Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco to Celebrate 50th Anniversary with Special Performances

Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco, one of California's oldest and most prolific dance companies, will celebrate its 50th anniversary season with performances of the special production, El Latir del Tiempo/The Beat of Time in San Francisco Bay Area and in Southern California.

Performances will take place on the following dates:

Friday, November 4, 8 PM in Mountain View at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts
Saturday, November 5, 8 PM in San Francisco at the Herbst Theatre
Sunday, November 6, 2 PM in San Francisco at the Fillmore Heritage Center
Thursday, November 10, 8 PM in Santa Barbara at the Lobero Theatre
Saturday, November 12, 8 PM in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre

Featuring the traditional color, passion and character that distinguish the art of flamenco, Theatre Flamenco will celebrate its 50th Anniversary by presenting some of the world's most renowned artists from Spain. These include: dancer Pastora Galván, one of the top international stars of flamenco, who made her professional debut with Theatre Flamenco at the age of 15; and flamenco singer Juana la del Pipa, who hails from a dynasty of artists from the flamenco cradle of Jerez de la Frontera in Southern Spain. Also invited is San Francisco native and accomplished flamenco dancer, Cristina Hall. Now residing in Seville, Spain, Hall is one of the few American-born artists to have established a successful flamenco career in Spain.

El Latir del Tiempo/The Beat of Time will feature reprised and new works choreographed by Mexican-born Carola Zertuche, artistic director of Theatre Flamenco. Along with the five-decade landmark for the Dance Company, Zertuche is also celebrating her 10th anniversary at the helm of Theatre Flamenco. She herself is a world-acclaimed performer, whose productions have been called some of the most innovative programs staged in California.

"El Latir del Tiempo/The Beat of Time will be performed in celebration of Theatre Flamenco's glorious past and in eager anticipation of our vibrant future," said Zertuche. "Along with growing national and international recognition, Theatre Flamenco has a new space in San Francisco's Mission District. After our 50th anniversary season, we plan to begin using this space to expand our teaching to include children's flamenco classes. The 'beat of time' will continue, as the powerful and expressive legacy of flamenco is passed on to future generations."

Theatre Flamenco is thrilled to bring its 50th anniversary show to Santa Barbara because of the city's long, rich association with the art of flamenco. Since 1999, Santa Barbara has hosted its popular Flamenco Arts Festival, featuring top artists from Spain. Special El Latir del Tiempo/The Beat of Time guest artist, Pastora Galván, performed at the Festival in 2006. The next festival will take place in 2017.

Furthermore, Theatre Flamenco is co-producing its Los Angeles performance with the Los Angeles International Flamenco Festival. The Los Angeles International Flamenco Festival is proud to bring unique programming and world-class flamenco artists to the city. Founded in 2010 by the energetic event producer Mitch Chang, the acclaimed festival features two living guitar legends of flamenco in its 2016 schedule, Vicente Amigo and Tomatito.

About the Artists:

Carola Zertuche: As artistic director of Theatre Flamenco, Carola Zertuche has worked to forge artistic collaborations with international and local artists in productions that pay homage to traditional styles of flamenco, while also embracing and showcasing new, modern, and even avant-garde approaches to the art form. The results have been some of the most innovative, intriguing, and professional flamenco productions ever staged in the Bay Area. As a result, Theatre Flamenco is also enjoying a growing profile across the U.S. and abroad.

Born in Torreón, México, Zertuche began her dance career in Mexico City's Tablao Mesón de Triana, where she shared the stage with renowned flamenco artists such as Domingo Ortega, Juan de Angélica, Antonio Rey, El Kiki, and Luisa de Cadiz. After studying in Spain with renowned artists Ciro, Belén Maya, Andres Marín, Israel Galván, and jota master Pedro Azorín, she moved to the Bay Area to continue her career as a performer, choreographer, and teacher at Theatre Flamenco.

Zertuche has toured throughout Mexico, the United States, and the Middle East with highly revered flamenco companies, including Maria Benitez Teatro Flamenco. She has danced in important American venues such as the Joyce Theatre in New York, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Western Massachusetts, the Lensic in Santa Fe, the Tablao Flamenco in Albuquerque, and the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Zertuche received an Individual nomination for the prestigious Isadora Dance Award ("Izzies") in 2002 for the performance Solea.

Pastora Galván: When she was just 15 years old, Pastora Galván traveled from her home in Seville, Spain, to San Francisco to make her professional debut with Theatre Flamenco. Since that time, she has become one of the most sought-after flamenco dancers in the world. She comes from a family of highly-respected flamenco dancers, including her father, Jose Galván, and her brother, Israel Galván. During her professional career, Pastora has worked with some of the world's most famous flamenco artists, including Eva Yerbabuena, Fernando Terremoto, "La Susi," Niño de Pura, María Pagés, José Luis Rodríguez, Arcángel, Joaquín Grilo, "La Tobala," Carmen Linares, Esperanza Fernández, Antonio Canales, and Pedro Sierra.

Juana la del Pipa: Juana la del Pipa was born 60 years ago in El Barrio de Santiago in Jerez de la Frontera, considered a cradle of flamenco in Andalucia, Spain. She is known for her impassioned interpretations of the Jerez-style cante (song). Juana has been singing with her nephew, celebrated dancer Antonio el Pipa, for the last 10 years. Before that, she worked with Manuel Morao's company, touring with him to New York City for the production of "Gypsy Passion" on Broadway in 1990, as well as in festivals throughout Europe and the U.S. She was featured in the "Gypsy Caravan" North American tours in 1999 and 2001, and appears in the 2006 film "When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan," which documented the tours. In the film review by the New York Times, Juana was described as "an epic-size woman who could have been conjured by Pedro Almodóvar." She is one of the three female voices on the recording "Mujerez," along with La Macanita and Dolores Agujetas, and has performed all over Spain and Europe with the ensemble. Juana was also special guest artist with Pastora Galván's production entitled &dentidades in 2015, which toured throughout Spain, Europe, and North America.

About Theatre Flamenco:
Theatre Flamenco (http://www.theatreflamenco.org/) of San Francisco is the second oldest Dance Company in the Bay Area (after the SF Ballet). Founded in 1966 by Adela Clara, Theatre Flamenco was conceived during a flowering of cultural pride in the '60's that led to the revival of Latino arts. The Company's purpose was to fill what was then a dearth of Spanish dances in the Bay Area. Theatre Flamenco was the first American Dance Company to stage full productions of Spanish dance in the U.S., and is one of the oldest dance companies in California. Its productions showcase premiere national and international talent, vivid dance imagery, and flamenco's living lineage in order to enchant audiences and ignite a passionate response. Every year since its inception, Theatre Flamenco has presented a home season of performances in San Francisco. The Dance Company also has an annual touring schedule and presents a quarterly community outreach series in the Bay Area. Maintaining strong ties to the traditional dance communities of Spain, Theatre Flamenco uses a traditional yet innovative approach to flamenco to enrich and inspire the art community and general public, and to teach and mentor younger generations. Miguel Santos was the artistic director of the company from 1967 to 2006.

The company has received two nominations for the prestigious Isadora Duncan Award ("Izzies"): in 2009 for Performance-Ensemble in the show Encuentro at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and in 2011 for Music for the 45th Home Season production Una Nota Flamenca.

The 50th Anniversary Season Lead Sponsors: SF Grants for the Arts, Loló Restaurant, Camille & Christopher Bently, Flamenco Journeys, the Bernard Osher Foundation and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

About Flamenco (Source: UNESCO):
"Flamenco is a form of popular artistic expression representing a long-standing tradition that appears on the UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

"Flamenco is an artistic expression fusing song ("cante"), dance ("baile"), and musicianship ("toque"). Andalusia in southern Spain is the heartland of Flamenco, although it also has roots in regions such as Murcia and Extremadura. ''Cante'' is the vocal expression of flamenco, sung by men and women ...The gamut of feelings and states of mind - grief, joy, tragedy, rejoicing and fear - can be expressed through sincere, expressive lyrics characterized by brevity and simplicity. Flamenco ''baile'' is a dance of passion, courtship, expressing a wide range of situations ranging from sadness to joy. The technique is complex, differing depending on whether the performer is male or female. ''Toque'' or the art of guitar playing has long surpassed its original role as accompaniment. Other instruments, including castanets, hand-clapping and foot-stamping are also employed.

"Flamenco is performed during religious festivals, rituals, church ceremonies and at private celebrations. It is the badge of identity of numerous communities and groups, in particular the Gitano (Roma) ethnic community, which has played an essential role in its development. Transmission occurs through dynasties, families, social groups and Flamenco clubs, all of which play a key role in its preservation and dissemination."

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