The Flamenco Academy: Sarah Bird
By: 
Fla-men-co - a style of dancing that is strongly rhythmic and involves vigorous actions, as clapping the hands and stamping the feet. In addition, a style of instrumental or vocal music originating in southern Spain and typically of an intensely rhythmic, improvisatory character, performed by itself or as an accompaniment to flamenco dancing.
The main character sums up the book far better than I, or the dust jacket, ever could with this:
“Once upon a time I stepped into a story I thought was my own. It was not, though I became a character in it and gave the story all the years it demanded from my life. The story began long before I entered it… ”
Cyndi Rae Hrncir and Didi Steinberg are Albuquerque high school students. Didi is studying to be famous and Cyndi (Rae as she called for most of the story) is just along for the ride. Didi follows the spotlight while Rae does their homework and in between, they try to take care of each other. Then one magical night Rae meets Tomas, a flamenco guitarist who is the catalyst for changes in all their lives. In one moment, Rae gains an obsession easily equal to Didi’s – Tomas. In order to fuel both obsessions, she and Didi enroll in the Flamenco Academy.
For me, some of the authors’ most outstanding work in the book involves the stories related by the girls’ instructor, Dona Carlota. As a reward for doing well in class, the wizened dancer tells them tales of her childhood with the Gypsies in Spain. The stories were so vivid I could almost smell the smoke of the Gypsy caves, and I kept finding myself yelling at the students not to mess up so we could all get to hear the next installment.
Bird does an excellent job of creating a vibrant world, with excellent descriptions and immersive scenery and sounds. She also explores themes of identity and sacrifice, and how sometimes the identities we weave around ourselves, our face we show to the world in fact obscures the true person beneath.
I highly recommend this book.
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Hardcover: 381 pages
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf - 2006
ISBN: 0-316-15650-7
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