The Vancouver International Flamenco Festival announces its spellbinding 2019 lineup of local and international flamenco artists, September 13 – 29, 2019 with free workshops and ticketed performances at various Vancouver venues.
Canadian Premiere “Baile De Autor” by Manuel Liñán Company (Spain), Vancouver Playhouse Saturday September 14, 8pm
The 2019 Festival proudly presents the Canadian debut of Spain’s Manuel Liñán Company in Baile De Autor. Manuel Liñán is one of the main current references in the renewal of both Spanish and flamenco dance.
BAILE DE AUTOR unites Manuel Liñán as choreographer and performer. After choreographing for other renowned companies such as the Ballet Nacional de España, Nuevo Ballet Español, Rafaela Carrasco, Belen Maya; and having made his mark as a solo dancer, Manuel Liñan sets forth these two facets, which have defined his career. Manuel presents a space in which the director, the author, creates different scenes during the work, breathing life to each element: light, sound, song, guitar, music, dance; a fantasy which creates connecting ties for the artist as choreographer and dancer. A director that dreams of a dancer dancing. The result is a dancing fantasy divided into different choreographies, with a show that lives in the mind of the artist and his creativity. A dream which he alone imagines and which we can all witness, an awakening and the VOID.
The Festival also features some of the finest Canadian and International Flamenco artists with performances at the intimate Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island:
World Premiere “MAGNETIKAE – a personal journey” by La Otra Orilla (Montreal), Waterfront Theatre Thursday September 26, 8PM
La Otra Orilla is working this year on her new opus, a creation for four performers: a dancer, a singer, a pianist and a percussionist. An excerpt was performed in Spring 2019, however this performance will be the world premiere of the full-length work. Myriam Allard and Hedi Graja bring together two diametrically opposed worlds: that of a language, flamenco, and that of the imagination, embodied by the ice flow. In this new offering, the iconoclastic duo assembles a visual environment, sound references and elegant, passionate colours, continuing a journey they began ten years ago. In this flamenco story—the senses collide in an original and poetic piece.
World Premiere “NRITYA” by La Caramelita Flamenco Company (France), Waterfront Theatre, Friday September 27, 8PM
This exciting new production explores the personal journey of Deborah “La Caramelita” Dawson as a South Asian flamenco dancer that spans three continents to illustrate the identity, authenticity, and equality of dance. It explores the bonds between Flamenco and India in a uniquely choreographed mosaic of movements that blends the influences born out of an Indian heritage, a Malaysian parentage and a Spanish tutelage. As a Vancouver native and Flamenco Rosario alumni, Dawson is excited to return to her roots, while also conveying a European flavour with her company performers.
World Premiere “Nuevo II” by Flamenco Rosario & Guests (Vancouver/Spain), Waterfront Theatre Saturday September 28, 8PM
In her ongoing exploration of the flamenco art form, Artistic Director/Choreographer Rosario Ancer, and Musical Director Victor Kolstee, in collaboration with guest dancer/choreographer from Sevilla, Gabriel Aragu, will be presenting a set of new choreographies. Ephemeral worlds, silences, stillness, fast paced, physical and emotional strength will be tested.
“La Musica del Flamenco” with Victor Kolstee and featuring Manuel Liñán Company Artists (Vancouver/Spain), The Hall at St James Community Square, Friday September 13, 8pm
Music is at the forefront in this exciting event La Musica del Flamenco hosted by guitarist Victor Kolstee and featuring Spain’s Manuel Liñán Company Artists; singer David Carpio & guitarist Manuel Valencia.
“We return for the 29th season with a passionate and fiery lineup of some of the most innovative and revered flamenco artists of our time,” says Rosario Ancer, Artistic Director and Founder, Vancouver International Flamenco Festival. “Furthering our legacy of exposing audiences to premiere traditional & contemporary flamenco, we proudly present Spain’s Manuel Liñán Company as the festival’s headline event.”
As one of few celebrated festivals devoted to Flamenco Art in North America, the VIFF has since its beginnings in 1990 grown to a mature understanding of Vancouver’s multicultural audiences by nurturing the form’s hybridized roots in Sephardic, Persian, Gypsy and Indian cultures and by striving to reflect and connect its diverse sociocultural identity through work narratives underlining flamenco’s universal message of humanistic tolerance. Now a two week long annual event, the festival lends its visibility throughout multiple venues and locales in downtown Vancouver including the Waterfront Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Scotiabank Dance Centre, and Vancouver Public Library. With over a quarter century of flamenco presence behind it, the festival brings the city into stronger light for younger generations of dancers all around the world, while building new relationships with growing sister organizations across the nation through its eastern border, helping to forge a more integrated Canadian identity of flamenco.
September 13-29, 2019
Featuring Spain’s Manuel Liñán – Baile De Autor (dance of the author)
Vancouver venues including Vancouver Playhouse, Scotiabank Dance Centre, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, Waterfront Theatre, St James Community Square, Vancouver Public Library.
www.vancouverflamencofestival.org
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