"Xicano Power" Official Press Release
For immediate release
FLAMENCO CONCERT “XICANO POWER” AT THE NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER
NOVEMBER 10 & 11, 2023
Enjoy a special pre-show conversation Nov. 10 & 11 before Yjastros' performance of "Xicano Power." The conversation is free and will take place in the National Hispanic Cultural Center Visual Arts Museum.
TAP PHOTOS TO DOWNLOAD - Photos of Yjastros performing “Xicano Power” courtesy of Farruk & Rafael Manjavacas
ALBUQUERQUE, NM: The National Institute of Flamenco invites you to experience Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company's fall concert “Xicano Power” at the National Hispanic Cultural Center this November 10-11.
This evocative flamenco concert sets potent choreography, music, soundscapes and imagery to an exploration of identity, history and culture, including the Chicano Movement.
Internationally acclaimed Sevilla-based flamenco artist Israel Galván choreographed the piece “Xicano Power” on Yjastros in 2004, just five years after the company’s inception. That title was then chosen for the concert when it debuted in February 2023 at the internationally acclaimed Festival de Jerez, in Spain. This was a landmark performance for the company in that Yjastros made history as the first US-based company to ever be invited to a Spanish flamenco festival. The concert evolved into its presentation during this year’s edition of Festival Flamenco Alburquerque, and now comes to Yjastros’ home theater, the Journal Theatre, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
The concert features choreography and music that ranges from raw and explosive to joyful and triumphant. Emblematic of the company’s evolution, “Xicano Power” draws on diverse works of movement and music. The work of young contemporary choreographers such as Carmen Coy and Jesús Perona, who recently finished a residency working with Yjastros and UNM flamenco students, appears alongside the works of Marco Flores and the visionary Israel Galván. In collaboration with Theatre Director Alejandro Tomás Rodríguez, Yjastros embodies each choreographer’s unique vision and realizes a radical and beautiful thematic work, one that speaks to the complexities of our shared history and the joy and healing that is born out of struggle.
“‘Xicano Power’ is an iconic piece in our repertory, and I think it demonstrates what the repertory process was for Yjastros early on,” says Joaquín Encinias, Yjastros Artistic Director. “You really can't speak about the Chicano Movement and where the word ‘Chicano’ comes from in that time without speaking about the poem ‘Yo Soy Joaquín.’”
Like the epic poem "Yo So Joaquín," written in 1967 by Denver-based civil rights activist Rodolofo “Corky” Gonzales, the “Xicano Power” concert explores issues of reclaiming one's identity and a legacy of historical greatness. The concert utilizes pieces of this poem in its soundscape, as well as pieces of audio from Tejano filmmaker Hector Galán's award-winning 1996 PBS documentary “Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement.”
“The audio represents what was being fought for or against in the Chicano Movement — educational opportunities, fair employment, workers’ rights, civil rights,” says Marisol Encinias, NIF Executive Director. “The audio selected from Mr. Galán’s film captures voices of people involved in the Chicano Movement or the voices of people who the Chicano Movement was moving against.”
Tickets are on sale now at bit.ly/XicanoPower2023, or through the National Hispanic Cultural Center for this poignant work, created here in Albuquerque, NM, the flamenco capital of the United States.
Yjastros is the flamenco dance company in residence at the University of New Mexico Department of Theatre and Dance.
For questions or press inquiries:
Ungelbah Dávila
ungelbah@nifnm.org
505-242-7600 (office)