Direct from Seville, Spain: Fin de Fiesta Flamenco dance and music ensemble presents Audacia, a bold new production that explores the many sides of one of the world’s most passionate and intense art forms flamenco.
Though they come from different continents, Fin de Fiesta Flamenco’s core members make their home base in Seville, Spain. But these musicians and dancers call the world home, and have spent much of the past year on the road, collaborating with artists from all over the planet.
Dancer and artistic director Lia Grainger made her way to China and Italy, while guitarist and musical director Dennis Duffin performed and composed in New York, and flautist/singer Lara Wong spent months working in Mexico. French singer Alejandro Mendía is new to the group and has toured everywhere from Morocco to Ecuador to Switzerland over the past year.
Flamenco has made its way to the far corners of the globe, and Fin de Fiesta Flamenco has travelled to those places and collaborated with the artists they have found there.
“We’ve chosen to live a life of movement, changing locations and countries, following the dance and the music where it takes us,” says Duffin.
Flamenco’s Gypsy roots in Andalusia are echoed in the vagabond life the ensemble is living. The one thing that has made each place home for them is the fact that they did flamenco there.
Grainger returns home to Canada with an international band of musicians to present Audacia. This will be the group’s second time in B.C, where they performed to packed houses in 2015. Their 24 show, cross-Canada tour kicks off in Salmon Arm on July 29.
Audacia will take audiences on a thrilling journey from flamenco’s traditional roots in the music and culture of southern Spain, all the way to its contemporary forms. Ancient rhythms meet avant-garde ideas and converge in an explosion of staccato guitar, haunting flute, stunning vocals and percussive footwork.
Audacia takes place at 7:30 p.m. July 29 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 31 at Shuswap Theatre. Tickets are available at Intwined Fibre Arts or at the door.