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.

NEW Classes at the Conservatory!

Check out what's new this semester!

Flamenco Guitar I & II

with Eloy Gonzales (Guitar I), Mario Febres (Guitar II), and guest artist (Guitar II)

Flamenco Guitar I: Mondays & Wednesdays, 4-5 pm and Saturdays, 1-2 pm

Flamenco Guitar II: Mondays & Wednesdays, 5-6 pm

Beginning/Intermediate & Intermediate/Advanced Escuela Bolera

with Deanna Encinias

Beginning/Intermediate: Thursdays, 4-5 pm

Intermediate/Advanced: Tuesdays, 4-5 pm

Tablao Class

with Lidón Patiño

Thursdays, 5-6 pm

This class will help students learn the conventions and etiquette of performing in a tablao setting. Tablao class is appropriate for advanced students who have material to work on during this practicum-style class.



Teen Flamenco

with Talia Vestal

Mondays & Wednesdays, 4-5 pm

Calling all beginner flamenco students ages 12-18! Teen Flamenco Dance I teaches flamenco dance and technique in a class exclusively for teens - no experience necessary. Build strength, develop coordination, and get moving to flamenco.

Questions? Please call (505) 242-7600 or email Stephanie@nifnm.org

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.

Conservatory of Flamenco Arts Registration Week

Join us for the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts Fall Semester!

The Conservatory of Flamenco Arts Registration Week begins Monday, August 1. We have classes in dance and music for students of all ages and skill level - come dance with us!

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.

Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company To Perform With Orchestra Of New Spain

Don’t miss Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company's spring concert season! Quem Quæritis? A Flamenco Drama features Yjastros with Dallas's Orchestra of New Spain, an orchestral ensemble specializing in the early classical music of Spain and the Americas.

This new, original flamenco theatre work draws inspiration from New Mexico's rich tradition of pastorelas, dramatizing the shepherd Bartolo's journey and ultimate triumph over doubt and adversity.

The Orchestra of New Spain's elegant interpretation of works by Santiago de Murcia and other composers complements this breathtaking display of flamenco dance and music by Albuquerque's own Yjastros.

Quem Quæritis? A Flamenco Drama features visionary flamenco and Spanish Dance choreography by Joaquín Encinias, Marco Flores, and other artists at the forefront of flamenco today. Experience this magical concert season April 29 and 30 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Raquel Heredia "La Repompilla" Comes To Albuquerque

The National Institute of Flamenco is proud to welcome the incredible Raquel Heredia "La Repompilla" to Albuquerque!

During her residency, Raquel will be teaching classes at the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts and performing at Tablao Flamenco Albuquerque on Friday, April 15.

Raquel Heredia Reyes, known artistically as La Repompilla, is the daughter of Rafaela La Repompa and guitarist Luis Heredia, and the sister of award-winning singer Amparo Heredia.

Born in Málaga to a Gitano family in 1979, she began dancing in New York at the age of 15, forming part of the company of Juan Andrés Maya. Like her sister, she moved to Málaga in 2002 and began to work at Mesón La Repompa. Over time she has shared the stage with great flamenco artists such as Juan Andrés Maya, Manuel Liñán, Amador Rojas, El Choro,Pepe Torres, and others.

For more information about classes, please email Claudia@nifnm.org or call (505) 242-7600.

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.

Festival Flamenco Alburquerque Image Reveal

The National Institute of Flamenco proudly presents the 35th Annual Festival Flamenco Alburquerque
JUNE 11-18, 2022
FFABQ.org

Join us and celebrate the momentous occasion of the Festival’s 35th year! The Institute looks forward to a thrilling Festival that showcases the power of flamenco and honors the legacy of this event. Santa Fe artist Erin Currier created this year’s incredible Festival Flamenco Alburquerque image. Read more about Erin Currier and our Festival image here: https://ffiabq.org/overview

Please stay tuned to our websites and social media as we share more details regarding registration and programming.

National Institute of Flamenco Approved for American Rescue Plant Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

The National Institute of Flamenco (NIF) is pleased to announce they have been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. The National Institute of Flamenco may use this funding to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.

“Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations, such as the National Institute of Flamenco, rebuild and reopen,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. “The arts are crucial in helping America’s communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”

The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March 2021 when the NEA was provided $135 million for the arts sector. The funding for organizations is the third installment providing more than $57.7 million for arts organizations. In April 2021, the NEA announced $52 million (40 percent) in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The second installment in November 2021 allocated $20.2 million to 66 local arts agencies for subgranting to local artists and art organizations.

For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.

Welcome, Marco Flores!

Welcome back to Albuquerque, Marco Flores! Marco will be setting choreography for the University of New Mexico (UNM) Flamenco Company in Residence, Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company, and, as part of the UNM Visting Guest Line, teaching students in the flamenco concentration at UNM's Department of Theatre and Dance.

Photo of Marco Flores by Paco Villalta
This residency is made possible in part with support from the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain.