Flamenco
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Evening of Flamenco
Step into an unforgettable evening where music, movement, and tradition come alive. Artsi, in partnership with Pasión y Arte, invites you to Evening of Flamenco—an intimate celebration of one of Spain's most captivating art forms.
Experience the raw emotion and electrifying artistry of flamenco through powerful dance, soulful singing, and masterful guitar. This year's performance features Philadelphia's acclaimed Pasión y Arte alongside internationally recognized guest artists from New York and Spain, bringing together an extraordinary cast for one unforgettable night.
Enjoy a complimentary glass of Spanish wine with your admission before settling into our intimate, first-come, first-served seating. Additional wine will be available for purchase. Doors open at 7:00pm, Performance starts 7:30pm.
Featuring
> PyA Dancers
Amanda Ferrandino • Amanda Peña • Elba Cena • Leilani Chirinio • Marina Kec
> Special Guests
Barbara Martinez (Singer) • Olayda Ola (Dancer/Percussionist) • Cadiz Juan Pedro (Guitarist) • Xianix Barrera
An evening of Flamenco
Date: Saturday, August 22, 2026
Time: 7:00pm Performance | 6:30pm Doors Open
Tickets: $35 , includes glass of wine
Location: Trinity at 22nd | 2212 Spruce Street
Photos by Contigo Photos + Films from previous Flamenco nights with Pasion y Arte
What is a Tablao?
Tablaos are exciting improvisational flamenco performances that take place in casual venues, much like what occurs at a jazz club or at a poetry reading. Tablaos are still staged in clubs the world over, while new generations of flamenco artists now create more formally choreographed and experimental work which are presented in major theaters and performing arts centers.
Flamenco emerged as a unique art form in the 15th century. Spanish Gypsies (or Roma) danced flamenco privately in their rural homes. The dance gradually migrated from the countryside to the cities in the south of Spain, where Gypsy artists performed on the streets and in plazas. By the 1840s, nightclubs called “Cafes del Cante” began to host flamenco Tablaos, giving flamencos the opportunity to demonstrate their extraordinary skills at improvisation movement within the confines of strict musical and rhythmic structures. The cafes were the first enterprises to pay flamenco dancers, singers, and musicians and commercial flamenco was born.
From the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, highly acclaimed flamenco artists danced in Cafes del Cante. Tablao performances helped flamenco to grow in expressive range and aesthetic precision, exposing non-Gypsy audiences to the art form. Philly Tablao recreates the feeling of the Tablao setting in carefully curated intimate venues. While contemporary Tablaos exist in many major American cities and in Spain, Japan, and elsewhere, Philadelphia, despite its vibrant Latino, flamenco and dance communities, has no Tablao if it's own till now. Starting in 2015, Philly Tablao brought Philadelphia audiences such world class artists as Rosario Toledo, La Meira , Almudena Serrano, and Raquel Heredia who showcased their virtuosity at the Asian Arts’ Initiative Black Box Theater.
About Pasión y Arte:
Founded in 2000 by Artistic Director Elba Hevia y Vaca, Pasión y Arte (PyA) has achieved a reputation for creating groundbreaking contemporary feminist flamenco that is also deeply steeped in the centuries old traditions of the southern Spanish masters. Their critically acclaimed works are noted for their innovative choreography and technical precision. Ms. Hevia y Vaca’s commitment to expanding the boundaries of the form is evidenced in the nine original, full-length, flamenco-based dance pieces she has created for the company. Drawing upon a mastery of flamenco integrated with other dance forms, mixed media, and experimentation in narrative and symbolic storytelling, PyA embraces the tensions between modern and traditional approaches. Through its work and the diversity of its company members, PyA expands the knowledge of the art form beyond its strict conventions of dance, production styles, and gender stereotyping. As part of their educational and community-oriented mission, Pasión y Arte presents flamenco lecture-demonstrations at schools, universities, and community centers. In 2011, PyA received its second highly coveted grant from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through Dance Advance that resulted in the company’s first outside commission, an intensive collaboration with feminist flamenco artist and internationally renowned Spanish dancer and choreographer, Rosario Toledo, leading to the 2012 Philadelphia Flamenco Festival. PyA was again awarded a grant from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage and the Knight Foundation for the funding of the 2014 Philadelphia Flamenco Festival, which took place over two weeks in March 2014. The company has also received awards from the Barra Foundation, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Independence Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Leeway Foundation, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, and the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation. Pasión y Arte has performed at the Annenberg Performing Arts Center, the Kimmel Center, Jacobs Pillow, New York’s Summer Stage, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Wilma Theater, Painted Bride Arts Center, the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Princeton University, and New York’s Public Theater. PyA offers performances and workshops for community arts centers and has performed for students at Penn State University, Middlebury College, Dickinson University, Franklin & Marshall University, Muhlenberg College, Temple University, the Latin American Guild for Arts, and Bryn Mawr College.
ARTIST BIOS - Pasion y arte
Amanda Peña began dancing at the age of three and discovered her passion for flamenco at age nine. She studied and performed with Julia Lopez before beginning her training with Elba Hevia y Vaca in 2019. In 2023–2024, Amanda was awarded the Pennsylvania Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, studying under master artist Elba Hevia y Vaca. The apprenticeship allowed her to dedicate more than 80 hours of intensive studio work focused on flamenco research, technique, artistry, and pedagogy, preparing her to join the faculty of Pasión y Arte.
Elba Cena is a teacher, choreographer, and highly trained dancer who, together with her mother, founded the renowned Danzas Españolas Elba Cena over 30 years ago. She has studied with many celebrated Spanish artists, including Cristóbal Reyes, La China, Manuel Reyes, Merche Esmeralda, and Manuel Liñán. She is also a certified teacher endorsed by the prestigious Amor de Dios institution in Madrid, Spain's oldest and most esteemed school for Spanish dance and flamenco, established in 1953. Throughout her career, Elba has received numerous accolades for her artistic direction, solo performances, and the productions of her dance company and school. She has appeared with renowned symphony and philharmonic orchestras throughout Mexico and has brought flamenco to major stages through large-scale productions, including Esencia y Consecuencia for 15 years and Viva Lara, alongside internationally acclaimed artists. Since 2021, she has been based in Philadelphia, where she serves on the faculty of the Philadelphia Ballet School, specializing in Spanish Dance and Flamenco.
Amanda Ferrandino
Amanda began her dance journey studying tap and jazz in childhood and performed in musical theatre. Over the years through her travels, she dabbled in several different kinds of dance styles including Manipuri, West African dance, salsa, dancehall, and modern dance. Eight years ago, Amanda thought of trying flamenco and never looked back: she finally found a style that was as dynamic and playful as she was! After studying flamenco in NYC and Amsterdam, she is thrilled to have moved to Philadelphia and found the community of Pasion y Arte to deepen her artistry and embrace the true meaning of the word 'amateur' – simply meaning 'lover of.' Outside of dance, Amanda is a sociologist focused on gender and sexuality, and loves exploring with her family: her partner Brian and her daughter Carina.
Leilani Chirino began dancing at the age of three at Conservatorio de Conchita Espinosa, a performing arts institution founded in Cuba, where she trained in ballet, flamenco, classical Spanish dance, and modern dance. In college, she continued her modern dance training with a concentration in Brazilian and Cuban styles. She later spent much of her 20s and early 30s teaching and performing folkloric Afro-Cuban dances and Cuban modern dance. In 2018, while traveling in Spain, she rediscovered her passion for flamenco and began studying with Elba Hevia y Vaca at Pasión y Arte, where she became an apprentice and performed with the company. In 2020, she was awarded the Pennsylvania Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant to study under Elba and develop her first solo baile. In 2022, she competed in Flamenco Vivo's Certamen at Lincoln Center, earning a scholarship to study in Seville, Spain. She has since continued her training in Spain, with Flamenco Vivo's Developing Artist program, and through United Flamenco's tablao training program, deepening her studies in flamenco cante, palmas, and improvisation. During this time, she has performed as a solo artist in New York City and Boston, and in 2025, she returned to the Pasión y Arte Company.
Marina Kec
Marina Kec is a dancer and choreographer whose style bridges classical rigor and contemporary experimentation. She received her foundational training in ballet at the Pennsylvania Academy
of Ballet under John White and Margarita de Saá and went on to study dance technique, choreography, and history at Bryn Mawr College. Marina has since worked as a freelance artist, in collaboration with a variety of independent choreographers in Philadelphia, and presented her own work through the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, ETC Performance Series, Mascher Space Cooperative, and Unraveled Artists. Marina began studying flamenco at Pasión y Arte in 2022 to explore a growing desire to embrace a new dance language that resonates with her deep connection to music, self-expression, storytelling, and community. She feels right at home in the flamenco world and is grateful for the opportunity to bring Elba Hevia y Vaca’s creative vision to life.
SPECIAL GUESTS
Juan Pedro, a native of Cádiz in southern Spain, was raised performing with the renowned Romeros de Vejer gypsy family. A singer and guitarist, he studied at the Royal Conservatory and trained under acclaimed flamenco artists including singer Calixto Sánchez, José Anillo, Ismael Fernández, and guitarists Víctor Rosa, Tito Alcedo, and Rafael Segura Torres ("Faluky"). Since graduating, Juan Pedro has collaborated with celebrated performers such as Toñi Romero, Susana Romero, Ana Polanco, Selu del Puerto, María del Mar Ramos, Juanito Berrocal, Javier Heredia, Raquel Heredia, Auxi Fernández, and Raúl Ortega, most recently at Alegrías en La Nacional in New York City. He also spent more than a decade accompanying the esteemed flamenco dance teacher Carmen Cornejo de Cádiz. Today, he regularly performs with flamenco artists and companies throughout the United States, particularly in the Tri-State area. In recent years, he has toured the renowned ferias of Seville, Jerez, El Puerto de Santa María, Sanlúcar, Algeciras, and Córdoba, and has performed at El Rocío with the Hermandad de Jerez, as well as at peñas flamencas and festivals across the Province of Cádiz.
Xianix Barrera is a New York–based flamenco dancer, educator, and producer dedicated to preserving and evolving the art of flamenco through performance, cultural exchange, and community engagement. She is the founder of Xianix Barrera Flamenco and creator of QUEBRADA, an original theatrical work inspired by the Japanese philosophy of kintsugi that explores resilience, transformation, and healing through flamenco. Her work blends traditional flamenco with contemporary storytelling, creating emotionally powerful and immersive experiences for diverse audiences. Alongside performing and producing, Xianix is passionate about arts education and mentorship, leading classes, workshops, and international flamenco immersion experiences in Sevilla, Spain.
Barbara Martinez: Cante/singer
Bárbara Martínez grew up performing in New York City. She hails from a musical family that includes movie icon Libertad Lamarque. For over 20 years, she has worked as a dancer and singer with several professional flamenco dance companies and world music ensembles, as well as the Metropolitan Opera. A graduate of Brown University and Berklee College of Music, Barbara’s solo career began with a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in 2010. Today she can be seen in “TrashBata”, a one-woman dance theater performance that brings together flamenco and environmental activism, and she can also be seen performing with ALBA MUSIK, a project that features her compositions and which has been in consideration for a GRAMMY three years in a row. (BarbaraMartinez.com)
Dancer/Percussionist Olyda Ola
Olyda "Ola" Espinal attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art for the Performing Arts and has been performing and passionately teaching throughout New York public schools, predominantly in the Bronx, for over 18 years. As a Community Outreach Liaison and Teaching Artist for the Bronx Dance Theatre, New York City Center, Flamenco Latino, and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Olyda Ola constantly strives to teach innovative, creative, and energetic classes in multiple dance styles to inspire and propel her students into the performing arts. Olyda has performed in many prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Jacob’s Pillow, BAAD Bronx Dance Academy of Arts and Dance, Hudson Benmarl winery, Rockefeller Estate and regularly performs as vocalist, dancer, and percussionist with NYC artists in various venues across NY, Olyda can be heard as vocalist in renowned Los Cintron Brothers albums, and ALBA Musik live at Drom NYC.