and it was the first time for a group of Bucknell students, and also for Maria an espanola who, along with Professor Fischer, leads the Bucknell en Espana program. Even though she has visited during the day, she's never gone at night. The Alhambra is placed up on a ridge above Granada, and from there we could look down at the city lights. Some of Granada is placed on the long ridges across from the Alhambra, and the lights from that area looked like they were floating in the sky, just below the stars.

In the U.S., most shows start around 7 or 8 p.m., which is a couple hours after dinner. Here, the main meal of the day is what we would consider lunch, and it is eaten around 2:30. Then the next meal, which is much smaller, is at 8:30 or 9 p.m. As such, this show didn't start till 10 o'clock. The show we saw was called "Un poeta en Nueva York" (A Poet in Nueva York) and was based around the work of Garcia Lorca. It was a mix of flamenco dancing, which includes what we would call tap-dancing, and a lot of modern and hip-hop dancing. It really was incredible, and was the most amazing dance shows that I've ever seen.

The whole thing was great, but there were two scenes that particularly stick out in my mind. The first was a dance which came right after a dance/scene where someone was shot. After everyone cleared this scene, the dancers came out dressed in white, with huge spots of red on their clothes, clearly representing blood. Four white screens were wheeled out, and the dancers danced on the stage, and against these white walls, going off stage every now and then to smear themselves with more red paint, as if they were bleeding more. It was amazing - a display of dance and art - as they threw themselves against the white squares and left smears of red, the imprint of bodies and handprints. It was both violent and mesmerizing.

The next scene that left me with my mouth wide open came right after the red paint dance. The screens were wheeled out, and some of the dancers left the stage, until there were four men left in their white and paint smeared clothes. They stood in a line on stage, and suddenly a huge stream of water fell down in a sheet onto them, and continued pouring down for the entire dance. The dancers stripped off their outer clothes, and then danced in the sheet of water. The effect of the water spraying off and around their bodies was just as mesmerizing as the sight of the dancers throwing themselves against the white walls. The water haloed their bodies as they danced and moved in and out of the water. They also used the inch of water that soon covered the stage to slide in and spin and flip. The water would spray up in front of their moving bodies as they flew from one side of the stage to the other. This show is definitely something I will never forget.

After the show we walked down the hill back to the hotel, which was also an interesting experience. Here in Granada, as Maria says, "la gente vive en las calles" (the people live in the streets) which she doesn't mean literally, but rather that they spend a lot of time walking around, or hanging out with friends in the various plazas. People don't spend much time in their houses, but instead out on the streets of the city and Granada at night is almost more alive than during the day.