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Entreflamenco Bolsters Santa Fe Presence with Summer Performances in New Plaza Venue
Santa Fe, NM—Andalusia-native flamenco dancer Antonio Granjero and his company, Entreflamenco, will return to Santa Fe for the summer season, performing at 7:30 p.m. nightly from June 29 through September 3 at the El Flamenco de Santa Fe Performance Venue at 135 W. Palace Ave in downtown Santa Fe.
Of great significance to flamenco purists, Granjero was born and raised in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain—the city known as “the cradle of flamenco.” From early childhood, Jerez-bred dancers face rigorous training among the strongest competition in the world, and are known for their aire, a term reserved for flamenco performers with indisputable swagger to go with their technical ability. Granjero’s presence in Santa Fe makes Entreflamenco the only flamenco company in the country with a Spanish artistic director.
“I feel a great artistic responsibility to maintain Santa Fe’s rich flamenco tradition, but also challenged to revive a standard of authenticity that has somewhat diminished in recent years,” said Granjero. “We are the continued legacy of the great Maria Benitez, and I want our audience to experience the genuine art from my motherland as I know it.”
To maintain the integrity of their presentation, Granjero and company sought a venue worthy of their work, culminating in the El Flamenco de Santa Fe Performance Venue on Palace Avenue. The 2,225 square foot venue was specifically remodeled as a cabaret-style performance space and is the only venue dedicated exclusively to flamenco in Santa Fe.
“True flamenco is best experienced in a very intimate setting,” said Granjero. “In the celebrated tablaos of Spain, you not only hear the footwork, but you can hear the dancer breathing in time to the music and communicating verbally with his accompanists. With El Flamenco, we have successfully recreated this important experience.”
Granjero, along with his wife and Entreflamenco co-director Estefania Ramirez, busily prepare for the summer performance season, maintaining a hectic schedule of training both professional dancers and students, preparing musical accompanists and co-managing the daily activities of their nonprofit company and the new performance space.
An added highlight of Entreflamenco’s 2017 season is the arrival of featured dancer Lakshmi Basile “La Chimi, a finalist prize winner in the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba, known as “the contest of the contests” to those familiar with the intense competition, and second prize in the Concurso de las Minas de La Unión en 2011.
“I am especially excited with the arrival of La Chimi to Santa Fe,” said Granjero. “To find an artist with such natural passion is difficult, and it will be wonderful to have her here.”
Entreflamenco’s musical accompaniment is led by revered gypsy guitarist Jose Valle Fajardo, known to flamenco aficionados worldwide as “Chuscales.” The Antequera, Spain native was raised in a traditional gypsy family known for its professional musicians and dancers who lived and performed in the caves of Sacromonte, Granada.
Musical accompaniment is rounded out by Barcelonan singer-percussionist Francisco “Yiyi” Orozco and bassist Marco Topo from Milan, Italy. Technical Director Antonio Hidalgo hails from Cordoba, Spain.
Hand-picked by Santa Fe luminary Maria Benitez during one her annual dancer-recruitment trips to Spain, Granjero traveled to the United States for the first time in 1995 to join Benitez’s Teatro Flamenco as a soloist and choreographer. The partnership between Benitez and Granjero lasted nearly two decades, culminating in 12 celebrated summer performance seasons in Santa Fe, multiple tours across the United States, and prominent performances such as the nationally televised Evening at Pops on PBS.
It was during one of the seasons in Santa Fe where Antonio Granjero met his future wife Ramirez, also a professional dancer since youth.
Entreflamenco was founded in 1998 in Madrid and the directors started producing shows in Santa Fe in 2011. The international company has traveled throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and North and Central America and has made its full-time home in Santa Fe since 2015.
Granjero and Entreflamenco have planned a new, full-length production for 2017, demonstrating the variety of flamenco song and dance. The dance performances will focus on trios, duets and interpretive solos.
The Entreflamenco Company will tour this presentation nationally after the Santa Fe dates.
For more information on Entreflamenco and the 2017 season in Santa Fe, please visit entreflamenco.com or call (505) 209-1302.
