The Music & Arts Community Center in Fort Myers hosts the Love Flamenco World Tour on Oct. 3. It’s a sensory experience in which music, dance, and emotion come together for an unforgettable night.
Flamenco is not mere dance. Declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010, it is an 18th-century Spanish art form that combines voice, guitar and dance to create a dialogue between the body, music and emotion.
The Oct. 3 extravaganza introduces audiences to the purest flamenco, including the unique language of flamenco improvisation, in which the artists respond to each other in real time and create a different experience in every performance.
Shows are at 4 and 7:30 p.m.
For tickets, telephone 239-277-1700 or visit MACCtickets.org.
The Music & Arts Community Center is located off Daniels Parkway at 13411 Shire Lane on the campus of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Myers.
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Love Flamenco features an exceptional cast headed by Antonio “El Turry” Gómez. He is one of the most established voices of contemporary flamenco singing both in Spain and internationally.
Guitarist Marcos de Silvia is one of the most promising international talents and recent winner of the Grammy scholarship for the Paco de Lucía Foundation.
Dancers Fuensanta Blanco and Vero La India embody expressive strength, elegance and passion in every movement.
The Love Flamenco lineup is completed by the Sevillian singer Iván Carpio, recognized for his depth and flamenco tradition; Miguel “El Cheyenne,” master of rhythm and handclapping; and dancer Ricardo Fernández “El Tete,” a young dynamic performer with a solid career in the flamenco venues of Spain.
With tradition in every note, each chord carries centuries of history, passion, and artistry. From the first touch of the guitar to the final applause, flamenco is a living tradition that continues to move audiences around the world, and this unique concert experience blends the power, passion, and essence of the most authentic flamenco traditions.
More on Flamenco
Flamenco originated in Andalucía in southern Spain, primarily in Jerez, Seville, Cádiz and Granada. It is a fusion of Andalusian folklore, Moorish and Arabic melodies, Gitano (Roma) rhythms, and Jewish and Sephardic influence.
“It is not a single dance step but a whole expressive tradition, organized into distinct styles and driven as much by feeling as by technique,” noted Siudy Garrido for Study Flamenco. “It entwines cante (song), toque (guitar and musicianship), and baile (dance). The art is complimented by two additional elements: palmas, the rhythmic hand-clapping that keeps the pulse, and jaleo, the encouraging shouts of ¡olé!, ¡vamos!, and ¡agua! that rise from performers and audience alike. Together these give flamenco its unmistakable atmosphere of shared, live intensity.
Flamenco is organized into palos — styles or forms, each with its own compás (rhythmic cycle), tempo, and emotional character. Many palos share a distinctive 12-beat cycle — among them soleá, alegrías, and bulerías — differing less in the count itself than in tempo and mood. Soleá is slow, solemn, and majestic, its name linked to soledad (solitude), and it is often called a “mother” form of flamenco. Alegrías, from Cádiz, are bright and joyful. Bulerías are the fastest, most syncopated, and festive. Siguiriyas, also in a 12-beat family, are grave and tragic in character.
“The best way to grasp flamenco is to feel it,” said Garrido. “Arrive ready to listen as much as to watch: notice how the dancer waits on the singer, how the guitarist answers a phrase, how the whole room leans in when duende takes hold.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
