Member Spotlight: Wayne Ching

When I lived in Baltimore I saw my first flamenco performance by a master group, the Edwin Aparicio Flamenco Dance Company, from Washington, D.C. They performed close up to audience on a wood floor accompanied by guitars and singers. I was struck by the way the performers visibly communicated with each other during the performance. I loved the sweat, the energy, the music, the stomping, the music, the costumes, and tradition.

Q: How did you hear about the National Institute of Flamenco (NIF)?

A: On a Saturday in 2016 I was driving 3,200 miles across country from Baltimore, Maryland to Medford, Oregon and had to pass though Albuquerque. At the Welcome to New Mexico state-line rest stop I glanced at a tourist brochure mentioning the National Institute of Flamenco. I thought, "I've go to see this, maybe they can stir me up like Edwin Aparicio." So, I exited I-25S in ABQ, and when I figured I was lost in Old Town I made a U-turn and found 1620 Central Avenue.

Wayne Ching, Member since 2016

I parked my car a block away and started following the sound of flamenco guitars and clapping coming from what looked like a storefront. As I peered into the storefront I could see and hear a circle of parents surrounding 15-20 kids, some in costume, others not, being taught flamenco steps and attitudes by a confident lady the kids respected (later I learned she was Eva Encinias!).

I was invited inside to sit with the parents watching their children dance and was inspired not only with the dance instruction (with 2 live guitarists) but also how they were learning how to get along with each other!

Q: What made you want to become a member?

A: I want to support NIF for community building and future generations to experience and enjoy. Not only for Festival Flamenco Alburquerque every June, but I believe it's just as important for the charter school after school performance to flourish, the flamenco classes for kids (where they learn through dance how to express themselves, stay focused, socialize, all in a group with other kids). It takes all of the NIF staff to keep things growing in a unique Albuquerque/Regional/National way for all to join and engage.

Q: What has been your favorite NIF memory?

A:

1. The Saturday morning kid's dance class at the Central Ave location led by Eva Encinas and 2 guitars!

2. The opportunity to attend a demo and Q & A session with Irene "La Sentío," one of the visiting guest artists.

3. The Zorongo video by the young people from the After School program

4. Attending an Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company rehearsal.

5. The April 2020 event outside the charter school where all the students had a chance to perform in costume.

Q: Why do you think others should consider becoming a member?

A: Well, come to a performance, take a flamenco music or dance class, get close at the Tablao, meet NIF, ask to talk to the ladies who make the costumes. You don't need to be Spanish (or speak Spanish) to enjoy flamenco because it is a way of life. Flamenco expresses human experiences about life, death, passion, covid19 boredom, flowers, sheep, goats, love, lying, empty beds in the morning, faithfulness, bravery, yearning, hope and more. But last and not least, community building for now and the future.

Before I met NIF I did not know a flamenco community in this country. Now I know it is the NIF community. In the future when we build settlements/communities on Mars, we will need flamenco to build community!

Q: How has NIF or the art of flamenco impacted your life?

A: There are many things I can do well and things I cannot do well. Well, Flamenco is one of the things I cannot do that NIF does so well. So, while I cannot do flamenco, I enjoy every aspect of the performance and community building. NIF uplifts and inspires me. Thanks. ¡Ole!

National Endowment for the Arts Grant Awarded to the National Institute of Flamenco

The National Institute of Flamenco has been approved for a $30,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support Festival Flamenco Alburquerque. The Festival is among 1,073 projects across America totaling nearly $25 million that were selected during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from The National Institute of Flamenco,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. The National Institute of Flamenco is among the arts organizations across the country that have demonstrated creativity, excellence, and resilience during this very challenging year.”

The National Institute of Flamenco is grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts and their support of Festival Flamenco Alburquerque!

Dancing through life: Preeminent professor of flamenco retiring from UNM after 43 years

By Elaine D. Briseño

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There is no before and after for University of New Mexico professor Eva Encinias.

There’s only always.

That’s how long dance has been a part of her life. Her mother, Clarita Garcia de Aranda Allison, owned a dance studio in the North Valley near Edith and Candelaria.

“I was raised in her dance studio,” she said. “I learned tap, ballroom, and traditional folk dances from different regions in Mexico. But flamenco was her signature and I became immersed.”

Eva Encinias conducts a flamenco class for kids at the Tierra Adentro Charter School in 2014. She has retired from teaching at the University of New Mexico but will stay involved with the charter school. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

Encinias, 67, did more than add her own signature to the traditional Spanish style of dance. She wove it into the cultural fabric of New Mexico.

She built the flamenco program at the UNM, started Festival Flamenco de Alburquerque which draws audiences and dancers from around the world to the state.

Flamenco dancer and University of New Mexico professor Eva Encinias performs in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Eva Encinias)

In 1992, she opened the nonprofit National Institute of Flamenco studio that provides after-school music and dance classes among other things. Hundreds of students have cycled through her classes, many going on to have their own successful careers. UNM is still the only place in the world to get a flamenco degree in a university setting.

Encinias announced this winter that she is retiring from UNM after 43 years.

“I thought it was important for me to retire so the younger blood can get in there,” she said. “But I’m still young enough. I have projects I want to do at my house. I’ll have more time to read.”

Eva Encinias leads an advanced flamenco class at the University of New Mexico in this old photo. (Courtesy of Eva Encinias)

She also plans to stay involved with Tierra Adentro of New Mexico – a sixth-to-12th-grade charter school that her son Joaquín Encinias helped found. The school has a focus on dance and music and Joaquín Encinias is the director of curricular implementation.

“Using flamenco and dance is part of our vision in education,” she said. “We believe dance is a vehicle for students to explore things not familiar to them.”

Encinias did not plan on becoming one the state’s premiere flamenco instructors and educators. She simply wanted to dance.

Eva Encinias, middle, poses with her daughter Marisol Encinias and son Joaquín Encinias in 2006. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)

“I realized I wanted to continuing dancing after I graduated from high school,” she said. “But there were not a lot of options (to learn flamenco). I knew if I wanted to continue studying flamenco, I would have to leave. I didn’t want to leave because I love New Mexico.”

She had already given birth to Joaquín Encinias and his twin sister Marisol Encinias. She decided to go ahead with a general dance degree at UNM. Instructors knew about her background in flamenco and asked her if she would be willing to teach a course in flamenco. It was enthusiastically embraced by students.

“Then it became two courses,” she said. “Then it became three courses. Then I never left.”

The university asked her to develop a program of studies specializing in flamenco. She worked it at it, building on the curriculum each year. She leaves the school with a robust list of course offerings that allows students the opportunity to minor in the subject.

Joaquín Encinias said his mother is a light-hearted person with a great sense of humor who required he and his sister to take two dance classes a week and play a musical instrument when they were growing up. She allowed them to stop when they were 15 and to decide for themselves if they wanted to continue. Both followed in her footsteps, becoming professional dancers. Marisol Encinias is now the director of the National Institute of Flamenco.

“Her legacy, I hope people know, is she cares deeply about artistic creativity and vision,” Joaquín Encinias said. “She knows it deserves a place in our community.”

John Truitt, the retired Albuquerque Academy director of bands, met Encinias when she was a teenager dancing in her mother’s studio in the late 1960s. Truitt was a young musician just starting out in his career and was wanting to become a flamenco guitar player. His teacher invited him to attend a dance rehearsal at the studio.

“I got this big blast of energy from them, but especially from Eva,” he said. “She was just 16 at the time, but she was amazing and a perfectionist. I thought ‘This is where I really want to be. I love this.’ ”

The two would go on to become colleagues and then lifelong friends. He played for classes at UNM and other events. Her expectations for everyone, he said, are high. She pushes others to be their best.

“I took one of her flamenco classes one time,” he said laughing. “Even as her good friend, she gave me a ‘C.’ ”

He said Encinias is skilled at building support for her ideas. In a class of 50, she will know everyone’s name and something about each of them.

“She has unbounded energy,” he said. “She’s described as a force of nature. She’s simply a person you cannot say ‘No’ to. She describes herself as a bulldog.”

Truitt recalled the time a performer from Spain tried to change the terms of his contract minutes before going on stage. After hearing the roar of the crowd, he demanded double the pay. Truitt said everyone backstage was stunned but Encinias didn’t hesitate.

“She told him ‘No. You are going home. I’ll call a cab right now,’ ” he said. “And she did. Then she went on stage and told the audience verbatim what he had said. Then she told them ‘I am here, my son is here and so is my daughter. We will finish the show.’ The crowd erupted into cheers and screams.”

Although it was recently reported that her family emigrated to the United States after the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, Encinias said her family has been in New Mexico since the 1700s. She said the state’s ties to Spain have made flamenco’s rise in popularity no surprise. She said people see it as a ritual practice. A mode of expression that is completely engaging and powerful. It was a feeling she herself channeled, forever cementing her connection to the world of flamenco.

“She’s mostly stepped away from performing, but she was a beautiful dancer,” Truitt said. “She was spectacular. Jaw dropping. She had speed like nobody I had ever seen.”

This article was originally published by the Albuquerque Journal. Click here to read the article on their website.

FESTIVAL FLAMENCO ALURQUERQUE: WHY THE "R" IS NOT EXTRA

Levi Romero, Inaugural New Mexico Poet Laureate, was kind enough to let us share his words about the spelling of Alburquerque with the "r":

"Alburquerque with the 'r' was the original spelling. Acclaimed Chicano writer Rudolfo Anaya used the spelling in the title of his 2006 novel 'Alburquerque.' The Chicano writers of the 60s and 70s used the colloquial pronunciation 'Alburque' in their poetry and literature. The contemporary popularization evolved among the cholo/as of the 80s to 'Burque.' We should continue to use the 'r' in Alburquerque, and not just in posters and poems."

Levi Romero, Inaugural New Mexico Poet Laureate

CFA AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM OFFERS FLAMENCO MUSIC AND DANCE CLASSES TO MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

This program is open to all middle and high school students, and invites young people to study flamenco dance and music extensively with professional artists. The program features two levels of instruction in flamenco music and dance. We welcome new students and encourage students from APS and nearby schools to take these classes! No prior experience is needed to take the beginning level classes. Classes will resume January 19th, 2021.

STUDIO UPDATE: NEW FLOORS AND NEW A/V EQUIPMENT COMING SOON!

We are excited to announce that Joaquin Encinias and our Programs team are working to improve our studios and our students’ and teachers’ class experience. Our studio floor remodel has begun and we will install new floors as soon as the lumber and materials arrive. As these exciting changes happen, we will also be installing new audiovisual and streaming equipment.

USARTISTS INTERNATIONAL AND THE MID ATLANTIC ARTS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE YJASTROS: THE AMERICAN FLAMENCO REPERTORY COMPANY AS 2021 GRANT RECIPIENT

USArists International (USAI) and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and has awarded a grant to the National Institute of Flamenco! This grant will be used to help Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company participate in a Spanish flamenco festival in 2022.

This engagement is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

NEW MEXICO ARTS SELECTS THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FLAMENCO AS 2021 GRANT RECIPIENT

Thank you to New Mexico Arts for selecting the National Institute of Flamenco as a 2021 grant recipient! This New Mexico Arts award will support the 2021 Festival Flamenco Alburquerque. We appreciate New Mexico Arts' constant support for the arts, art education, and arts organizations in New Mexico. Click on the video above to check out all of the 2021 awardees in our state.