Fond farewell for flamenco school
School that has inspired dancers for decades will celebrate on July 8
Rosario Ancer can’t say exactly how many students have danced their way through her Centro Flamenco school, but if pressed, she figures “thousands” have passed before her watchful eye.
Sadly, that tradition will be coming to an end after 28 years as Ancer is closing the Vancouver school and turning her full focus to her Flamenco Rosario dance company.
“Centro Flamenco has been a true learning centre for this beautiful art form. In addition to the amazing training delivered by my teachers and guest teachers from Spain, the school has been a place of continuous mentorship, support and inspiration; a place where I’ve built numerous friendships and collected precious memories,” said Flamenco Rosario dancer Katia Flores, who studied at the school for 10 years after she moved here from Peru.
“Centro Flamenco has been a big part of my life since I moved to this city, and it is very hard to imagine my life without it.”
Ancer and her husband, musician Victor Kolstee, have been advocates for flamenco since coming to Vancouver in 1989.
“I need to switch my focus. So far I love to teach, and it has been a big part of my life, and most of my friends come from that community we created — but I’m getting old,” said Ancer who began her professional dance career in her home country of Spain in 1981.
“I have senior dancers who have helped me to teach, but they all have their own full-time jobs. So they cannot take care of this.”
The school’s closure is truly the end of a groundbreaking era: an era that saw people embrace the art form not just for pure enjoyment but for work as well.
Melanie Meyers was a student of the school from 1989 to 2000 and a teacher there at various times until 2008. She has also danced for Flamenco Rosario.
“As the first flamenco school in Vancouver, the school inspired many dancers over the last 25-plus years. The fact that I’m still a part of the school (starting as a teenage dance student, becoming a company member and teaching) after all of these years is a testament to the lasting relationship and connections fostered by the school,” said Meyers.
While talk is cheap, dance is much more fun, so the school is going out in style as part of an evening of dance at the Vancouver Playhouse on July 8.
Sixty Centro Flamenco students of all ages will join the Fin de Fiesta program alongside the Flamenco Rosario troupe.
“We would like to take the opportunity to honour and say goodbye to the school,” said Ancer.
Ancer and Kolstee hit the ground running when they landed in Vancouver. The pair tirelessly promoted flamenco by holding events, workshops and outreach programs. They still manage the annual Vancouver International Flamenco Festival (Sept. 11-24, 2017), the first flamenco festival in Canada.
“It is amazing flamenco has grown so much since I came here,” said Ancer. “There are more venues, other festivals and more schools. Most of the people who are dancing or teaching flamenco are students of my school, or have been.
“Centro Flamenco, I think, was the beginning for wonderful things in the city, the province and beyond,” Ancer added.
“Somebody told me this is the end of an era. Yeah, but it’s the end of an era that has given birth to a new and exciting era.”