Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, one of the nation’s foremost flamenco companies, is proud to announce a transformative new artistic leadership model. Beginning July 2025, Founding Artistic Director Carlota Santana will be joined by renowned Mexican flamenco dancer and choreographer Karen Lugo, who will serve as the Company’s first Guest Artistic Director,
alongside Associate Artistic Director Emilio Ochando.

Carlota Santana shares, “Since Flamenco Vivo’s founding in 1983, the company has never been defined by my vision alone, but by the collective voices of artists who reflect flamenco’s rich and evolving tradition. In that spirit, we’re adopting a three-year Guest Artistic Director model to guide us into the next 40 years. With the support of our Board of Directors, I’m pleased to welcome Karen Lugo as the first to hold this position. Karen is a gifted artist who honors flamenco’s roots while boldly pushing it forward. I have worked closely with our Associate Artistic Director Emilio Ochando over these past several years to continue supporting the Company’s mission and I look forward to sharing my institutional knowledge as we collaboratively shape new artistic directions, and ensure Flamenco Vivo’s legacy continues to thrive.”

This moment marks a monumental juncture for Flamenco Vivo, which has been led by Carlota Santana since its founding. Over four decades, Santana has positioned the Company as a leading force in U.S. flamenco, commissioning numerous original works by choreographers from the U.S. and Spain, and performing at illustrious venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, The Joyce Theater, BAM Fisher, The Irvine Barclay Theatre and more.

Under her vision, Flamenco Vivo developed pioneering bilingual arts education programs for multilingual and disabled student populations—programs that reach over 18,000 NYC public school students annually. Santana will now steward this leadership transition, mentoring Lugo and Ochando as they shape the Company’s artistic future.

Lugo, whose work explores the intersections of flamenco and contemporary forms, shared her vision: “Flamenco is an art form in constant evolution. In spite of having been in the world for little more than a century, it is born from a melting pot of cultures that, nowadays, lends itself even more to dialogue with other musical traditions, enriching itself with these styles and being faithful to its origins as a global artform. As a creative artist, I seek to be a moving testimony that thinks, creates and produces art from the very essence of human creation: the mixed, the interwoven, the heterogeneous. As I step into this new role, I aim to be a creative, generative and unifying force among a diversity of disciplines, languages, people and cultural identities. I’m honored to join Flamenco Vivo at this exciting juncture and to work alongside the team to venture into this new chapter ahead.”

In alignment with the Company’s founding vision to create a platform for a multitude of artistic perspectives, Flamenco Vivo’s leadership and Board of Directors have developed a rotating three-year Guest Artistic Director model. This structure ensures ongoing artistic renewal while preserving current institutional knowledge. Karen Lugo will serve from July 2025 through June 2028, mentored by Santana in her continuing role as Founding Artistic Director. Emilio Ochando, who brings eight years of experience with the Company, provides continuity and guidance across this transition.

During her tenure, Lugo will deepen Flamenco Vivo’s mission through multiple focus areas, with a renewed emphasis on serving as an ambassador to promote the art form and the company in New York City’s cultural conversation. Lugo’s primary focus, Artistic Programming, includes spearheading partnerships across NYC’s cultural sphere to bring flamenco to more spaces around the city. Lugo will also play a pivotal role in Arts Education, weaving flamenco further into the fabric of communities in which the company already holds educational programming. She will also cultivate professional and artistic development for Flamenco Vivo’s Teaching Artists.

As Associate Artistic Director, Emilio Ochando will continue to direct the Company’s extensive national tours and work collaboratively with Lugo and Santana to select repertory, new choreographic commissions, and artistic partnerships. He will expand his central role in Evolución, the Company’s robust artist development training programs including the Flamenco Certamen USA, Cuadro Flamenco and Artist in Residence Exchange (AiRE).

Executive Director Hanaah Bates, who has served in her role for eight years and with Flamenco Vivo for fifteen, will ensure operational continuity and support the leadership team through this transition.

Flamenco Vivo’s expansion of its artistic leadership team marks a defining moment in its 42-year history, setting the stage for an exciting next 40 years of flamenco in NYC and across the nation.

Founded in 1983, FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA is one of the premier flamenco companies in the US, serving over 35,000 people annually through programs that entertain, educate, and empower. Our mission is to promote flamenco as a living art form and a vital part of Hispanic heritage; produce high quality dance works; provide arts education programs that catalyze connections among young people; and nurture the next generations of flamenco artists and educators. We believe that the universal spirit of flamenco––with diverse influences from Arab, Jewish, Roma, Spanish, African, and Latin American cultures––gives this art form a unique power to build bridges between people. Learn
more at flamenco-vivo.org

KAREN LUGO is an acclaimed Mexican flamenco artist widely sought after for her innovative ability to straddle tradition and the vanguard. In 2022, she co-choreographed FRONTERAS for Flamenco Vivo’s company which received rave reviews at The Joyce Theater in NYC and toured nationally for 3 years to 16 cities. The work was hailed for its “bursts of brilliance and uncommon invention” and “uncommonly deft balancing of the individual and the group in flamenco” by Brian Seibert in the New York Times. Lugo’s prolific choreographic career has garnered awards internationally including Best Choreography at Spring Film Festival of Barcelona, First Prize for Flamenco Dance at the International Festival of Almeria, and First Prize for Choreography at the Contemporary Flamenco Festival of Finland. She has served as guest choreographer for Javier Latorre Company, Shoji Kojima Company, Malucos Danza, ̈Alante Flamenco Company (Texas), Flamenco Rosario Company (Vancouver), ̈La Otra Orilla Company (Montreal), and Marco Flores Company among others. Her unique artistic style has led her to collaborate with great artists such as Pepe Habichuela, Jorge Pardo, Silvia Perez Cruz, Chano
Dominguez, Javier Colina, Richard Bona, Perico Sambeat, Carles Benavent, Coetus, Marco Flores, Amir Haddad, Hans Zimmer, Clara Peya and Andrés Calamaro.

CARLOTA SANTANA is a renowned flamenco artist and educator, hailed as “The Keeper of
Flamenco” by Dance Magazine and honored by the King and Government of Spain with La Cruz de la Orden al Merito Civil for “all the years of passion, excellence and dedication to the flamenco art.” In 1983, she co-founded Flamenco Vivo with Roberto Lorca; following his death from AIDS in 1987, Santana was determined to carry on their founding vision. In the decades since, she has led Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana’s growth as one of this country’s most successful flamenco companies. She has commissioned numerous original works by outstanding artists from the US and abroad, including
Manuel Duque, Antonio Hidalgo, Jose Maldonado and most recently, Patricia Guerrero’s QUINTO ELEMENTO. She was the driving force behind the first-ever curated museum exhibit on flamenco in the US, “100 Years of Flamenco in New York,” mounted in partnership with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and praised by NY Times chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay for its “vitality and pride” who noted “This vivid collection enriches our ideas of both this genre and this city.”

EMILIO OCHANDO is a flamenco choreographer and dancer from Valencia, Spain, who was appointed Flamenco Vivo’s Associate Artistic Director in May 2024. His 8 years of involvement in Flamenco Vivo prior to this role spanned work as a guest choreographer, core Company dancer, and Tour Director. Among Emilio Ochando’s choreographic honors are nominations for the prestigious Max Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Male Dancer in 2017 for his show SIROCO as well as Best New Show in 2020 for his work CLÁSICA TRADICIÓN. He was commissioned by Flamenco Vivo in 2024 to create a new choreography set to Manuel De Falla’s “The Three-Cornered Hat, Suite No. 2” and Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” which was performed at the legendary Hollywood Bowl by the LA Phil, conducted by François López-Ferrer, with guest violinist Blake Pouliot.