I create and dance feminist Flamenco. The Flamenco art form has historically placed women as seductresses, sexual objects, and last in the hierarch. My work explores these rules.

Flamenco is a tradition that represents a convergence of many persecuted cultures, gypsies and nomadic tribes of France, Russia, Iberia, Northern African, Sacred Hindus, Moors and the Andalusian of Spain. My choreography and continued research excavates the truths that resonate with a woman-strength, passion, and determination. Flamenco is a language that has spoken to me since I was a little girl, and continues to inspire me as a way to investigate and unleash these. My works explore women who are protagonists of their own story.

I have been traveling to Spain for the last 25 years in an effort to penetrate the dance, culture, roots and the women of Flamenco. My studies and research with great masters have been both from the pure traditionalists and the contemporary.

As a woman of 62 my relationship with Flamenco continues to change, but what remains, is my interest in how women are evolving within the art form. The last five years of my studies and research have led me to the new generation of Flamenco female artists in Spain, they continually inspire and influence my artistic language and freedom of voice.

Our Story

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. Ms. Hevia y Vaca's commitment to expand the boundaries of the form is evidenced in the 10 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. PyA expands the knowledge of the art form beyond its strict conventions of dance, production styles, and gender stereotyping.

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 women-positive environment. The Conservatory has brought Flamenco masters from Spain to conduct workshops, bringing the highest quality training available in the form to its Philadelphia students. As part of their educational and community-oriented mission, Pasión y Arte presents Flamenco lecture-demonstrations at schools, universities, and community centers and has performed for students at Penn State University, Middlebury College, Dickinson University, Franklin & Marshall University, Muhlenberg College, and Bryn Mawr College.

In 2012, PyA launched the Philadelphia Flamenco Festival, which it produced again in 2014 thanks to the generous funding of Pew Center of Arts and Heritage and The Knight Foundation.  The Festivals broadened PyA's impact throughout the region, establishing Philadelphia as a world center of forward-thinking Flamenco. The Festival encompassed performances by world renowned Flamenco artists, lectures from leading scholars, classes, workshops, and film screenings.

PyA maintains an ongoing active schedule of presenting and performing throughout Pennsylvania and the US. The company has performed at The Annenberg Center, The Kimmel Center, New York’s Summer Stage,Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Wilma Theater, Painted Bride Arts Center, the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Princeton University, Apple Farm Art and Music Center (Elmer, NJ), New York’s Public Theater, and Jacobs Pillow.