Caminos Flamencos Present CANCIONES This Weekend

Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos are delighted to announce the revival of one of their most popular programs, Canciones, featuring flamenco dance set to traditional and popular songs. Guest artists Marina Elana, Manuel Gutierrez and Jesus Montoya join the ensemble in interpretations of music by Ray Charles, Leonard Cohen, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, The Police and many more. Canciones runs for only two performances over Thanksgiving weekend, November 29 - 30, 2014.

This November's performances mark the third incarnation of Canciones, which premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2008. The flexible program has featured different songs each time, but what remains the same is a refreshing approach to the conventions of flamenco. Canciones offers audiences iconic flamenco songs -- for example, Paco de Lucia's "La Leyenda del Tiempo" -- as well as flamenco interpretations of songs such as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

"Cohen's 'Hallelujah' reaches similar depths of feeling in me as many of the great flamenco canciones," says Yaelisa, company founder and Emmy Award-winning choreographer. "It pulls at the heartstrings with a power that we might call duende, and I knew at a certain point that I had to dance it." Other works on the program include "A Song for You" by Ray Charles, a selection made by dancer Gutierrez, and "Because" written by John Lennon for the Beatles, a selection made by company Music Director and virtuoso guitarist Jason McGuire "El Rubio." Molly Rogers, who currently serves on faculty at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, will accompany Devon LaRussa, a former member of the Oakland Ballet, in an interpretation of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by The Police. In all, the company will perform more than a dozen songs including solos, duets and full-company numbers.

The idea for Canciones can be traced back to 2006 when Yaelisa collaborated on a production with the tap dancer Savion Glover at the New World Flamenco Festival. Brazilian funk music, Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck songs were used as a vessel to combine flamenco and tap to great audience and critical acclaim.

Caminos Flamencos company members Fanny Ara, Melissa Cruz, LaRussa and Rogers join Yaelisa and guest dancers Gutierrez and Elana. McGuire directs the musical corp of Marlon Aldana, Jose Cortes, Montoya and Paul Martin Sounder.

An opening night reception for Gold Seat patrons will follow the 8pm performance on Saturday, November 29. Gold Seat tickets are $75. General admission tickets range from $20 in advance to $49 at the door. The performance on Sunday, November 30 is a matinee starting at 3pm. To purchase tickets online visit brownpapertickets.com/event/882679 or call 800-838-3006.

ABOUT YAELISA & CAMINOS FLAMENCOS - San Francisco-based Caminos Flamencos was founded by Emmy Award-winning dancer and choreographer Yaelisa. Its mission is to create and present contemporary, traditional and theatrical dance programs which reflect the changing face of flamenco in the 21st century. Their programs seek to preserve the legacy of Spain's rich artistic heritage, and share it with people of all backgrounds. To that end, the organization encompasses both a flourishing dance company as well as a dance school offering a comprehensive program of flamenco dance and music training for students at all levels.

Yaelisa is widely considered one of the most gifted Flamenco artists of her generation and a master teacher of the form. She has spent extensive periods of time living and performing in Spain, presenting her choreography there and in the U.S. Her choreographies have been commissioned by several modern dance companies, including John Malashock & Company, Rose Polsky and Collage Dance Theatre. In 1995 she was one of 11 choreographers in Spain invited to present a piece at the prestigious Certamen de Coreografia in Madrid, and the only American choreographer chosen among them. In 1996 she returned to the U.S. where she continues to choreograph, develop and train dancers for Caminos Flamencos. Yaelisa is also the co-founder and artistic director of the New World Flamenco Festival held each year in Irvine, CA. Her numerous recognitions include an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 for the PBS program, "Desde Cadiz a Sevilla," a Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1996, and an Isadora Duncan Dance Award in 2005. For more information, visit caminosflamencos.com.

Pictured: ?Manuel Gutierrez. Photo by Patrick Rogers.

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