Carolina Lugo’s Brisas de España
Flamenco Dance Company presents
“Herencia ~ Tradición ~ Evolución”
for the company’s 10th Anniversary Concert Season.
Carolina
has invited an outstanding cast of artists from Spain including
Dancer Jesus Herrera de Sevilla, Singer Jesus Montoya and Guitarist
Ricardo Garcia to take her audience on a journey of timeless travel
for a night of high energy, intensity and passion. Carolina’s
show combines the pulsating sounds of footwork, song, castanets,
syncopated hand clapping and guitar, painting a visual canvas
in movement through dance. The relationship between all of these
rhythmic essentials is riveting. The heart and spirit of Flamenco
is an unspoken force full of emotions and instincts that take
over and are expressed and fulfilled in the moment. So, if you
are ready for dance and music with passion, don’t miss Carolina
Lugo’s Brisas de España.
Saturday,
September 29 @ 8:00 PM
Cue Productions, 1835 Colfax, Concord
(925) 798-1300
Saturday, October 6 @ 8:00 pm
Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
(415) 345-7575 online: www.fortmason.org
For
additional information performance and video clips visit http://www.carolinalugo.com/Perform.html
Plus
guest artist workshops
Come
and embrace the spirit, energy, fiery dance and music traditions
of Spain and find out why Toba Singer of Critical Dance exclaimed...
“See this accomplished troupe—for the history, richness,
costumes, high definition dancing and haunting music, as well
as for the texture and color of Spanish Dance. You will leave
the theater completely enchanted!”
World
Premiere-“Modenco”
Like all music genres, Flamenco is constantly evolving by developing
and integrating new and unusual harmonies and structures, experimenting
with different rhythmic patterns and flirting with different styles.
Carolina Lugo’s artistic vision is to create an unexpected
collaboration between Flamenco-Spanish dance that transports you
to the heart of Spain and the American dance form of Modern Dance.
“Modenco”®™ is a dance design that has been
created by Carolé Acúña, her daughter and
principal dancer for Brisas de España as a result of her
traditional training by me in Flamenco-Spanish dance and her studies
of Modern dance. She first performed my choreographic creation
of this fused dance style to the music of Bizet’s “Carmen”
with the Peninsula Symphony in 2001. The music for the fusion
of these two dance modes will be created and performed by Flamenco
guitarist Ricardo Garcia from Spain. Mr. Garcia’s musical
creation for my new work fuses authentic traditional Flamenco
rhythms rooted from its elements of Indian, Arabic, African, South
American and Caribbean influences to contemporary Flamenco beats
which are influenced by Jazz, Latin Jazz, Bossa Nova, Salsa and
other modern musical genres such as Hip Hop and Break Dancing.
Carolina’s
collaboration with Ricardo Garcia began last year during the 2006
Fringe Festival in San Francisco when she first worked with him.
They aspire to present and introduce a new cutting edge dance
creation which is contemporary and modern, while at the same time
retaining the essential core and spirit of both traditional dance
forms. Her choreographic piece will explore the past, present
and future of her own Spanish and Flamenco dance and music heritage
passed on to her from three generations of dancers in her family
that she has now passed on to her daughter Carolé Acúña.
Through the traditional story telling of Spanish and Modern dance
and the intense energy of Flamenco, Carolina will explore the
heritage of a family dance culture and the evolution of traditions
that are passed down through each generation, using Flamenco which
is bold, improvisational and frequently unrestrained in its movements,
Spanish dance which is light, controlled and expressive and Modern
dance which is interpretive, lyrical and humorous.
Carolina
Lugo
Carolina
Lugo’s grandparents were from Spain. She was born in Los
Angeles and is the fourth generation of Spanish dancers in
her family. She made her professional debut at the age of 14 with
the Lola Montes Spanish Dance Company and toured extensively for
nine years throughout the United States and internationally. She
was a member of Luisa Triana Flamenco Dance Company in Hollywood,
toured with dance companies in Spain, was a member of Rosa Montoya
Bailes Flamencos in San Francisco and has been a featured
artist with multiple symphonies and opera companies. Carolina
Lugo is recognized as an innovative, creative and energetic dancer
and a critically acclaimed choreographer, having created over
25 choreographic pieces for her company. Carolina has collaborated
with six different symphonies to choreograph and perform complete
Flamenco ballets of leading Spanish and French composers.
Carolé
Acúña
Carolé
Acúña (Principal Dancer) is Carolina’s daughter
and a fifth generation dancer in her family. She began her studies
in Flamenco dance with Rosa Montoya and in Spanish dance with
Carolina Lugo at the age of 11. She has studied with Flamenco
artists, Manuel Betanzos, Omayra Amaya, Antonio Vargas and Concha
Vargas from Spain. She is the Bay Area’s most prominent
young Flamenco dance artist. In 1996, she made her professional
debut with Rosa Montoya’s Bailes Flamencos and continues
to perform regularly with Brisas de España as a Principal
Dancer with various symphonies at venues throughout Northern California,
the West Coast, internationally in China and as a soloist with
other Bay Area Flamenco artists. She is thoroughly trained in
Ballet and studies Modern dance with Cheryl Chaddick and Robert
Moses in San Francisco. Carolé recently returned from Seville,
Spain, where she studied extensively for six months with renowned
Flamenco Artist, Pepa Montes.
Jesus
Herrera de Sevilla
Introducing direct from Spain, Dancer Jesus Herrera de Sevilla.
This young rising star has been setting stages on fire throughout
Europe’s Flamenco scene. He has toured throughout Europe
and Asia with world renowned Flamenco artist, Cristina Oyos and
her dance company as a featured soloist. Mr. Herrera’s signature
style is rhythmic, liquefied with modernism and lyrical movement.
This will be his first performance in San Francisco and it promises
to be an encounter of chic dance design, rhythm and passion not
to be missed.
Jesus
Montoya
To take this journey, Carolina has invited one of Spain’s
Best Singers Jesus Montoya, to appear with her and the Company.
He was born in Seville, Spain into a Gypsy family steeped in Flamenco
tradition. His Flamenco purity and power leaves his audience feeling
enchanted, captivated and loved. He earned the name “El
Rey Del Fandango Grande” at age 7 and by age 9 had started
a professional singing career. By age 13, touring had become second
nature. Jesus Montoya came to America in 1990 at age 23. Since
then he has toured extensively with every top major Flamenco company
throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. Montoya has
Captivated audiences worldwide and is widely known as “The
Gypsy Dynamo”. Concert media reviewers dub him as the “Pavarotti
of Flamenco”. Jesus has continued living in Long Beach,
California, where he records CD’s of original compositions.
Ricardo
Garcia
“Ricardo Garcia, an inspired musician and composer,
plays guitar in a way that will break your heart one minute and
leave you breathless with its power the next.”- Montreal
Gazette
Ricardo Garcia is of Andalusian origin. Ricardo's family left
for France during the Franco years. Flamenco was a way of holding
on to roots and the whole family was brought up within this tradition.
Ricardo’s first public performance was at the age of nine
and he has played regularly in public ever since. He continues
to perform both as a soloist and in concerts throughout Europe,
Africa and Asia. He directs his own company called “Flamenco
con Fusion”, which presents fused music and dance of Flamenco
and Hip Hop. This will be his premiere season with Brisas de España.
