About

Founded in 1983, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana is one of America’s premier flamenco companies with home bases in New York City and Durham, NC. We serve more than 40,000 people nationwide each year through far-reaching 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 and perform high quality dance works; provide arts education programs that catalyze connections among young people; and nurture the next generations of Spanish dance 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.

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Creation & Performance

Flamenco Vivo has commissioned more than two dozen new contemporary dance works by renowned artists and rising stars from Spain and the U.S., staging their premieres during our annual home seasons in NYC. Each year we take flamenco into underserved communities through our annual “Flamenco in the Boros” tour, which brings free performances to new audiences around the city.

Touring

The company tours extensively, performing at 73 venues in 27 states in the past five seasons alone. We perform at leading theaters and University venues, but also intentionally target underserved communities, including many where we provide audiences with their first exposure to flamenco.

Arts Education

Our in-school Arts Education residencies, workshops and lecture demonstrations bring culturally-responsive learning opportunities to the communities we serve. For over 40 years, our pioneering programs have worked to advance equity and opportunity for children and youth by providing arts education within under-resourced public schools and communities, with special initiatives targeted to dual language learners as well as students with physical, mental, cognitive, learning, and/or sensory disabilities. Our program, known collectively as Project Olé, provides a personal, hands-on introduction and connection to Hispanic culture while improving students’ academic and social-emotional development, and helping students unlock their own creative expression.

North Carolina

In 1996, local arts councils in NC invited Flamenco Vivo to establish satellite operations in the state to conduct bilingual programming targeted to the growing population of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Our work includes residencies in public schools, state-wide and regional tours and Festival Flamenco, an annual week-long program produced each fall during Hispanic Heritage Month. We’ve produced two academic flamenco symposia in conjunction with Duke Dance Department (2012, 2015) as well as home seasons at Motorco Music Hall in Durham.

Center for Flamenco Arts

The Center opened in 2009 and is one of only two dance facilities in NYC dedicated to the specific demands of flamenco and other percussive dance forms. We offer group classes at all levels, host workshops by world-renowned guest teachers, and provide affordable studio rentals to dozens of other dance artists, instructors and companies.

Special Projects

During our 30th anniversary in 2013, we collaborated with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center to mount “100 Years of Flamenco in New York,” the first-ever curated museum exhibition on flamenco in the US. In 2014, we launched the Flamenco Certamen USA, a competition for pre-professional dancers with finals at Lincoln Center.