National Endowment for the Arts Documentary Film Premiere

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in partnership with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, is pleased to present the film Roots of the American Culture: A Cross-Country Visit with Living Treasures of the Fold and Traditional Arts, premiering on arts.gov/heritage on Thursday, November 17 at 6:00 pm MST.

Hosted by NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, the film will explore the lives and work of the 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellows, recipients of the nation's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Help us celebrate National Institute of Flamenco Founding Director and 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellow Eva Encinias during the premiere of this special documentary film.

La Estrella: A Flamenco Story of the Kings' Quest Tickets On Sale Now

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to present the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts Winter production of La Estrella: A Flamenco Story of the Kings' Quest! Tickets are on sale now - visit unmtickets.com or click the button below.

Witness the famous story of the three kings told through the beautiful art of flamenco! La Estrella is a magical holiday production, featuring members of Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company, students of the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts, Tierra Adentro charter school, and guest artists Alicia Morales and Ángel Ruíz that will delight all ages.

Yjastros in Çiertas Danças Featuring Estévez/Paños with Special Guests Alicia Morales & Ángel Ruíz

The National Institute of Flamenco and the National Hispanic Cultural Center present Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company in Çiertas Danças, featuring invited artists Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños, and musical guests, singer Alicia Morales and guitarist Ángel Ruíz.

The concert’s title stems from an original work Estévez and Paños created for Yjastros, and the season features new choreographies and performance by Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños. Çiertas Danças showcases the depth of Artistic Director Joaquín Encinias and Yjastros’ artistic collaboration with creators at the global forefront of the art form and Estévez/Paños' thrilling artistic vision. Guest choreographers and dancers Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños, winners of the Spanish National Dance Prize for choreography, will present their work SILENCIOS. In addition to stunning dance from Yjastros and Estévez/Paños, audiences will delight in new music from Alicia Morales and Ángel Ruíz.

Yjastros is the flamenco company in residence in the University of New Mexico Dance Program

Footage of SILENCIOS courtesy of Estévez/Paños

Music by Jesús Torres

Trailer by Incredible Films

Artist Talk with Estévez/Paños

Join us for a special Artist Talk with guest choreographers and dancers Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños on Friday, October 28 at 1 pm in Carlisle Gym! This event is free and open to the public. Carlisle Gym is located on the University of New Mexico Main Campus.

ESTÉVEZ/PAÑOS

In 2001, Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños formed an artistic tandem after discovering that they had much in common regarding artistic concepts and vision of dance. They began an arduous work together that involved research and experimentation, combining tradition and the avant-garde. From the beginning of this artistic and creative journey, they investigate movement, experimenting with contemporary dance forms, Spanish dance and flamenco, and create a language and concept of dance and choreography that is characteristically their own.

Together they have choreographed, directed, and collaborated with artists such as Carlos Saura, Lola Greco, Antonio Canales, Mayte Bajo, Gala Vivancos, Kira Gimeno, María Vivó, Tamara Rojo, José Martínez, Mats Ek, Ana Laguna, Ángel Corella, Nacho Duato, Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda, Israel Galván, Rocío Molina, El Terremoto, Arcángel, Patricia Guerrero, Daniel Navarro, Rubén Olmo, Olga Pericet, Marco Flores, Manuel Liñán, Amador Rojas, Fuensanta la Moneta, Pastora Galván, Ana Morales, David Coria, Concha Jareño, Alfonso Losa, among others.

In 2019, Estévez and Paños were awarded the Premio Nacional de Danza in the modality of choreographic creation.

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to welcome these artists back to Albuquerque to work with Yjastros again, and to choreograph and teach as visiting professors in the University of New Mexico Dance Program.

Welcome Back to Albuquerque, Rafael Estévez & Valeriano Paños!

The National Institute of Flamenco welcomes Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños back to Albuquerque! Estévez and Paños are setting new choreography on Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company and working as Visiting Professors in the University of New Mexico Dance Program's Flamenco Concentration. 

We are honored to have Estévez and Paños as invited artists in the fall season of Yjastros, Çiertas Danças, November 11 and 12 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Estévez and Paños will present their acclaimed work SILENCIOS. The fall concert season's name comes from an original work the artistic duo created for Yjastros, and will feature guest musicians Alicia Morales and Ángel Ruíz, and thrilling new dance and music.

Don't miss this very special performance, and stay tuned for information about their free-to-the public artist talk on October 28!

Photo of Estévez y Paños by Beatrix Mexi Molnar 

This residence is made possible in part with support from SPAIN arts & culture.

Yjastros & Estévez/Paños present Çiertas Danças with Special Guests Alicia Morales and Ángel Ruíz

The National Institute of Flamenco and the National Hispanic Cultural Center present Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company in Çiertas Danças, featuring invited artists Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños, and musical guests, singer Alicia Morales and guitarist Ángel Ruíz.

The concert’s title stems from an original work Estévez and Paños created for Yjastros, and the season features new choreographies and performance by Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños. Çiertas Danças showcases the depth of Artistic Director Joaquín Encinias and Yjastros’ artistic collaboration with creators at the global forefront of the art form and Estévez/Paños' thrilling artistic vision. Guest choreographers and dancers Rafael Estévez and Valeriano Paños, winners of the Spanish National Dance Prize for choreography, will present their work SILENCIOS. In addition to stunning dance from Yjastros and Estévez/Paños, audiences will delight in new music from Alicia Morales and Ángel Ruíz.

Yjastros is the flamenco company in residence in the University of New Mexico Dance Program.

Welcome to Albuquerque, Alicia Morales!

Welcome to Albuquerque, Alicia Morales! Cantaora Alicia Morales will be in residence at the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts, Tablao Flamenco Albuquerque, and El Farol Santa Fe through December 18th.

Morales will teach cante (singing) at the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts. The National Institute of Flamenco is excited to have this excellent musician in residence to teach, perform, and enrich the community. Register & sign up: https://www.nifnm.org/schedule-and-regsitration

Alicia Morales began her career at a young age under the guidance of great masters such as Antonio Gomez "El Colorao," Luis "El Zambo," Segundo Falcón, and Juan Mesas, who believed in her talent from the beginning. She worked with the poet José Luis Ortiz Nuevo and alongside the master guitarist Miguel Ochando in Morocco.

She participated in an important conference on Enrique Morente, "Talent, Work and Wisdom in the path of a Genius" together with Juan Mesas.

Morales has traveled through countless countries demonstrating her art, singing and sharing flamenco with different cultures and regions such as Russia, Italy, France, Morocco, and in the U.S. She performs at festivals and clubs in Andalucía with master guitarists such as Paco Cortez, Miguel Ochando, and Juan Habichuela Nieto.

She won the Miguel Hernández Prize for her artistic career. Alicia has performed at the Flamenco Festival in the Sadlers-Wells theater in London to great acclaim in the press from all over the \world. She composed music for the shows La Gaviota, Casa de las Muñecas, and Summer and Humo. Her full-length album La Novia de Cristal was released in 2019.

Welcome to Albuquerque, Ángel Ruíz!

Welcome to Albuquerque, Ángel Ruíz! Guitarist Ángel Ruíz will be in residence at the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts, Tablao Flamenco Albuquerque, and El Farol Santa Fe through December 18th.

Ruíz will teach Guitar II at the Institute's Conservatory of Flamenco Arts. The National Institute of Flamenco is excited to have this excellent musician in residence to teach, perform, and enrich the community. Sign up & register: https://www.nifnm.org/schedule-and-regsitration

Ángel Ruiz (born 1979) began studying flamenco guitar at the age of 12, under the guidance of mentors Philippe Donnier and "Merengue de Córdoba." At 18, Ruiz began his professional career at the tablao El Cardenal in Córdoba, where he played for 3 years as an accompanist for baile. From that point until 2001, he toured the United States with the Boston Flamenco Ballet, and toured both France and Italy with the company Al Badulake.

He soon after moved to Sevilla, where he became part of the Compañía Andaluza de Danza, under the direction of Antonio Gades and José Antonio Ruiz, performing on stages such as the Emerson Majestic in Boston, the City Center in New York, and the Teatro Maestranza in Sevilla. In 2004, he joined Cristina Hoyos Flamenco Ballet on a tour of Japan with the show A tiempo'. He performed in residence at the tablao 'El Flamenco' in Tokyo for half a year, accompanying dancer Juan Ogalla and singer David Lagos.

In 2007, he participated in the Eutopía and Sound'aquí Festivals in Córdoba and directed the show Destiempo together with the Córdoba-born bailaora Laureana Granados presented in Maputo, Mozambique on Hispanic Heritage Day.

In 2009, he collaborated as lead guitar with the National Dance Award-winning choreographer, Javier Latorre, in the show Hijas del Alba for the Murcia Ballet, with whom continued collaborate in choreography courses taught by Latorre at the Córdoba International Guitar Festival.

He worked with Daniel Navarro in the tablao La Buleria (Valencia) and in the show Daniel Navarro y Timbila Muzimba in a fusion between Flamenco and African music. He continued his guitar collaborations in Pa ti y pá tu prima at the Luis del Rio Superior Dance Conservatory in Córdoba, under the direction of Nuria Leyva. In 2010, he returned to the tablao El Flamenco in Tokyo with the dancer Pedro Córdoba for six months. Ruíz later moved to Panama working as a guitarist and musical director in the Tablao Flamenco de la 21, where he also taught and accompanied the dancer Laureana Granados.

He was accompanist in the course offered by Farruquito in Panama in 2011, and has since taught, accompanied classes, and performed all over the world.

UETF Artist Resiliency Spotlight: Camelia Caton-Garcia

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to be one of five organizations working together with the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) to facilitate artist residencies for the UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Program. Keep an eye on our newsletters and social media for announcements and updates from our 18 resident artists!

Camelia Caton-Garcia is a Chicana artist, writer, and archivist working in the west. Her work often combines video, photography, and mixed-media to explore the myth of the American west. She is interested in complicating the visual vocabularies used to represent time, landscape, and human events. Depictions of the west have historically been characterized by resistance and cultural suppression, violence, and uncertainty; often combined with astounding natural environments. This fantasy of the west can work to obscure or intrude on the complexity and validity of Indigenous history and present. Her work explores these relationships, both geological and psychic, and asks how myth and visual representa­tion affect the very real situations of land, culture, and nation-building through an anomalistic and distorted collective memory of the west. As an Chicana artist working in western states, she is constantly revisiting and revising this relationship, its history, its future, and its aesthetics. Camelia was the Grand Canyon South Rim artist in residence in 2013 and is published in Analecta and Atticus Review.

About Camelia's project: 
My project through UETF plays with mechanisms of the timeline and the vocabulary visual  of cartography to pull them away from their settler colonialism utility. The accoutrements of scientific understanding of time and place, and the devices used to examine them, become transformed into something that undermines the empirical. I want to continue to explore these visions and fantasies that are a part of the New Mexico, and in particular Albuquerque, landscape. I find that employing novel or obsolete visual technologies (i.e., viewfinders, slide organizers, kaleidoscopes) helps to create new engagement with visual materials. The objects become tools for a new, more complicated kind of viewing. Working with these materials, I am constructing a layered visual history that is superimposed by the geological past. Timelines have been used to illustrate particular scientific and historical values but, by their very nature, also exclude other moments or events. By building an accompanying user's manual that draws on the experiential and synesthetic past, I'm working to create a field guide to this representative landscape.

UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Spotlight: Sophia Fricke

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to be one of five organizations working together with the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) to facilitate artist residencies for the UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Program. Keep an eye on our newsletters and social media for announcements and updates from our 18 resident artists!

Sophia Fricke walked the Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, in 2021 after earning a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of California, Davis. Sophia had hiked the John Muir Trail and Tahoe-Yosemite Trail in 2020, giving her restless feet an itch for a longer journey. She is deeply passionate about the complex relationship between people, culture, and land that is an integral pulse behind all life on earth. In her photographic work, she returns to the theme of skies over mountains to reflect the freedom and spiritual sense of peace and perspective that the mountains give to her. She enjoys the creative challenge of conveying not only the shapes, colors, and geometry of these places, but also their mood and the role they play as a rock that anchors her throughout the many phases of life. In the spring of 2022, Sophia was awarded a UETF Resiliency Residency with the National Institute of Flamenco as her partner organization. After completing the PCT in 2021, she spent time exploring the New Mexican wilderness. Particularly, Sophia has been fascinated by the cultural geography in this region of the North American southwest. She is creating a five-part virtual exhibit to document these explorations, and will post updates on her blog. Follow Sophia on Instagram (@snoelf_wandering).

Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company Awarded 2022 National Dance Project Grant

Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company was recently awarded the 2022 National Dance Project Dance Grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for their production of MESTIZX.

MESTIZX is a work of flamenco dance theatre by Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company, framed by archetypal figures in Chicano history, exploring 21st century Mestizo/a/x identity and shared histories through flamenco, addressing issues of cultural hybridity and tensions stemming from historical events, power dynamics, and colonization. MESTIZX is inspired by the work of Chicano/a/x artists, activists, and storytellers of previous decades. MESTIZX seeks to honor generations of people living in the liminal spaces of the United States Southwest borderlands, creating a work of art that is of, by, and for nuestra gente (“our people”).

Established to support the creation and U.S. touring of new dance projects, the National Dance Project Production Grant offers a unique funding framework that centers the agency of dance artists and companies to deepen, interrogate, and share their creative process, lineages, and community engagement practices, as well as experiment with new collaborative, operational, and touring models.

MESTIZX was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

General Operating Support was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Eva Encinias Featured on NEA Art Works Podcast

National Institute of Flamenco Founding Director and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) 2022 National Heritage Fellow, Eva Encinias, was recently featured on the Art Works Podcast, discussing her long career as a flamenco dancer and teacher. In June, Eva was awarded a 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Spotlight: Jessica Lozoya

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to be one of five organizations working together with the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) to facilitate artist residencies for the UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Program. Keep an eye on our newsletters and social media for announcements and updates from our 18 resident artists!

Jessica Lozoya is the current owner and operator of Lozoya Studios. She started in photography while attending high school at Dreyfoos School of the Arts in Florida. She is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a degree in Photography Technology. After earning her degree, she worked as a studio manager in Stillwater, Oklahoma for several years. During this time she meet Oscar Lozoya at a professional photographers' convention. After dating long distance for a year, in 2000 she moved to New Mexico to work with her husband Oscar at Lozoya Studios.

Jessica's photography has earned many prestigious accolades such as: Photographer of the Year from the Professional Photographers of America, Certified Professional Photographer Awards, American Society of Photographer's State Elite Awards, Top Ten Grand Imaging Award, Best of Show, People's Choice, Past President's Awards, 9 Kodak Gallery Awards for Photographic Excellence and 9 Fuji Masterpiece Awards.

Ms. Lozoya is the first person in the state of New Mexico to have earned the designations of Master Photographer, Master Artist, Photographic Craftsman and Certified Professional Photographer. She has served as a judge for the New Mexico State Fair Photography Division, ANMPAS, and INSIGHT exhibits and has been a guest curator of fine art photography at the 105 Gallery.

Jessica Lozoya is a recipient of the prestigious National Service Award from the Professional Photographers Association of New Mexico, Inc. of which she is a Past President.

UETF Artist Resilience Residency Spotlight: Gerome Olona

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to be one of five organizations working together with the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) to facilitate artist residencies for their Artist Resiliency Residency Program. Keep an eye on our newsletters and social media for announcements and updates from our 18 resident artists!

Meet Gerome Olona, an Albuquerque local who has been acting, writing, and improvising around town for the better part of a decade. In Spring 2023, his UETF Resiliency Residency project will be a site-specific theatre performance series around Albuquerque. The audience will be able to personally plant fabric grow bags with seeds while watching the play, and will take them home after the play is over to grow wherever they call home.

Conservatory of Flamenco Arts Block Party

Join us on Saturday, August 6 for the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts Block Party! Get help registering for classes, visit our studios, and learn more about the Conservatory. While you're here, check out our annual garage sale, grab some goodie bags, and get FREE ice cream from Pop Fizz.

Yjastros Named National Dance Project Production Grant Finalist

Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company has been named a finalist for the National Dance Project Production Grant for their show MESTIZX. 

MESTIZX is a work of flamenco dance theatre by Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company, informed and inspired by the work of Chicano/a/x artists, activists, and storytellers of previous decades. Framed by archetypal figures in Chicano history, MESTIZX explores 21st century Mestizo/a/x identity through flamenco, addressing issues of cultural hybridity and tensions stemming from historical events, power dynamics, and colonization. MESTIZX seeks to honor generations of people living in the liminal spaces of the United States Southwest borderlands, creating a work of art that is of, by, and for nuestra gente (“our people”).

The National Dance Project (NDP) Production Grant was established to support the creation/development and U.S.* touring** of new dance projects.

Eva Encinias Named 2022 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow

National Institute of Flamenco Founding Director Eva Encinias has been awarded a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellowship, nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

"In their artistic practices, the NEA National Heritage Fellows tell their own stories on their own terms. They pass their skills and knowledge to others through mentorship and teaching,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These honorees are not only sustaining the cultural history of their art form and of their community, they are also enriching our nation as a whole.”

Photo of Eva Encinias by Rafael Estévez

Festival Flamenco Alburquerque 35

The 35th Annual Festival Flamenco Alburquerque is a wrap!

Thank you to all of the incredible artists, technicians, students, visitors, volunteers, supporters, and members who made this year's edition of the Festival truly special.

Enjoy this look back at the week and see you next year!

Featured Artists:

Eva Yerbabuena y Compañía: Eva Yerbabuena, Paco Jarana, Sandra Carrasco, Segundo Falcón, Miguel Ortega, Alfredo Tejada, and Daniel Suárez

Mercedes de Córdoba y Compañía: Mercedes de Córdoba, Juan Campallo, Jesús Corbacho, Pepe de Pura, Paco Vega

Alfonso Losa y Compañía with invited artists Concha Jareño and Sandra Carrasco: Alfonso Losa, Concha Jareño, Sandra Carrasco, Francisco Vinuesa, Vanesa Coloma

Paloma Fantova y Compañía: Paloma Fantova, Antonio Fernández, Pepe de Pura, Juan Campallo, Paco Vega

José Maya y Pastora Galván y Compañía: José Maya, Pastora Galván, Angelita Montoya, Manuel Tañé, Manuel de la Nina, Antonio Santiago Sanchez "Ñoño"

Estévez/Paños y Compañía: Rafael Estévez, Valeriano Paños, Jorge Morera, Jesús Perona, Alberto Sellés, Rosana Romero, Vicente Gelo, Claudio Villanueva, Iván Mellén

Sara Cano y Compañía: Sara Cano, Alberto Funes

Nélida Tirado y Compañía: Nélida Tirado, Alondra Matamoros, Adriana Olivares, Laura Peralta, Christian Taborda Ramos, Felix Trinidad III, Omar Ledezma López, Francisco Orozco "Yiyi", Alex Jordan, Jeremy Smith, Alexandra Vásquez Dheming

Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company: Joaquín Encinias, Alisa Alba, Nevarez Encinias, Noelle Encinias, Giovanna Hinojosa, Roxana Jian, Andrea Lozano, Kayla Lyall, Carlos Menchaca, Madison Olguin, Elena Osuna, Claudia Pizarro Lara, Ysabela Trujillo, Vicente Griego, Mario Febres, Eloy Gonzales, Javier Saume-Mazzei

Thank You For Another Great Season

Thank you to everyone who came to see Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company with the Orchestra of New Spain this past weekend at the National Hispanic Cultural Center!

Don't miss these incredible artists in their next performance season during this year's Festival Flamenco Alburquerque as part of the Late Night Series.

Festival Flamenco Alburquerque Artists Announced

FESTIVAL FLAMENCO ALBURQUERQUE 35
JUNE 11-18, 2022
FFABQ.ORG - REGISTRATION OPEN NOW!

The National Institute of Flamenco proudly presents these amazing artists in the 35th Annual Festival Flamenco Alburquerque: 

Estévez / Paños y Compañía
Cia Paloma Fantova
Mercedes de Cordoba/compañía
Alfonso Losa with invited artist Concha Jareño
José Maya with invited artist Pastora Galvan 
Eva Yerbabuena 
Sara Cano Compañía de Danza
Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company

Join us and celebrate the momentous occasion of the Festival’s 35th year!

Music: "Aire Andaluz" by Ricardo Anglada and Vicente Griego 
Trailer: Incredible Films

Festival Flamenco Alburquerque is produced with support from UNM Department of Theatre and Dance, National Hispanic Cultural Center, National Endowment for the Arts, Bernalillo County NM, City of Albuquerque, the Office of Mayor Tim Keller, CABQ Arts & Culture, Acción Cultural Española, AC/E, Heritage Hotels and Resorts, New Mexico Humanities Council, New Mexico Arts, UNM Friends of Dance, UNM Latin American & Iberian Institute, SPAIN arts & culture, Instituto Cervantes Albuquerque, Western States Arts Federation, and the UNM Global Education Office.