TAP INTO PASSION
Calgary International Flamenco Festival rounds out weekend
One of the most stunning and passionate dance forms is the flamenco, which is back in the Calgary spotlight with the Calgary International Flamenco Festival running until Sept. 29.
“Calgary didn’t have one until last year, but the community was ready for one,” says festival artistic director Fiona Malena.
Malena says the festival is important because it exposes new audiences to the flamenco.
“That’s how it grows,” she explains, citing the example of a teenager from Caroline who took his first flamenco guitar workshop through the festival last year and is now studying the art form in Spain.
This year’s festival features performers from Alberta, B.C. and Spain.
On Friday evening, the festival’s featured dancer, Spain’s Manuel Linan, will perform, accompanied by a singer and guitarist, also from Spain.
“Everyone is really excited by Manuel Linan. He’s one of the most talked about artists on today’s scene,” says Malena.
Malena, herself, will open for Linen on Friday evening, showcasing new choreography she created in Spain as a part of a mentorship program.
She’ll be dancing with a “beta de cola,” a dress with a long tail.
“It’s all about the tail coming alive on its own. Visually, it’s extremely beautiful, but it has taken me a lot of work to have control of this long tail dress,” she explains.
A free flamenco dance workshop will also be held Saturday afternoon at the Platinum Perform- ing Arts Dance Studio.
The festival wraps up on Saturday evening with a flamenco showcase at the Auburn Saloon. It will feature a melange of dance and music, the result of various collaborations between local musicians and dancers and those who are visiting from Spain.
Tickets and information: calgaryflamencofestival.com or festival@fionamalena.com.
The Audition — Scorpio
Theatre
Scorpio Theatre opens its season with a one-woman show called The Audition.
Scorpio artistic director Aaron Conrad, who also directs The Audition, says the show meets Scorpio’s mandate of producing new scripts and material that hasn’t been staged before in Calgary.
The Audition is the story of a young actress (Britt Kennedy) who shows up for an audition in New York, later finding herself locked into a theatre overnight. To keep entertained — and to keep dark reminisces at bay — she does some warm-ups, practices her monologue and goofs around on stage.
Eventually, however, after the “fun and games” wear thin, and she is left alone on stage with just her thoughts to keep her company. She starts reflecting upon her regrets, personal relationships and successes and failures as an artist.
“She expected the city to welcome her and throw its arms wide open for her. Anyone out of college can feel that way and then finds out the world doesn’t work that way,” Conrad says.
The Audition runs Oct. 5 to 13 in the Pumphouse’s Joyce Doolittle Theatre.
Tickets and information: scorpio.ca or dpond@scorpio.ca.