Juan Siddi Flamenco Theater performs at the Dennos Museum Center

Mar 22, 2012 | Intercom

Romance, passion, majesty and timeless beauty will fill the air Friday, April 13, 2012 when the Juan Siddi Flamenco Theatre Company, as part of their first national tour, brings the excitement of flamenco to the Milliken Auditorium of the Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College with the award-winning flamenco dancer and choreographer Juan Siddi at 8 pm.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $28 at the door, $22 for Museum Members. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Museum Box office at 231-995-1553 or on line at www.dennosmuseum.org.

Joined by an array of sensual and powerful dancers, singers and musicians from Spain, France and the United States, Siddi will present a mixed repertory program, including the stunning work, “Encuentro” which was nominated in San Francisco, CA in 2009 for an Isadora Duncan Award.

Honored recipient of Santa Fe’s 2011 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Artistic Director Juan Siddi and his Flamenco Theatre Company have made their mark in the world of flamenco with their unique, world-class artistry. The company has made appearances throughout the Middle East, Europe and the United States, and with their summer seasons in Santa Fe, NM.

Michael Wade Simpson of the Pasatiempo calls Siddi’s work “…a refined, intellectual… contemporary take on flamenco.”

Flamenco is a genre of music and dance that originated in Andalusia, Spain in the 18th century, influenced by Gypsy traditions going back to Rajasthan India. The development of flamenco can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the meeting and mixing of several musical traditions in Andalucia where African and Arabic music developed along with the Spanish guitar and its rhythms. During the Spanish Inquisition, groups of persecuted peoples – Romani, Greeks, Visigoths, Moors, and Jews – married their songs and dances of exile, despair, suffering, and also hope and celebration, with the ecstatic religious sounds of Andalucian music to produce flamenco, whose essence is duende.

Duende’s deep emotion is the ineffable mystery of life in art, song, music and dance. The Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca once said about duende: “The greatest artists of Spain, whether Gypsy or flamenco, whether they sing, dance, or play, know that no emotion is possible unless the duende comes. All arts are capable of duende, but where it finds greatest range, naturally, is in music, dance, and spoken poetry, for these arts require a living body to interpret, being forms that are born, die, and open their contours against an exact presence….It is truly deep, deeper than all the wells and seas in the world, much deeper than the present heart that creates it or the voice that sings it, because it is almost infinite.”

In November 2010, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) deemed flamenco a cultural treasure on its Intangible Heritage List. Since 2007, Juan Siddi Flamenco Theatre Company has interpreted flamencoʼs depth and passion in highly regarded venues throughout Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Today, the Juan Siddi Flamenco Theatre Company is one of the top flamenco companies in the United States.

Artistic director, choreographer and principal dancer Juan Siddi will be joined by a cast of some of Spainʼs most authentic and world-class artists of today, among them singers Coral de los Reyes and Jose; guitarist Jose Valle, “Chuscales”; and cellist Michael Kott. Siddiʼs colorful array of female dancers will interpret his choreographies to traditional and original musical scores created by the talented cast of musicians.

Justin Nadir, executive producer and managing director for the company, says, “We are very excited to share the unique talent and artistry of the Juan Siddi Flamenco Theatre Company throughout the United States. A greater awareness of flamenco’s richness has been recognized over the past several years, and Juan Siddi Flamenco Theatre Company brings to audiences an unparalleled and world-class experience.”