People
Elba Hevia y Vaca
Artistic/Executive Director and Founder
Born in La Paz, Bolivia, Elba Hevia y Vaca began her study of classical Spanish dance at the age of five. She later studied and danced with master dancer Ana Martinez of the Ana Martinez Flamenco Dance Company in D.C., and danced with Washington’s Raquel Peña Spanish Dance Company, appearing as a soloist. In Philadelphia she continued her study of modern dance, jazz, and contact improvisation.
In 2000, Hevia y Vaca founded Pasión y Arte (PyA) out of an intensely personal conviction that highly-stylized traditional Spanish Flamenco dance is a perfect vessel to empower women. These values have been reflected in the ten critically acclaimed works she has created for PyA, and in the numerous grants and fellowships awarded to Hevia y Vaca and PyA.
In 2008, Hevia y Vaca launched the PyA Conservatory to provide a disciplined environment for preserving and teaching the formal structures of Flamenco in a female-positive environment. Hevia y Vaca has also taught courses at local schools and universities, often representing students’ first encounter with this dance form. She has taught at University of the Arts, Drexel University, Temple University, Swarthmore College, and Dickinson University. She is currently a Senior Adjunct Professor at Franklin & Marshall.
She has been awarded a Rocky Award, Independence Fellowship Award, and nominated for PEW Fellowship, in addition to countless grants, fellowships, and commissions.
“Pasión y Arte is among the most interesting, visionary companies brightening the city’s art scene, not only through […] choreography and performance, but the artists with whom she collaborates and the vistas she broaches.”
— Dr. Lynn Brooks, ThINKing Dance
Meet the Team
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Elba Cena Zarate
COMPANY MANAGER
ecenazarate@gmail.comElba Cena is a teacher, choreographer, and highly trained dancer who, together with her mother, founded the well renowned school "Danzas Españolas Elba Cena" over 30 years ago. She has studied with many great Spanish artists, including Cristobal Reyes, La China, Manuel Reyes, Merche Esmeralda, and Manuel Linan. Among her multiple recognitions, she has also been endorsed as a qualified teacher by Institution of "Amor De Dios”, the highly esteemed and oldest studio in Madrid, where Spanish dance and Flamenco have been taught since 1953.
A special thank you to the Board of Pasion y Arte, for their continued contribution to the art of Flamenco.
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President
Emeritus Dean of Westphal College of Media Arts, Drexel University
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Vice-President
Artistic/Executive Director PyA
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Secretary
Senior Lecturer/Professor Spanish, Bryn Mawr College
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Committee Chair Person
Attorney, Executive Director of Legal Affairs, Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania