Dance Advance Pew Grant Pasión y Arte
New work by contemporary flamenco artist Rosario Toledo of Sevilla, Spain
2011 Grantee: Company
$118,000
“Now in its 10th year of flamenco practice, preservation, and exploration, Pasión y Arte (PyA) will embark upon its first outside commission as well as its first collaboration with a major flamenco artist: internationally renowned Spanish dancer and choreographer Rosario Toledo. PyA’s mission is to “bring the flamenco tradition into the 21st century by addressing the role of women;” the company hopes to take inspiration and learn from Toledo, a master dance artist who re-imagines traditional flamenco through layered storytelling and humor, challenging the limitations of gender roles and structures. She will choreograph an original dance for PyA, built during a three-week laboratory phase with the company’s dancers and readied for public performances in March 2012, as part of a dynamic “mini-festival of flamenco.” In addition to eight performances of Toledo’s original work at Christ Church’s Neighborhood House in Philadelphia’s Old City, PyA will also host a flamenco symposium of dance experts, as well as master class workshops, led by Toledo. With work-in-progress performances planned for the 2011 Philly Fringe Festival and elsewhere leading up to 2012, PyA hopes to further its own creative advancement and establish Philadelphia as a “hub for the future of the flamenco art form.”
