By Marcia Blondin***I have asked a number of students who their favorite teacher has been throughout the Fiesta de Cabaret week. The answers were variations on:
They are all great, but… I love each one of them, but… We have learned so much from all of them, but…
Meet the “But:” Paulina Koutrakos, aka Lina—torch singer, songwriter, rock and roller, director and TEACHER. She cried when it was suggested that she teach, remembering the adage, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”
She can still sing and does, with an infectious Southern Belle boots-on-the-ground style that celebrates her precocious Carolina-Military Brat upbringing. Her students say she cuts straight to the chase and does not sugar-coat anything, but speaks eloquently about any issues she hears from them. The students so appreciated her straight-forwardness as time was short; they had a week to soak up decades of learned information from various master teachers.
At night six of the Fiesta (I Think I Remember Sky), with David Maiocco accompanying on the piano, co-producer of Fiesta de Cabaret with Mark Hartman, David Sabella introduced Lina Koutrakos as the Queen Bee. ‘Nough said.
