'Fiesta Flamenco' at St. Bonaventure

The world renowned Spanish company Flamenco Vivo: Carlota Santana will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The program, “Fiesta Flamenco,” is being presented by Friends of Good Music in association with The Quick Center.

Flamenco Vivo bridges cultures around the world to push the boundaries of traditional flamenco, infusing it with fresh energy and excitement. “Unforgettably hot dancing” is how The Washington Post described a performance by the Spanish dancers and musicians.

Artistic Director Carlota Santana, named “The Keeper of Flamenco” by Dance Magazine, conjures vibrant performances from an ever-expanding repertoire of new music, original dramatic works, and a bold mixture of dance vocabularies, including Hispanic-American influences. True to its founding vision, the company commissions new works with original choreography and music and has premiered a series of dramatic, cutting edge works.

The live music will be provided by two vocalists and two guitarists.

Santana co-founded the company in 1983, and since then the company has continued to grow and flourish, performing at such venues as Lincoln Center, The Joyce Theater, The New Victory Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Summerdance Santa Barbara, Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, The Van Wezel Performing Arts Center in Sarasota, and throughout Europe and South America.

“Watching the company’s performance is a reminder of how closely related so many dance forms are,” said Ludwig Brunner, director of programming at The Quick Center. “You can see elements of flamenco in American tap dance and hear echoes of flamenco in the traditional music of the Gypsy and Jewish cultures. The variety of the program including flamenco, tango, 4/4 rhythm dance and rumba and the sheer energy and passion of the dancers will dazzle our audience.”

Tickets for the performance are $18 at full price, $15 for St. Bonaventure staff and senior citizens, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call The Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

This performance is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.

For all performances at The Quick Center, the museum galleries open one hour before the start of the performance and remain open throughout intermission. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Museum admission is free and open to the public year round.

St. Bonaventure University provided the photo of Juanjo Garcia, Defne Enc and Antonio Hidalgo perform with Flamenco Vivo.