Mariachis!

We started the day by going to our C-1 class at La Hacienda with Darryl Lipscomb for the last time. We're "graduating" to attending his C-1 workshop  instead. Today we learned to Relay the Shadow and Checkover, among other things. Now we have only a few calls left to learn, but we have been dancing all the C-1 calls mostly from a single starting formation, so it will take a while for us to feel comfortable with doing them from all the possible starting points.

We talked with Doris at the class. She has seen the orthopedic surgeon, who took some x-rays and now wants to do a dye injection to see more clearly what's going on. She sounded impressed by the doctor's experience with scoliosis patients and his understanding of her situation.  She also has an appointment with Dr. Six towards the end of March, but she still has to get her CAT scans from up north to him. She was dancing with Lila today because Bob was at home with a sore throat. Her friend Karen had flown in from Salem, OR, to visit for a week and was observing the class. She seemed much quieter than Doris, but evidently they have been best friends since they lived in Denver together many years ago.

We headed home for a quick lunch and then set out for Palmview High School to attend a mariachi performance. As we were headed north on Bentsen Palm, we got a call from Steve. They and Pottingers were traveling together and had gone to the new school, where they had directed us, and found out that the show was actually in La Joya. We met and followed them out to the school, arriving in time to find some good seats in the balcony.

The performing arts center at the high school was state of the art and would have put many community arts centers to shame. The show was equally impressive. The musicians and dancers were skilled and energetic, and they presented a varied selection of dance and music from various areas of Mexico and South America. The costumes were colorful and flashy, and the lighting was varied and dynamic. All in all it was quite an experience.  The show included three performing groups: Mariachi "Los Lobos," Grupo Folklorico "Ozomatli," and Conjunto "La Tradicion." All the performers were in 9th through 12th grades and must maintain academic excellence to participate.

We forgot to take the camera, so the photos we have were taken with Ken's Droid from the balcony, so it's a wonder that any of them came out as well as these two did:

We figured out tonight that the soccer finals will occur during our move tomorrow, so we won't be able to record them. However, the video will be available on the Internet, and we're sure to see highlights of the match. I think I'll be equally happy if either team wins. It would be fitting for Canada to prevail, since they are the host country and it's their national game. It would also be great to have our American team win the gold.