Flamenco Latino to Present Free Flamenco And Hip-Hop Dance Class With Aurora Reyes & Paige Stewart

Join Flamenco Latino for Dance Class with Aurora Reyes and Paige Stewart, a free class in both flamenco and hip-hop, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, 7pm - 8pm at Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, 161-04 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica NY. The class is a part of Flamenco Latino's 2024 Más Allá Series, which runs from Wednesday, July 24 to Saturday, August 24, 2024. The annual Más Allá ("Way Beyond") Series, which has been a part of Flamenco Latino since 2015, represents the company's most creative, innovative offering within the world of Flamenco dance and music.

For more info, visit https://www.flamencolatino.com/.

Flamenco Latino's 2024 Más Allá Series is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

About the Artists

Aurora Reyes, dancer, choreographer, singer, and co-founder and artistic director of Flamenco Latino, has performed in both Spain and New York. Her heritage is Valencian and Galician. Aurora has been dancing Flamenco for 40 years, and choreographing for 23 years. She was drawn to Flamenco through her Spanish descent. Aurora's willingness to experiment in collaboration with Basilio Georges has produced flamenco heelwork, which authentically replicates the rhythms played in Latin music by the congas, bongos and timbales. Most of Flamenco Latino's repertoire has been choreographed and staged by Ms. Reyes. Her work fuses her wide knowledge of traditional flamenco dance with diverse dancers and musicians of various traditions. Ms. Reyes choreographed a Flamenco Mambo, El Yoyo, fusing traditional steps from both idioms in collaboration with company member Yvonne Gutierrez, performed at The Duke Theatre on 42nd Street (2002). She set Danzon choreography and commissioned renowned Salsa dancer/choreographer Eddie Torres to set the Mambo-Cha section, which she adapted for Mas Allá que el Danzon Cha, performed at Pace Schimmel Theatre, (1999). Since 2018, She has cultivated a corps of up and coming dancers through five seasons with the Queensboro Dance Festival which included an exploration of blues and flamenco in 2020 "Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane." She choreographed several numbers included in the 2021 Danisarte production "Lorca Siempre," and expanded and reworked them for Flamenco Latino's 2021 Mås Allá Series. Choreographies performed at Flamenco Latino Dance Studio Theatre, 2012-2016 include: La Rumba Cubana y Flamenca (2012), Flamenco Gumbo I (2015), and Flamenco Gumbo II (2016). Aurora danced in the tablao Corral de la Pacheca, 1985-86, and toured the U.S. with Jose Molina Bailes Españoles, 1983-85. She has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Angel Gil Orrios, director of Thalia Spanish Theatre, singing, choreographing and acting in all 3 of Mr. Gil's Picasso productions including Deseo Cogido por El Rabo (1989), Las Cuatro Niñitas (2003), and El FlamenConde de Orgaz (2008). Additionally, she choreographed Angel's flamenco/tap musical Amor Latino (2009), based on "Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story." Aurora choreographed flamenco tablao scenes and Entremedio sections for Carmen for Knoxville Opera, 2005, and original works for five seasons for Andrea Del Conte Danza España, 1995-2000. She has taught Flamenco and Salsa residencies through Young Audiences of NY and Community Works (1999-2013), and was an adjunct instructor in World Dance/Latin Styles at Stony Brook University (1995-2002).

Paige "Queen TuT" Stewart is from Queens, New York. Working as a dance teacher at various public schools, dance schools and arts centers as well as all over the Tri-state area instructing the youth in the movement &and dance. Her passions are a combination of spoken word poetry, physical poetry, and a love of performing. She maintains a well-rounded worth ethic and encompasses a dedication that can't be matched. Diagnosed with Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of twelve, she continues to move through the oncoming challenges as well as continues to inspire and evoke passion through everything she does.

Fascinated by the love of her favorite hip hop dance technique "Tutting," she has dedicated her training around popping dance styles. The Tutting style was originally practiced by young funk dancers and is derived from the positions people were drawn in the days of the Ancient Egyptians. It is these positions seen in these portraits that have been adopted by dancers today. So, when you "tut" you change the angles of your arms according to the beat. Those who are more experienced pop when changing from angle to angle thus refining the style. Tutting is still a greatly respected move and "King Tut" aka Mark Benson is widely acclaimed for pioneering the style. Not to be confused with King TuT as deep as the history is, Paige's style is way simpler. Paige explains, "Queen TuT signifies the divine right to master my craft. Any of us can be a King or Queen of our craft. What is yours?" The 2024 Más Allá Series will represent Paige's second year of collaboration with Flamenco Latino.

About Flamenco Latino

Since inception in 1979, Flamenco Latino's professional company has explored and developed the genre known as Ida y Vuelta. This "Round Trip" genre had its birth during the late 18th century, when Spain and other countries in Europe were influenced by Latino dance and music, most notably the Cuban Habanera and Rumba, which led to flamenco tangos, tanguillo and rumba.

Flamenco Latino's recent Más Allá Series has pushed flamenco boundaries. Flamenco dance structures have been flavored with jazz, blues and salsa, and have included the collaboration of tap dancers like Omar Edwards. Productions like "Flamenco Gumbo I & II" combined flamenco with the music of New Orleans, the northernmost Caribbean city. Since 2018, Flamenco Latino has presented its Series in collaboration with Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

Going back 30 years, Flamenco Latino's interpretation of Ida y Vuelta included exploration of flamenco guajiras and many rumba styles, such as Peret, Bambino and The Gipsy Kings. It has also created many unusual amalgamations referencing mambo, cha-cha, danzon, bomba y plena, cumbia and merengue. Drawing on Basilio Georges' early professional career as a jazz musician, the music has reflected many jazz harmonic and improvisatory concepts.

With such a career reference, Flamenco Latino produced a great deal of exciting and innovative repertoire presented in Seasons at Pace University and the Duke Theater, and through touring from 1997 to 2006. It has gone even further with collaborations at Thalia Spanish Theatre from 2003-2009, where Director Angel Gil Orrios involved Flamenco Latino to interpret the art of Picasso through plays written by the artist, and through "Amor Latino," a musical involving both tap and flamenco. From 2006-2016, Flamenco Latino ran a Studio Theater space in Midtown Manhattan where they offered classes in dance, guitar, cante and palmas for adults and children, presented performances and recitals, and produced workshops with artists from Spain.