About Me
Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos was formed in 1990 and is dedicated to creating and presenting flamenco programs with a fresh, contemporary approach. Their mission is to enrich and educate the community by presenting innovative contemporary works which reflect the "nuevo flamenco" movement in Spain today. The vision has been to expand the vocabulary of traditional flamenco dance and music to include multi-disciplinary collaborations with artists in other fields. Creating and presenting flamenco programs with a fresh, contemporary approaching since 1993, Artistic Director Yaelisa has collaborated with artists in other mediums. Incorporating top musicians in the field of jazz, Latin and Afro-Cuban music, her choreographies have been commissioned by Collage Dance Theatre, Malashock Dance & Company, San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, Stanford Danza Espanola and the Internacional Certamen de Coreografia in Madrid, Spain. Creating innovative theatrical presentations has established her as a choreographer of merit; she is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 for the PBS program, "Desde Cadiz a Sevilla," and a Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1996. Yaelisa has spent lengthy periods of time performing in Spain and returned to the Bay Area in 1996. Repertory works include the critically acclaimed "Orfeo y Eurydice," "SADIKA," "Mujeres" and "El Flamenco de Lorca." With a reputation as one of the leading flamenco instructors in the United States, Yaelisa has established a school in the SF Dance Center where she offers a comprehensive program of training at all levels with nine classes each week.. In 1997 Yaelisa began a rigorous training program to develop young local dancers for her Company. The new corp de ballet premiered at Stanford University in 1998.
Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos was founded in 1990 and based in San Diego, California until 1995. Yaelisa and her Company have toured statewide and internationally from 1993-1998, including appearances at UC Irvine, California State University, Los Angeles, the Luckman Theatre, San Diego State University, John Ford Amphitheatre, the Cowell Theatre, Palace of Fine Arts, and Theatre Artaud in San Francisco. In 1995 she premiered her choreography at the Teatro Albeniz in Madrid, Spain. Recent touring includes Bellingham Festival of Music, Bellingham, WA; Performance Works, Vancouver, B.C.; John Anson Ford Amphiteater, LA; Hollywood Playhouse, LA; Rio Hondo College, LA; University of California, Santa Barbara; and Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center, Carlsbad, CA. The Company has been on the CAC Touring Roster since 1996. In 1998 Yaelisa was commissioned to choreograph and perform in the San Jose Repertory Theater's production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," with original music by Musical Director Jason McGuire and members of the Company. "Caminos Flamencos,' premiered in August 1998 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts featuring a cast of 40 artists from around the country in memory of Yaelisa's mother, Isa Mura, in a benefit for The Breast Cancer Fund.
About Yaelisa
Known as one of the most gifted Flamenco artists of her generation, Yaelisa and the exquisite passion of her flamenco performances have captured the attention of critics around the world. The Los Angeles Times has called her a "luminary" among flamenco dancers for her extraordinary rhythmic ability, which radiates nothing less than pure emotion infused with sensuality. Raised by her Spanish mother, also a Flamenco performer, Yaelisa was surrounded from birth by the rhythms, gestures and vocal laments of the art in its purest form. Her artistic training has come from many of the great Spanish masters, including Ciro, Manolo Marin, Jose Galvan and El Guito. She has toured as a guest artist in festivals and concerts in Spain, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East and throughout the United States.
During the last twelve years, Yaelisa has spent extensive periods of time living and performing in Spain, presenting her choreography there and in the U.S. Her choreographies have been commissoned by several modern dance companies, including John Malashock & Company, Rose Polsky and Collage Dance Theatre. In 1995 she was one of 11 choreographers in Spain invited to present a piece at the prestigious Certamen de Coreografia in Madrid, and the only American choreographer chosen among them. In 1996 she returned to the U.S. where she continues to choreograph, develop and train dancers for her company. Creating innovative theatrical presentations has established her as a choreographer of merit; she is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 for the PBS program, "Desde Cadiz a Sevilla," and a Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1996.
Yaelisa is the Artistic Director of Caminos Flamencos. The Company presents traditional flamenco productions, and specializes in original works which expand upon the vocabulary of flamenco through collaborations with artists in the fields of modern, jazz and ethnic dance and music. Repertory works include the critically acclaimed Orfeo y Eurydice, SADIKA, Mujeres, and El Flamenco de Lorca. Yaelisa and the Company are on the California Arts Council Touring Roster.
About Flamenco
Until the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, Flamenco dance, music and song was widely considered to belong to the Gypsies, whose customs, beliefs and way of life were disdained and even hated by Spanish society. During and for centuries after the famous expulsion of the Moors and Jews in 1492, the Gypsies were tortured, persecuted and even killed if they would not conform to the accepted standard of Spanish society. Nomadic by nature, many of the Gypsies never settled in one town for very long; they would stay in one location only as long as they were able to make money doing odd jobs, selling their wares, and many of them performing Flamenco for the curious Spaniards. Whole families would be involved, singing, dancing and entertaining the eager locals.
t is widely considered that many Gypsies (as well as Spaniards) were creating and developing the art of Flamenco during this time, blending popular Spanish songs and folklore, as well as gaining admirers for this "Gypsy" art. Ironically, it did not achieve mass popularity until non-Gypsies began to perform it; with their participation Flamenco achieved legitimacy as an art. It can also be said that Flamenco suddenly became commercial, with the obvious negative implications, as well as tremendously successful. When non-Gypsies began performing Flamenco in the cafes and theatres for the accepting public, its popularity soared and its development continued anew with the integration of the Andalucian personality and expression. Although the Gypsies did not achieve respect and honor for their contribution to the art form until many years later, they have always been considered among the best interpreters of the Flamenco arts. The art of Flamenco is an expression of life, a communication on the deepest and most profound level.
If it cannot be ranked among the great classical arts of the world, it is because the public has not been exposed to it in anything but a superficial level, based upon the stereotypical images constantly presented. Just as other arts evolve and change with the times, Flamenco in recent years has, for better or worse, incorporated sophisticated musical stylistic elements from other mediums. The purists will say that this change in the art has brought about the decline of Flamenco; others feel innovation and change brings renewed interest in an esoteric art. The truth is that Flamenco is an expressive art, an art of communication. The dialogue between a singer and guitarist, a dancer and a singer, a dancer and a guitarist or all three, and yes, even when there is a crowd onstage, is a highly evolved interaction when the artists are highly skilled, knowledgeable and show integrity for the art. Some of the most sophisticated interplay between musicians in the world happens when flamencos are interacting, improvising and generally burning a hole in each other's consciousness. This is the greatest thing that can happen in Flamenco. It is a spiritual communication. This communication can happen anywhere: in a rehearsal hall, a theatre performance, or a room full of noisy people. Individual and personal, this art takes the shape of the artist interpreting it quite a burden to carry! But the beauty of it is that the artist has the great opportunity to enter in and create. Forgetting their technique, effects and performing tricks, they can create in a few moments a small work of art, which is an expression of themselves, and give it away.
