Devoted artistry
Casa Flamenca creates intimate flamenco tablaos, promotes community service
The adobe home along Rio Grande NW near Old Town looks like the rest of the decades-old structures. Yet this one — at 401 Rio Grande NW — is different. he exterior is painted bright yellow, ye-popping turquoise, a block of deep with white lettering that reads “Casa menca.” nd white polka dots dance across the
. s inviting to passers-by and piques ty of interest. pon entering the 1940s home, one can he organization is cultivating a chapter amenco in Albuquerque. r the past five years, Casa Flamenca presented its summer tablao series — ddition to its classes for children and ts. ith no more than 40 guests, two cers — Jesus Muñoz and Valeria tes — step onto the wooden floor three ts a week. he duo aren’t perched above the ence on a stage. They share the space the audience as each performer claps pounds the floor with vigor. This, all e to the audience, which is akin to the aos put on in Spain. ometimes I have to remember that so close to the audience,” Montes s during a performance. “I get lost in cing, and I have to remember to position elf differently.” uñoz says the idea for a tablao season ldn’t be possible without Casa menca Inc. and the Urban Enhancement st Fund.
We saw a compelling need for flamenco ormances in Albuquerque’s Old n five years ago,” he says. “Very little pened in Old Town after dark. So, the a Flamenca moved into an old adobe ding on Rio Grande and began setting hop.” hen Casa Flamenca began, Muñoz , most of the flamenco performances oth Albuquerque and Santa Fe-based nizations had been dedicated to Santa
lbuquerque was dry of performance
outside of Festival Flamenco and a few weekends of flamenco company performances,” he says. “We began with eight Saturday performances, and year-byyear we added performances until we came up with 24 shows to be produced in June and July.”
Although Muñoz and Montes are the primary dancers, they are often joined by a singer and a guitarist.
This season’s resident singer is Ana Maria Polanco, from Cadiz, Spain.
As the featured guest, Polanco also gets to live in Casa Flamenca during her threemonth stint in Albuquerque.
“Ana will be debuting her first album release this month at the Casa Flamenca,” he says. “She’s really sweet and a kind soul, and when she sings, she just eats up the entire room. Her voice is Aretha Franklinmeets-flamenco. It’s big; it’s harsh, it’s soulful and it’s bittersweet — Ana Polanco moves you.”
The guitarists rotate throughout the season, though 19-year-old Mathias Rodriguez is often performing the tablaos.
Rodriguez has been involved with Casa Flamenca since he was 13.
“A person young or old is almost never ready to take the giant leap from student to professional, because it’s such a leap, but one can’t learn how to swim if that person doesn’t jump in the water,” Muñoz says.
Muñoz says Casa Flamenca is a center for flamenco art, and he likes that it’s not an institution.
“Our goal … is to really push past our means to create extraordinary events, classes and moments for the community in Albuquerque with extraordinary collaborators,” he says. “Examples are workshops, concerts, tablaos and really — everyday classes. We are always trying to feel more. We want to create a sustainable organization that is known as a pioneer for creating unique projects that are representative and accessible to our community. We want to create work based on our dreams and also be financially responsible for the manifestation of those dreams. We are dreamers and visionaries here at the Casa Flamenca. … We love Albuquerque, and we love being ambassadors of this great artistic work that is being done here.”