, the lights, the acoustics. And the wonderful music stands that can be easily adjusted without trapping your fingers in them.

I walked down with my new shoes and my concert skirt. The same skirt that my mum made for me when I was 16, to wear in my first audition at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. How could I even begin to imagine at that point?

We had been given badges, and when I arrived, I had to look for the artist entrance. I am going to say it, just to enjoy the sound of it " THE CARNEGIE HALL ARTIST´S ENTRANCE"

Then I was waiting for a while. I put make up on in a big mirror with lots of bulbs, and put my high heels shoes. We lined up to rehearse for 20 minutes. I entered the stage and I could see the whole theatre, the orchestra, the family circle, the boxes…And we played a bit. The first two bars where much worse than usual. You could tell the fear of making it wrong. And finding that your sound is different from what you are used to at the Carnegie Hall ( I am going to say it again YOUR SOUND AT THE CARNEGIE HALL). But then we got used to it, and everything improved and the notes started finding its place in the immense space of the theatre.

After that we were allowed to go out until our call at 9 ( does it not sound professional?). I went for a coffee and at nine, there we were, all around, sitting down, talking, playing, warming up. The sound of all the different instruments, playing scales, small recognizable parts of the pieces mixed together with the laughter, the sounds of cameras. And then, our call came.

We lined up waiting to enter the stage. 10 minutes. That is always the worst part. The ten minutes before you have to play. We were there, whispering, concentrating. And we got on stage. The conductor was at the door, smiling at us, supporting us in our way to the stage.

The lights were bright and the audience received us with applause. We sat down, warmed up for one minute, and then the concertino, who is a clarinet, played a B flat for the brass and A for the woodwind, and we tuned up. Actually, we had kind of tuned before coming on stage, just to be on the safe side. But don’t tell anyone.
Then the conductor came on stage. Another round of applause. He looked at us, put his arms in the air and we followed him, putting our instruments in our mouths. One second of complete silence in the huge theatre. He marked the pick-up bar, and the ride started.
After the overture of Candide, there was lots of clapping. And then we played another very difficult one, a contemporary piece called Wild nights. After that, it was all easy. I was more scared of the two first ones, so after them, I really relaxed and enjoyed being there, and the music that we were doing together. And in the moments where I had silences, it was great to see how the conductor made the music happened, how his baton was dictating the music, and hear the other people in the band play. And the music kept floating around, like magic.
Particularly, the last chord on Elsa’s procession, from Lohengrin. It just hanged there on the air for a bit alter we stopped, all the sounds mixing together in that great Wagnerian chord and we were listening to it with our instruments in our mouths.
And we also played another contemporary piece, called Pilatus, and the Typewriter Symphony, which everybody loved.
And then we got a huge round of applause. The conductor went off and came back twice. And I saw my friends saying hello to me from the audience, and we went off stage like walking in a cloud, smiling our heads off and we hugged each other…
And it all was absolutely wonderful.

There was a time when I played at the Carnegie Hall, where the lights were bright and the music floated in the air. And magic came out of the conductor’s baton.

Some photos

Un sueño hecho realidad: EL CARNEGIE HALL ( english version above)

Algunos sueños son tan improbables que ni siquiera nos atrevemos a soñarlos. Son tan inalcanzables, tan imposibles, que ni siquiera permitimos que nuestra imaginación descanse en ellos.

Y a veces, la vida es tan asombrosa que te deja uno de los sueños a la puerta de c asa, y recibes un regalo de valor incalculable, seguramente sin merecerlo. Y de repente, muchos elementos diferentes de la vida se juntan de una forma extraña y mágica para dar forma a este sueño y todo empieza a tomar sentido, y miramos al pasado con una voz diferente. Y entendemos cosas que nunca antes habíamos entendido por qué pasaron y nos alegramos de cosas que, en su m omento, no parecían ser causa de ninguna alegría.

Desde que empecé a estudiar música a los 14, me preguntaba como sería estar abajo en el escenario con la orquesta. Ahí abajo en el auditorio Nacional o en el Teatro Monumental, donde tocan las mejores orquestas. Pero nunca pensé que me sería posible llegar ahí, jamás en mi vida. Y de alguna manera, por alguna razón, por muchas razones que no tienen nada que ver con la música o con la flauta, el mes pasado, toqué en el Carnegie Hall. Todavía se me acelera el corazón cuando pronuncio ese nombre, y se me pone la carne de gallina

Fue increíble salir a escena, sentarse en el medio de la banda y ser parte de la creación de la música, empezando desde el silencio. Las sillas, la gente, las luces, la acústica. Y esos atriles maravillosos que se ajustan fácilmente sin atraparse los dedos entre las varillas.

Salí con mis zapatos de tacón y mi falda de conciertos. La misma falda que mi madre me hizo cuando tenía 16 años, para llevarla en la primera audición que di en el Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. ¿Cómo podría ni siquiera empezar a imaginarme...?

Nos habían dado una tarjeta, y cuando llegué, tuve que buscar la entrada de los artistas. Lo voy a decir otra vez, para disfrutar cómo suena “ LA ENTRADA DE ARTISTAS DEL CARNEGIE HALL”

Después estuve esperando un rato. Me maquillé delante de un espejo gigante con muchas bombillas, y me puse los zapatos de tacón. Nos pusimos en fila para ensayar durante 20 minutes, y entramos en el escenario. Se podía ver el teatro entero, el patio de butacas, los palcos, el entresuelo, las luces…y tocamos un poco. Los dos primeros compases salieron un poco peor. Se podía sentir el susto que llevábamos todos en el cuerpo, y el no querer hacerlo mal. Y el encontrarse con que tu sonido es distinto en el Carnegie de lo que estás acostumbrado a escuchar en tu casa ( lo voy a decir otra vez TU SONIDO EN EL CARNEGIE) Pero luego nos acostumbramos, y todo mejoró, y las notas empezaron a encontrar su sitio en el inmenso espacio del teatro.

Después del ensayo, nos dejaron salir hasta nuestra hora de llama a las 9. Fui por un café y a las nueve, ahí estábamos todos en la sala de la orquesta, de pie, sentados, hablando, tocando, calentando… El sonido de los diferentes instrumentos se mezclaba en el aire, tocando escalas, o pequeños trozos reconocibles de las obras que llevábamos, risas nerviosas el sonido de las cámaras de fotos. Y entonces llegó nuestra llamada.

Nos pusimos en fila parar entrar en el escenario. 10 minutos. Estas es la peor parte. Los diez minutos antes de empezar a tocar. Y allí estábamos, susurrando, concentrándonos. Y salimos al escenario. Y allí estaba el director de la orquesta, en la puerta, sonriendo y animándonos en nuestra salida al escenario.

Las luces brillaban y la audiencia nos recibió con un aplauso. Nos sentamos, calentamos un minuto y el concertino, que es un clarinete, toca un si bemol para los metales y un la para las maderas.

En realidad, ya habíamos afinado más o menos antes de salir a escena, para asegurar. Pero no se lo digáis a nadie.

Entonces el director salió a escena. Otra ronda de aplausos. Nos miró, levantó los brazos y le seguimos, poniéndonos el instrumento en la boca. Un Segundo de complete silencio en un teatro enorme. Marcó la anacrusa y comenzó el viaje.

Después de la obertura de Candide, hubo muchos aplausos. Y entonces tocamos otra muy difícil, una pieza contemporánea llamada Wild Nights. Después de eso, todo era fácil. Tenía más miedo por las dos primeras, así que , después de ellas, me relajé y disfruté de estar ahí, y de la música que estábamos hacienda juntos. Y en los momentos en los que tenía silencios, era maravilloso ver como el director hacía que la música ocurriese, como la batuta iba dictando la música y escuchar a la banda tocar. Y la música seguía flotando alrededor, como magia.

Particularmente, el último acorde de la Procesión de Elsa de Lohengrin. Se quedó en el aire flotando, después de que dejásemos de tocar, todos los sonidos mezclándose en un gran acorde Wagneriano mientras escuchábamos con los instrumentos de la boca, con la tensión de haber tocado

También tocamos otra pieza contemporánea, Pilatus, y la Sinfonía de la Máquina de Escribir, que le encantó a todo el mundo.

Y entonces nos aplaudieron. El director salió de escena y volvió dos veces. Y vi a mis amigos decirme hola desde las butacas, y salimos del escenario como andando en una nube, sonriendo de oreja a oreja y nos abrazamos…Y a fue absolutamente maravilloso-

Hubo una vez que toque en el Carnegie Hall, donde las luces eran brillantes y la música flotaba en el aire. Y de la batuta del conductor, salía magia.

Algunas fotos

No pants ride 2k9/No pants ride 2k9 New York/ Viajar por el metro en bragas

Last Saturday I had one experience of a lifetime: I went on the New York City subway system and took my pants off :D:D

Being pantless on the subway is one of those secret desires hidden secretos in our minds. Everybody has thought this at some point " What if I just took my clothes off here, in the middle of the crowd?" And that is exactly what I did.

New York is full of people, millions of people. So, if you need to do something you just post it around, and hudreds of people come to your call. And that's what happen for this events: hundreds showed up to take their pants off on a train in New York.

We were distributed by lines, ten by wagons, and we stood up, took our pants off and left little by little, and we got on the next train little by little too. And then we walked around all together, in our underwear, and we even went out in te snow.

Some people laughed, some people asked, some people were disgusted, but it was so much fun So,o I did it...Fulfilled one of those fantasies: I took my clothes off in the subway. :D

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/01/14/no-pants-2k9/

FIND NOT WALLY, ME Can you find me in here? :D



BUSCA NO A WALLY, SINO A MÍ, ¿me ves en esta foto ? :D

El S'abado tuve una de las experiencias de una vida: mont'e en el metro de Nueva York y me quit'e los pantalones :D:D
Quedarse en bragas en el metro es uno de esos secretos escondidos en nuestra mente Todo el mundo tiene esta idea en alg'un momento " Qu'e pasar'ia si me quito la ropa aqu'i mismo, en medio de la gente?" Y eso es exactamente lo que hice.

New York est'a lleno de gente. As'i que, si necesitas hacer algo, simplemente lo publicas por alg'un sitio, y cientos de personas responden a tu llamada. Y esto es lo que ocurri'o para este evento: cientos de personas se presentaron para quitarse los patalones en Nueva York.
Nos distibuyeronporl'ineas, luego poro vagones, y nos pusimos de pie, nos quitamos los panalones y nos bajamos poco a poco, y lueo nos montamos en el siguiente train tami'en poco a poco. Y luego transbordamos todos juntos en ragas y calzoncillos, e incluso salimos a la nieve.

Alguna gente re'ia, or preguntaba, otra estaba ofendida y asqueada, pero fnos lo pasamos tan bien.
As'i que lo he hecho...Cumplir una de esas fantas'ia. Me e quitado la ropa en el metro :D

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/01/14/no-pants-2k9/

Spinning the world around

A couple of weeks ago my mum told me that she is already on the waiting list to haver a operation done. than, even though at the beginning I had not thought about going back or anything, as my father had a small heart attack a few weeks ago, i thought I could go back if she gets operated in Thanksgiving, taking a few days from school.
But, it happens that I have a problem with my visa, and the Department of Education does not want to pay the amendment, so the school would have to pay. So, I don't fell comfortable taking days off, because, besides, I was told about the visa when I wast in the waiting room of a gynecologist about to have a biopsia done as my pap smear was not clear and they might had to perfor a small intervention, and i will have to take a few days off to rest. On top of that, my back is still hurting too much to be going around with suitcases and things. I would eat chocolate to feel better, but çi am getting I dontknowhowmanythings done in my mouth because i have a bunch of things to fix. I got that from my mum. And, all this, in English. Guess how can you tell the Orthopedist, after you find out what you call an orthopedist, that you have a kind of spreading pain that starts in your shoulder blade and goes up to I don'tknow ehre and when you move your arm like this...Besides, I was thinking about moving to a more central cheaper place. But As my fahter, who is wise, says " In troubled times better not to move"

Some things are more difficult when you are away. One of these days I was on the subway wondering if I would have come back, had I known how hard it was going to be with all these things. thatn, an old lady sat next to me, not looking at all like an old lady, an artist, who spoke Spanish and who would have liked to learn some southamerican indian language, and who had been a teacher in the public system of NYC for 30 years, and she said to me " Hay que tener cojones ", to be a teacher here. And she reminded me of the interesting things that happen in NY.
then, on my way to a DV8 production, I met a coreographer dancer that talked to me about the same. And we talked about belly dancing and flamenco, and rules...and had a laugh,.

And it happens that, New York, you give me the best and teh worst. It is so difficult and so wonderful to be with you

Y es que Nueva York, me das lo mejor y lo peor. Es tan difícil estar contigo.

Malabares con la vida

Hace un par de semanas mi madre me dijo que ya la han puesto en la lista de espera para operarse. Así que, en principio, yo no había pensado ir ni nada, pero como mi padre tuvo un pequeño ataque al corazón hace tres o cuatro semanas, pensé que si la operan en Thanksgiving, lo mismo puedo coger tres días e ir una semana. Pero claro, resulta que mi tengo un problema con el visado, y el Department oof Education no quiere pagar el cambio, así que tendría que pagarlo la escuela. Así que me da cosa pedir días, porque además, justo me dijeron lo del visado cuando estaba en la sala de espera del ginecólogo que me tenía que hacer una biopsia porque la última citología no está clara, y lo mismo me tienen que hacer una pequeña intervención y tendré que pedir unos días de baja para hacer reposo. Ademá de que tengo la espalda bastante jodía todavía para andar con maletas y todo. Comería chocolate para aliviar mis penas, pero es que me están haciendo nosecuantas perrerías en la boca que tengo tropecientas cosas que arreglar. Herencia materna. Y además, todo esto, en inglés. Que vete a saber como le explicas tú al traumatólogo, después de saber cómo llaman al traumatólogo aquí, que tienes un dolor que te empieza en la paletilla pero se extiende por nosedonde y cuando mueves el brazo asín.... Además, quería mudarme de casa y buscar algo más céntrico y más barato. Pero como dice mi Padre, que es sabio, "En tiempo de tribulación, no hacer mudanza"

Ciertas cosas son más duras cuando estás lejos. El otro día iba en el metro y me preguntaba, si habría vuelto en el caso de haber sabido que iba a ser tan duro este año, con tantas cosas. Entonces se sentó junto a mí una mujer mayor, artista, que hablaba Español, que le habría gustado aprender alguna lengua indígena sudamericanana, que había sido profesora durante 30 años en el sistema público, y me dijo, en Español "Hay que tener cojones", para ser profesora. Y me recordó las cosas tan interesantes que pasan en Nueva York.
Y luego, camino de una producción de DV8, conocí a una bailarina coreógrafa que me hablo de lo mismo. Y hablamos sobre la danza del vientre y el flamenco, y las reglas...y nos reímos

Y es que Nueva York, me das lo mejor y lo peor. Es tan difícil y tan maravilloso estar contigo.