Elba Hevia y Vaca, Artistic/Executive Director and Founder became enthralled with the power of Flamenco from her first studies of classical Spanish dance as a child in La Paz, Bolivia, where she was born. These studies brought her to Spain at the age of fifteen to train with renowned Flamenco Masters, and since that time she continues her yearly pilgrimages to Sevilla to immerse herself deeply in the study of the tradition with great Flamenco Masters such as Isabel Bayon, Rafaela Carrasco, Rosario Toledo, Alejandro Granados and Andres Marin, to name a few. Her professional performance credits include national and international touring with the Ana Martinez Flamenco Dance Company, and appearing as a soloist with Washington’s Raquel Peña Spanish Dance Company, most notably at the Kennedy Center.
Founded in 2000, Pasión y Arte has achieved widespread acclaim for its unique dance forms that are simultaneously steeped in tradition and unexpectantly avant-garde. Under the direction of Artistic Director Elba Hevia y Vaca, the company has a track record of success, mounting productions, collaborations, residences, and classes. In 2007, Hevia y Vaca was identified as one of 11 Philadelphia artists chosen to participate in Artists U – a cooperative platform for helping performing artists with planning, long-term thinking, and problem-solving. In 2008, the Pasión y Arte Conservatory opened, created with the mission of providing a disciplined environment for teaching the formal structure of Flamenco. It officially institutionalizes Pasión y Arte’s calling to preserve, strengthen, and disseminate the flamenco arts of dance (baile), music (toque – guitar – and cajon – box drum), and deep singing (cante).
El Duelo/The Wake (2009) enters into the inner world of women as they experience the phases of mourning surrounding the death of a shared loved one. Each dancer represents the many phases of mourning such as anger, sadness, rejection, nostalgia and denial. Through the traditions of flamenco and Afro-Cuban music, this work expresses the modern, changing face of Flamenco.
Geografia Intima/Intimate Geography (2007) deconstructs stereotypical impressions of three different historic-religious female archetypes. It is a journey that explores the boundaries of the flamenco tradition through movement and non-traditional flamenco music. The visual landscape incorporates original footage of multiple close-up images of the three women dancing. This set invites the viewer into the intimate space of each woman and creates a dialogue with the viewer. The women dance in dialogue with the projected versions of themselves and with each other, moving in and out of each other’s mirrors, space, and time.
La Luna de Par en Par/The Moon Wide Open (2005, 2008). Conceptually, this trilogy explores the female psyche through our experience of dance by representing the woman’s journey:
Part I – Loss of Innocence-Awareness
Part II – Duality-Masculinity
Part III – Evolution-Woman
Each section of the trilogy has a theme and consequent choice of choreography, cast, music, video set, and costume. This piece is firmly rooted in flamenco traditions, but introduces multi-disciplinary elements through various musical genres, cross-disciplinary choreography, and video images that create a visual landscape and set.
El Cuerpo Recuerda/The Body Remembers (2003) features six female dancers of multi-cultural and multi-generational backgrounds who use the language of flamenco to investigate the shared collective experience stored in their bodies as historical memories. Choreographically, this work explores Hevia y Vaca’s continued interest in using contemporary forms of dance along with traditional flamenco styles.
Poder de Una Mujer /Power of Her Being (2002). Rooted in the flamenco art form’s cante (deep song), toque (guitar), and baile (dance), this work nevertheless challenges tradition through its choreography and staging. It is a thorough exploration of women’s differences and how these differences have the ability to unite rather than divide. Its choreography explores a new vocabulary by using rigid, primal, instinctual references and an aggressive demeanor, which creates an uncharacteristic aesthetic for women in flamenco. This collaboration with artist Adál Maldonado incorporated a visual landscape for this work that further expands the environment.
Tablao. (A traditional performance that is easily adaptable to space and length). Tablao refers to the milieu in which flamencos showcased their dancing until the art was institutionalized in theatrical performances, similar to the atmosphere once created when beat poets gathered to recite verses. Flamenco emerged as a unique art form in the 15th century. Spanish Gypsies (or Roma) danced flamenco privately in their rural homes. The dance gradually migrated from the countryside to south Spain’s cities, where Gypsy artists performed on the streets and in plazas. By the 1840s, nightclubs called “cafes del cante” began to host flamenco tablao, giving flamencos the opportunity to demonstrate their extraordinary skills at improvising movement within the confines of rigid rhythmic structures. The cafes were the first enterprises to pay flamenco dancers, singers, and musicians. Commercial flamenco was born. From the mid 1800s-early 1900s, highly acclaimed flamenco artists danced in cafes del cante. Tablao performances helped flamenco to grow in expressive range and aesthetic precision, exposing non-Gypsy audiences to the art.
Master Classes
Flamenco is a style of music and dance, which is native to several regions of southern Spain. Along with its Romani origins, Spanish, Byzantine, Sephardic and Moorish elements have often been cited as influences in the development of flamenco. Flamenco dance is an expressive art form with ritual significance. As a consequence of its broad history, flamenco possesses a wide variety of melodies and rhythms that together can express the deepest and most complex essence of being human. Students would be taken through various levels of dance, from beginners to advanced, learning and building upon techniques and rhythms. Classes are usually at least one and a half hours long.
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| SEP 16-17 2011 |
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe Festival
The Maas Building Philadelphia, PA |
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| JAN 8, 2012 | Pentacle’s Gallery Showcase The Theater at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School 120 West 46th St (bet 6th and 7th Aves) 7:00 – 10:00 pm Pasión y Arte Flamenco: 7:00 pm |
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| MAR 22-APR 1 2012 |
1st Philadelphia Flamenco Festival Philadelphia, PA www,pasionyarteflamenco.org |
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