Hola Familia,

After an inspiring summer, I am back with a stronger commitment to Flamenco as a vessel to empower women, show our physical strength, and express our personal tragedies and triumphs; we need not be afraid to become leaders of peace.

Each summer I make a pilgrimage to Sevilla to study with the great Masters and return to the source and continue my growth in the Flamenco language.

This summer - thanks to Dance Advance - my pilgrimage took me to Solo, Java for an exploration of movement and culture under the guidance of great Masters of the Sardono Method and traditional Javanese dance and music. It was a complete immersion of Javanese culture and art.

The exploration of Javanese slow movement permitted me to experience a magnified sense of awareness and allowed my movements to come from a natural flow of the movement itself; not from the mind.

In the art of Flamenco our aim is to achieve duende. Duende is a power independent of the dancer, not a process. It is a struggle not a thought. It is not a question of the dancer’s ability, but the evidence of a true, living style of blood of the most ancient; of spontaneous creation.

By becoming one with cante, (song), toque (guitar), and compass (rhythm) the body takes over and battles the air; that air that threatens to destroy the harmony and empty spaces where rhythm is annihilated.

In flamenco the dancer’s trembling heart brings the Universe into harmony; from the tips of her shoes to the tips of her fingers.

Coming Up:
February 10th & 11th, 2006, the Premiere of

“La Luna de Par en Par” – The Moon Wide Open

Roschel Performing Arts Center at Franklyn & Marshall College,
Lancaster, PA.

This season Pasion y Arte will premiere the trilogy “La Luna de Par en Par” (The Moon Wide Open) in its entirety; a work that has been under development for the last two years and which was made possible with the assistance of a Dance Advance Grant and the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. 

The trilogy explores the female psyche through dance. It is a journey of women: Part I: Loss of Innocence/Awareness; Part II Duality/Masculinity,  Part III Evolution/Woman. 

This multidisciplinary project represents Pasion y Arte’s  first attempt to incorporate non-traditional elements into our dance productions including various musical genres, some pre-corded music, cross-disciplinary choreography and videos to a create visual landscapes.

La Luna se Par en Par is a collaborative effort that incorporates an original score by Gonzalo Grau and Cristian Puig, choreography by Elba Hevia y Vaca, Alejandro Granados and Raquel Heredia and visual landscapes by Adal Maldonado.

Hasta pronto,
Elba Hevia y Vaca
Artistic Director, Pasión Y Arte