Ana García

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What to expect at this Peña?
3.00 – Doors open.
3.30 – 4.30 Compás y Palmas workshop with Marco.
5.00-6.00 Performance with Marco “El Canastero” Javi “El Artista”, Ana Garcia & friends. The flamenco students will have the opportunity to perform their choreographies.
6.15 –  PAELLA followed by Informal party where aficionados/as (dancer, singer or guitarist) have the opportunity to perform if they wish.
*Tickets for the Peña cost £10
.Group bookings: Complementary ticket when you book 5 or more tickets.

*Please note that the ticket price includes the Paella, the Compás y Palmas class and the professional performance.

If you have a problem opening the brochure or you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me on ana@flamenco-birmingham.com or on 07971 219904

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David Nieto is a wonderful dancer, choreographer and teacher who has been performing in Sara Bara’s company for many years. Now, David has started his solo career as a director, choreographer, dancer and teacher.

We are offering classes at all levels of competence, from beginners to advance levels, I am sure you can find a class which will suit your ability.

To download the brochure please link here: http://issuu.com/flamenco-birmingham/docs/folleto_david_nieto_finalfff

If you have a problem opening the brochure or you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me on ana@flamenco-birmingham.com or on 07971 219904

 Time table

Bulerías level 1 with Ana García                 Sat 13.00-14.15  Sun 11.00-12.15            £45

Bulerías level 2 with David Nieto               Sat 15.30-16.45  Sun 13.30-14.45            £45

Bulerías level 3 with David Nieto               Sat 18.15-19.30  Sun 16.15-17.30            £45

Technique level 2 with David Nieto           Sat 14.15-15.15   Sun 12.15-13.15           £25

Technique level 3 with David Nieto           Sat 17.00-18.00 Sun 15.00-16.00             £25

If you would like to see David Nieto dancing here is one of his performances

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We’re delighted to be bringing the fantastic dancer Olga Pericet back to Birmingham for a weekend of workshops in early May as part of this year’s IDFB International Dance Festival Birmingham.

Olga is a rising (if not already!) star of the flamenco scene, and recently sold out at Sadlers Wells London Flamenco Festival for her contemporary production of Rosa, Metal y Ceniza (Rose, Metal and Ash), which also featured another of our flamenco friends in Birmingham, the brilliant Jesus Fernandez.

Full info on the workshops with Olga and Ana Garcia follows below …

“Get to grips with the intricate rhythms behind this most passionate of dances in a series of fantastic workshops for all levels – taught by international guest star Olga Pericet and Birmingham flamenco favourite Ana Garcia.

After the success of our flamenco season during International Dance Festival Birmingham 2010, we’re delighted that Olga Pericet and Ana Garcia are returning for more flamenco fun; featuring taster classes for beginners, choreography and body technique classes to help with expression and movement, and intermediate and advanced classes for more experienced participants.”

Saturday 5th May – Monday 7th May

FLAMENCO TASTER CLASS
Saturday, Sunday & Monday // 11am – 12noon // £30
With Ana Garcia

FLAMENCO LEVEL 1
Saturday, Sunday & Monday // 12.15pm – 1.30pm // £55
With Ana Garcia

FLAMENCO LEVEL 2
Saturday, Sunday & Monday // 1.45pm – 3pm // £60
With Olga Pericet

CHOREOGRAPHY & BODY TECHNIQUE
Saturday, Sunday & Monday // 3.15pm – 4.15pm // £40
With Olga Pericet

FLAMENCO LEVEL 3
Saturday, Sunday & Monday // 4.30pm – 5.45pm // £60
With Olga Pericet

For further informational email Ana

All classes take place at IMI Studio – Birmingham Hippodrome,
Thorp Street, Birmingham, B5 4TB

Click here to download the booking form

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We’re very sad to hear the news that the wonderful flamenco guitarist, Moraíto Chico, died this week at the relatively young age of just 54.

DeFlemanco and El Pais (here and here) feature fitting obituaries to one of the greatest exponents of ‘Jerez’ flamenco – worth reading, if only to get a sense of the great esteem and regard he was held in the flamenco world.  There are also a number of touching tributes, images and videos over at the Foro Flamenco thread.

There are plenty of Moraito videos on YouTube to discover, so I’ll leave you with just the two – a joyful piece filmed on stage in Jerez a few years ago, and a very early video of Moraito with Camarón.

Rest in peace

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Building on the success of his previous visits and performances over the past 3-4 years, Jesús is back after his busy Easter period for three days of classes at the end of May, alongside our own Ana Garcia.  This year, classes also include general choreography and body technique for levels 2 and 3, focused on body movement and expression rather than solely footwork.

Full info and a downloadable flyer follow (click below to view/download the PDF and booking form …)

Jesús Fernández and Ana Garcia

28, 29 & 30 May 2011
ACE Dance & Music
The Link Dance Space, The Ground Floor, 54-57 Floodgate St, Birmingham, B5 5SL

Flamenco Level 1 – with Ana Garcia
Saturday, Sunday and Monday
11am – 12.30pm
£60

Flamenco Level 2 – with Jesús Fernández
Saturday, Sunday and Monday
12.45pm – 2.15pm
£65

Flamenco Level 3 – with Jesús Fernández
Saturday, Sunday and Monday
3.45pm – 5.15pm
£65

Choreography and Body Technique – with Jesús Fernández
Saturday, Sunday and Monday
2.30pm – 3.30pm
£45

Bookings for classes will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and all dance classes are limited to 30 students.

Email Ana or call her on 07971 219904 for bookings or further info.

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We’re just waiting for the new book by guitarist David Leiva – The Flamenco Guitar Guide – and the rather impressive looking flamenco metronome!

We already have quite a few items queued up for review, but we’ll do our best to feature anything you would like to send – drop us an email to features@flamenco-birmingham.com and we’ll give you full details.

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The IGF (International Guitar Foundation) continues its fine work this autumn with the second London Guitar Festival of the year – this time at the excellent Kings Place, in Kings Cross.

Featuring four days of performances and workshops from leading classical, jazz and folk guitarists, the flamenco serving is presented in the shape of Javier Conde, making just his second UK appearance after playing WOMAD this summer, and dubbed as ‘the most exciting young Flamenco guitarist to emerge from Spain in decennia’.

Aged just 21, Javier started playing the guitar when he was 4 years old under the supervision of his father Jose Antonio Conde, a professional guitarist well respected within the flamenco world, and a disciple of the master Andrés Batista.  Since then, he has won countless guitar competitions and already appeared on nearly a dozen recordings.

Clearly a humble soul, his website offers a refreshing change to artists intent on blowing their own trumpet …

My professional career is not particularly long.  I am not old enough for that.  However, I would like to convey the intensity I have felt with all the experiences I have lived so far.

Beside the personal satisfaction that gives you to overcome the study of the instrument, the guitar, I have also had the opportunity to see that my work was recognized in some of the competitions I have attended and, though just for a second, I have had the privilege to be close to some of the great masters I have always admired in my solitude while I was studying.

If there is something I have understood from the very beginning is that there is much more things to learn that those you already know.

Therefore, I would like you to look at this webpage not as if I were a recognized artist who needs a way of communication with his fans, but as the webpage of a young guitarist who looks for a place in this difficult world of the flamenco guitar.  And why not? A webpage for people to know me and even to contract me.

Conde performs in the wonderful acoustic space at Kings Place on Saturday 30th October, beginning at 7.45pm.  Tickets range from £29.50 to £9.50.  There is also a masterclass earlier that day for intermediate and advanced players.

Read more on him at Flamenco-World.

Other festival performances feature the excellent jazz player Mike Outram, Grammy award-winner David Russell, Lutenist Nigel North and ‘acoustic sensation’ Eric Mongrain, fresh from an appearance on Later with Jools Holland.

Check out the IGF website and the Kings Place website for full info on the festival, tickets and workshops.

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… or the ‘candidature for inscription on the UNESCO representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ status, to be more precise. All rolls off the tongue rather well.

Following a performance in Madrid on Monday evening, featuring Paco de Lucia, Tomatito and some important sounding Spanish bigwigs, the Spanish Government and several regional agencies have upped their campaign to see the artform of flamenco added to the aforementioned cultural mouthful.

Flamenco-World.com report on the ‘Flamenco Soy’ (‘I, Flamenco’) campaign …

While UNESCO is processing the dossier, ten thousand of people from all over the world have already demonstrated their support for flamenco’s candidacy as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The collection of signatures is being gathered at the website www.flamencopatrimoniodelahumanidad.es, with information in Spanish, English, French and Japanese. The candidacy has the backing of several hundred representatives of the jondo art and diverse public institutions, as well as the Spanish government itself, which gave its unanimous support in Parliament in May. After UNESCO communicated in February that the candidacy was “technically complete”, it is now being evaluated by the international organization. The final decision will be made at the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which is scheduled to be held in November 2010 in Nairobi (Kenya).

It appears that UNESCO rejected the ‘flamenco’ bid once before – some five years ago, with the latest bid team from Andalucia now calling for international and public support to ‘see that Flamenco finally receives the international recognition it deserves.’

You can sign-up and support the flamenco corner at the official website – flamencopatrimoniodelahumanidad.es … it only takes a few seconds to add your name.  You can also find some nice audio of the main traditional flamenco palos.

You can also take a peep at the impressively in-depth UNESCO website for Intangible Culture, which lists the many existing cultures on the list, along with some great audio, video and info for each and every element – from the Shadow Theatre of Cambodia to the Gong Culture of Vietnam!

Meanwhile, TypicallySpanish.com reports on the Madrid gig …

Paco de Lucía got a standing ovation from the crowd, which contained numerous celebrities and politicians who are supporting the initiative, including the ministers, Manuel Chaves, Ángeles González-Sinde, Bibiana Aído and Trinidad Jiménez.  Also present was the President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán. He said over the weekend that while flamenco is universal, its birthplace is Andalucía.

Other flamenco artists in the crowd and supporting the campaign are singer songwriter, Diego el Cigala, dancer Sara Baras, and the guitarist Tomatito.

The concert ended with Paco de Lucía’s most famous piece, ‘Entre dos Aguas’.

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The tasty-looking London Guitar Festival is fast approaching in just under two weeks time, running over the weekend of 14th-16th May on the South Bank.  The excellent programme includes the great flamenco pairing of Gerardo Núñez and Carmen Cortés; the first UK visit for many years of the unsurpassable classical ensemble, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ); the multi-talented Amit Chatterjee; folk singer-songwriter Chris Wood; and notable classical players Andrea Vettoretti, Amanda Cook and Phillip Villa.

Guitarist Núñez and dancer Cortés have performed together for a number of years (not a great surprise, as they’re married!), and play the festival as part of their own quintet on Saturday 15th May, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.  Flamenco-World describes Núñez as composing ‘enormously rich and complex music, without loosing the strength of the flamenco reference, and he performs himself with the technical capacity of a real virtuoso. Some of his creations are lavishly beautiful.’  Cortés, meanwhile, is described as ‘moving at ease between the classical flamenco and the modern one. She has been the first bailaora to make a choreography of a “Granaina”, a flamenco “Palo” with a free rhythm.’

Tickets for the performance are priced from £18-25 (concessions available), and begins at 7.30pm. According to the South Bank website, ‘when Nuñez and Cortés perform together there is a unique dynamic and heightened level of communication that can only come form the closeness of husband and wife.’  The mind boggles …

There’s also an interview with the couple on Esflamenco from 2007.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet – probably the foremost guitar ensemble in the world – appear on the Sunday night in the same hall, playing the UK for the first time in a number of years, after extensive recording and touring just about everywhere else, so a great coup for the festival.

Their programme includes a Brazillian slant in the shape of music from Jobim, Villa-Lobos and Baden Powell, plus their famous arrangement of Bizet’s Carmen Suite.  Tickets are priced the same as the previous night’s flamenco.

The full weekend performance and workshop programme is online at the IGF and South Bank websites, and well worth checking out.

The festival is produced by the International Guitar Foundation (IGF) – an organisation ‘dedicated to the promotion, understanding and enjoyment of the guitar, its music and artists.’  The IGF runs festivals in London, Bath and the North East, alongside summer schools in Bath, Cheltenham, Gateshead and London.

Here’s a Gerardo Núñez Sevillana clip (on an ad-hoc visit to his patio) to keep you going …

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