Vancouver International Flamenco Festival presents local and national artists on stage and online
Flamenco Rosario hosts the highly anticipated event, running September 4 to 26
Flamenco Rosario. Photo by James O’Mara
Local and national flamenco artists will share their skill and passion for the art dance form at the Vancouver International Flamenco Festival, taking place from September 4 to 26.
Presented by Flamenco Rosario, the 31st annual festival features live and livestreamed performances as well as ticketed and free events.
The 2021 lineup is made up exclusively of Canadian artists and companies. While the festival looks forward to the return of international acts next year, this fall audiences can expect the same kind of dynamic and innovative programming that VIFF has always delivered.
Rite by La Otra Orilla. Photo by Marie-Andrée Lemire
On September 24 at Waterfront Theatre, Victoria’s Alma de España Flamenco presents Familia. Families are the heart of flamenco, and here, the company invokes ancestors and those family members we have yet to meet.
Helmed by Kasandra “La China”, one of Canada’s leading flamenco artists, Kasandra Flamenco Ensemble performs SOLO FLAMENCO on September 26 at the Waterfront. The Vancouver group will illustrate flamenco in its purest traditional form, the Cuadro, which includes a flamenco dancer, guitarist, singer, palmas (handclapping), and percussion.
Kasandra Flamenco Ensemble. Photo by Sanka Dee
Vancouver’s own Flamenco Rosario presents To Victor with Love…. The program, just as the festival itself, is in honour and celebration of the late Victor Kolstee, who co-founded Flamenco Rosario with his beloved wife, Rosario Ancer. The company will be presenting works by three Spanish choreographers (Pilar Ogalla, Albert Hernández, and Cristina Hall) as well as a work by Ancer, called Solace, September 25 at the Waterfront Theatre.
The Flamenco for Children and Aficionado stage on September 4 and 5 beginning at 11 am PDT is a free event featuring work by Mozaico Flamenco Ensemble, Jhoely Triana, Bonnie Stewart & Friends, and Jafelin Helten & Friends, all from Vancouver; as well as Victoria’s Peña Flamenca and Iminah Kani. The performances take place on the Picnic Pavilion stage at Granville Island.
Another free event, a festival highlight, is the annual lecture demonstration with Flamenco Rosario at the Vancouver Public Library.
As one of few celebrated festivals devoted to the art of flamenco in North America, the VIFF has more than three decades of flamenco presence behind it, forging an integrated Canadian identity of flamenco. Flamenco Rosario continues to honour the rich flamenco tradition while producing presentations that stretch the art form’s boundaries.
For more information, visit http://www.vancouverflamencofestival.org/.
Alma de España Flamenco. Photo by Lori Garcia-Meredith